June 2018 SPECIAL EDITION April, 2015 Newsletter | Page 2

April 2015

VOL Students
Honor St. Joseph
The eighth graders at Visitation of Our Lady
School, under the direction of religion teacher Lisa Miller, presented their annual St. Joseph Day altar in the
school's gym. All grade levels visited the altar in the
morning. A spaghetti lunch was served to the eighth
graders and the faculty.

Pictured l. to r. are 8th
graders Dominic
Nacarri, Dylan Rogers,
and Destini Cockerham
as the Holy Family
standing before the St.
Joseph's altar.

History of St. Joseph Altars
According to legend, there was a severe drought in
Sicily during the Middle Ages, and the people
prayed to St. Joseph, their patron saint, to bring
them rain. They promised that if he answered their
prayers, they would prepare a large feast to honor
him. The rain did come, and the people of Sicily
prepared a large banquet for their patron saint. The
tradition is carried through today.

Mrs. Courtney
Bond's 4th
grade class
visiting the altar

Upon a typical St. Joseph's Day altar, people place
flowers, fruit, candles, wine, fava beans, specially
prepared cakes, breads, and cookies, as well as
other meatless dishes. Foods are traditionally
served containing bread crumbs to represent saw
dust since St. Joseph was a carpenter. Because the
feast occurs during Lent, traditionally no meat was
allowed on the celebration table. The altar usually
has three tiers, to represent the trinity.

The St.
Joseph's
Altar cake

Page 2