Joseph was a carpenter, and he made carts and yokes for oxen. And a rich man said to Joseph: “Master, make me a large and beautiful bed.” (Infancy Gospel of Thomas, XI, 2–4)

The Bible refers to Joseph as a tekton, that is, an artisan or master builder, and since the 2nd century, a tradition, found in sermons and the Apocryphal Gospels, has characterized him as a carpenter. This is the origin of all the iconography that relates Jesus’s father to that trade.

In the 20th century, Saint Joseph the artisan, carpenter, or worker was embraced by Catholic workers' movements, ultimately leading to the establishment in 1955, by Pope Pius XII, of the liturgical celebration of Saint Joseph the Worker on May 1st, a clear response to an already existing commemoration: “International Workers’ Day,” associated with international Marxism and celebrated since 1898.