His feast day on March 19 is a time to gather around food in gratitude.
Rosaline J. Forti, of Ludlow, carries on the tradition of a table set with specials foods to honor Joseph, the foster father of Jesus who is credited with saving Sicily from severe drought during ancient times, on his feast day on March 19.
The breadcrumbs Rosaline J. Forti will place on pasta for her celebration of the Feast of St. Joseph will represent the wood shavings that came from carpentry projects of the foster father of Jesus and patron saint of carpenters.
It’s part of her commemoration of St. Joseph’s Feast Day, March 19, and part of her family tradition of St. Joseph’s table.
The Ludlow resident is originally from Batavia in western New York, home to many Sicilian immigrants early in the 20th century.
“In those families, commemorating this feast was an integral aspect of celebrating our heritage,” Forti said.
The tradition of a St. Joseph’s table dates to the Middle Ages when, one year, there was a terrible drought in Sicily; crops failed, and people died of famine. The peasants prayed to God for rain, and they prayed to St. Joseph to intercede for them. They promised that if God sent rain, they would have a special feast honoring Him and St. Joseph.
Their prayers were answered, and after the rain fell, the people planted crops. With their harvest, they prepared a feast.
In gratitude, they promised to make annual offerings of their most precious possession — food — in honor of St. Joseph.
Today, people set tables to honor Joseph. The tables display meatless dishes like stuffed artichokes, pasta and fish, as well as breads, cookies, pastries and cakes.
A statue of St. Joseph has a prominent place on the table. A stalk of lilies — a symbol of St. Joseph — often graces the table, too.
Forti and her Portuguese-American husband, David M. Fernandes, will host family members for a special meal that will include no meat, mindful that the feast day is in the penitential season of Lent.
There will be the pasta and breadcrumbs, slightly-anise-flavored bread (called St. Joseph’s bread), fruit, vegetables, fish and desserts like fried sweet dough rolled in confectioners’ sugar or similar St. Joseph’s cakes filled with cream.
Dinner guests take home leftovers and party favors that include almonds and fava beans.
Fava beans play an integral part of the celebration because they are believed to be the food that saved the Sicilians from starvation. The bean is said to bring good luck.
Forti remembers traveling back to Batavia while her parents were still alive to participate in the St. Joseph’s table celebration, just like when she was a child growing up in St. Anthony Parish there. The table was “quite a job” for the women of the parish, who began it as a way of offering thanks when their sons came home safely from war.
Now a member of St. Patrick Parish in South Hadley, she also sets up an altar in her home for the St. Joseph celebration. On it she places a statue of St. Joseph, lilies — if she can get them — and St. Joseph bread and wine.
She appreciates keeping the Sicilian custom “the rest of the world tends not to hear about,” she said. “It was such a part of my growing up, I really relish getting back to (that) culture.”
But one need not be of Sicilian descent to participate in the St. Joseph’s table.
At Our Lady of Peace Church in the Turners Falls section of Montague, pastoral minister Marguerite R. Noga has set up a St. Joseph’s table in past years as a way to collect food for people in need.
A week before the feast of St. Joseph she set up a six-foot table at the rear of the church with a table cloth, candle stick, one place setting and at the head of the table a large statue of St. Joseph, usually with a bouquet of white lilies in a vase at his feet.
Parishioners then bring food to place on the table for later distribution.
“From the altar and through the parish bulletin, we share the story of the Italian farmers who feared they would lose their crops due to the drought,” Noga said. “They prayed to St. Joseph and promised that if the rains came they would share their bounty with the poor of their villages. Well, the rains came and they kept their promise. They set up tables with all the extra produce and gave it to the villagers.”
Parishioners have shared food with Montague Catholic Social Ministries and Head Start in Montague.
“We have done it because many parishioners have a devotion to St. Joseph, his feast falls in the middle of Lent, and it goes along with the practice of almsgiving and sharing with the poor during Lent,” Noga said.
