St. Joseph table Society celebrates its 38th anniversary in San Pedro
At Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church, the "San Giuseppe Tavola" will be celebrated March 20, one day after the feast day of Sicily's patron saint. St. Joseph's Day is a national holiday in Italy, celebrated with a variety of activities, most especially the St. Joseph Table. The many parish groups and all attending will assemble in the parish auditorium at 11:15 a.m. The statue of Saint Joseph will then be taken in procession. The “Los Angeles Italian Band” conducted by Joseph Sapia will play the national anthem.
The procession will stop at the rectory, where the priests, Eucharistic ministers and servers will join. The Knights of Columbus will escort the priest to the church where Father John will be the celebrant at the 12 o’clock High Mass. After the church services, the entire procession will proceed to the auditorium. At the door, the Holy family depicted by San Pedro youth, will knock and ask for admittance. They and the priest will enter and the priest will bless the food that is later donated to feed the poor and needy. The statue of Saint Joseph is then placed for everyone to view.
After the blessing, the doors are opened and everyone attending is served a “poor man’s meal” consisting of fried squid, pasta, vegetables, bread and dessert. Everyone who comes forward to view the statue will receive a small bag containing a bread roll and an orange or lemon – this symbolizes the food that the people ate during a terrible famine in Sicily. The Saint Joseph’s Table welcomes you to help us celebrate this day at Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church, 870 W. 8th Street, San Pedro, California.
There is no charge to attend this celebration. Donations will be accepted to help our parish church and to award scholarship to deserving students in San Pedro.
About the tradition
The tradition goes back to the Middle Ages, when a severe drought in Sicily caused many to go hungry or die from famine. People prayed to St. Joseph - as a protector of the Holy Family - to intercede with God on their behalf to send rain; they also promised to celebrate a special feast for St. Joseph wherever they lived and, in their gratitude, to feed the poor. The miracle happened. The rain came, the crops soon grew and fishermen dragged in nets full of fish.
When the harvest was ready, people prepared a great feast. Since then, people have made requests - which cannot be for personal gain or benefit - to St. Joseph, and have used the feast day to show their thanks for favors granted. Over the centuries, the tradition of the St. Joseph's Table has made its way around the world, notably in the United States wherever Italian Catholics have immigrated. In Southern California, a number of parishes - among them St. Peter's Italian Church north of downtown Los Angeles - have made the St. Joseph's Table an annual community tradition. In San Pedro, where the fishing and maritime industries have deep roots, a group of six Sicilian women started celebrating the fiesta in 1963 at one of the women's homes.
A year later they took the celebration to their parish, Mary Star of the Sea, with the approval of Msgr. George M. Scott, then pastor. Years later, they added a procession through the parish's surrounding streets, followed by a Mass. News of the celebration spread by word of mouth, and buses loaded with people arrived from San Diego, Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, until it became so large that many began having celebrations at their own parishes.
