TriParishes to have St. Joseph altar

Just two days after the “wearing of the green” to celebrate all things Irish for St. Patrick’s Day, Italians and their traditional baked goods are front and center for the feast of St. Joseph and the St. Joseph’s Altar.

“I’m not Italian by any means,” said Tricia Hurdle, coordinator of the celebration at St. Joseph Church in Grosse Tete. “But I rely on our older and wiser Italians to help me and I just love it.”

The tradition of the St. Joseph Altar began in Sicily during the Middle Ages, when people prayed to St. Joseph for relief from a drought. When the rain came, the people rejoiced and set up an altar with the bounties of their harvest as a thanksgiving celebration, according to catholicculture.org.

The first St. Joseph Altar was a simple one and later grew to be larger and more ornate, according to the website. Through Sicilian immigrants, the tradition was brought to America.

“I know St. Joseph parishioners had done it in the past at our church,” said Hurdle, who revived the event in 2018 after it had ceased for several years. “I thought it would be nice for our (church) parish to bring it back.

“We’re a small community and I just love any chance that we can get together and celebrate our community. I was baptized in this community, I did all my sacraments at St. Joseph’s, my children have done all their sacraments there and it’s just a beautiful community that we have and a beautiful church.”

Hurdle said the first year of the altar, just a handful of volunteers helped with baking and setting up, and more than 15 people were involved the next year. This year, Hurdle said, about 30 people will be on hand to cook and set up the altar. 

“I’m already asking for volunteers to help bake and collect donations and this year we’re going to serve spaghetti with the traditional boiled eggs, so we’ve been working on that for a couple of weeks now and getting a little team together to cook,” said Hurdle. “This will be our first year to do a meal with the altar.”

More than 350 people are expected to attend this year’s celebration including fellow parishioners from Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Maringouin and St. Frances Xavier Cabrini in Livonia. Festivities will begin at 3 p.m. March 19 at St. Joseph, with Bishop Michael G. Duca and Father David Dawson, pastor of the TriParishes of St. Joseph, Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. Frances Xavier Cabrini churches, leading a Eucharistic procession from St. Joseph Church to the Veterans’ Memorial and back to the parish hall for the blessing of the altar and sharing of the meal.

Father Dawson said he added the Eucharistic procession to tie in with the blessing of the St. Joseph Altar because this is a year of the Eucharistic Revival.

“St. Joseph was one who was not necessarily front and center in our Gospels but one who said ‘yes’ to God and had a deep trust in him,” said Father Dawson. “Our small country parish echoes the life of St. Joseph as we might not be front and center like some of the larger parishes but like Joseph, we are a parish who trusts in God and we have a strong desire to do his will for our lives.”

“I love St. Joseph,” said Hurdle. “I pray to him so much. I just love the man that he is and I believe in the help of St. Joseph, I really do. I pray to him for my husband Brady to be a good dad, which he is, and a great husband. I pray to St. Joseph all the time.”