Zeppole, fried dough filled with custard and topped with whipped cream and a cherry, are a tradition for the Feast of St. Joseph on March 19 at LaFiorentina in Springfield's South End. Here are some Web recipes often made in conjunction with the celebration. Similar pastries called zeppole are sold this time of year at La Fiorentina Pastry Shop, 883 Main St., Springfield.
St. Joseph’s cream puffs
Pastry:
1 cup water
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1 tablespoon sugar
Grated rind of 1 lemon
Pinch of salt
1 cup sifted flour
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon Cognac or vanilla
Filling:
2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/3 cup grated dark chocolate
2 tablespoons finely chopped pistachios
Garnish:
Powdered sugar
Lemon rind
Put water, butter, granulated sugar, lemon rind, and salt in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, and as soon as the butter has melted, remove from heat. Add the flour all at once, stirring constantly and with vigor.
Return the pan to the heat, and stir constantly until the mixture forms a ball and comes away from the sides of the pan. Cook just a little longer, until you hear a slight crackling, frying sound. Remove the pan from the heat, and cool slightly.
Add the eggs, one at a time. Be sure that each egg is thoroughly blended into the mixture before you add the next. Stir until smooth and thoroughly blended . Add the Cognac or vanilla. Cover the dough and let it stand for 15 to 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Drop the dough by heaping tablespoon full on a buttered cookie sheet or onto parchment-lined sheet (better!), leaving two inches between the pastries. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool.
Filling:
Mix the ricotta, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, chocolate, and pistachios. Just before serving (so they don’t get soggy!), cut off the tops of the pastries and fill; place top back on after filling. Arrange on platter, sprinkle with powdered sugar to make them pretty, and garnish platter with lemon rind.
St. Joseph’s pasta (pasta with breadcrumbs that symbolize sawdust)
Cooked pasta of your choice
Sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 cloves garlic, chopped
Pinch of red pepper flakes
2 cups chopped fresh fennel
2 cups crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
4 cans of drained, skinless, boneless sardines
Heat oil in large pot, and sauté in it the garlic and pepper flakes. Add the fennel, tomatoes, paste, and basil. Cover and let simmer 30 minutes until fennel is tender. Add the sardines and simmer a few more minutes.
Topping:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup fine homemade breadcrumbs
Heat oil, and add crumbs and heat until golden brown. Pour sauce over the pasta, then sprinkle with the breadcrumbs.
Guests welcomed with explanation
Editor’s note: Rosaline J. Forti, of Ludlow, presents guests at her St. Joseph’s table with the following explanation:
St. Joseph, spouse of Mary, is the patron saint of Sicily. His feast is March 19, and in Sicily as well as in many Italian-American communities, it has become custom to have a special feast.
Tradition has it that this custom developed during the Middle Ages when St. Joseph answered prayers to end the plague and famine. People would open their homes for a celebration that became very ritualized.
However, as with many things Italian, there are strong roots in Greek and Roman mythology. The date itself is no accident.
Hades, god of the underworld, punished Demeter, goddess of agriculture, by sending her daughter, Persephone, queen of the dead, to the underworld each winter, but she was allowed to emerge each spring.
It has been suggested that this represented perhaps the earlier attempt to divide the year into seasons, as well as to explain its rhythms.
So the feast of St. Joseph, always occurring during Lent, offers the promise of spring and rebirth. During Lent, foods are vegetarian, with a particular emphasis on vegetables, fruit, eggs and bread.
For the Forti family, Mrs. Ruffino opened her home every St. Joseph’s day to the people of St. Anthony’s parish in Batavia, N.Y. It was torture for certain children to attend as one of the 12 virgineddi, the representatives of the 12 apostles, who ate with St. Joseph.
The exotic fare, even for kids used to a Mediterranean diet at home, could be scary.
Later on, the parish started holding its own St. Joseph’s table, and our father, Tony, had the privilege of playing St. Joseph one year. My siblings and I continued to gather at St. Anthony’s each year for the feast even after our parents’ deaths until the parish stopped the event after 2003. Our Ludlow table began in earnest after that change.