
The nativity set under your tree is no small thing (Photos)
A child playing with small nativity toys is emblematic of the baby at the heart of Christmas. What seems insignificant will change the course of history.

With the Counter-Reformation came artistic portrayals of Joseph as the model for a "holy death."

Artistic portrayals of Joseph came to present him as a Christ-like model of fatherhood and fidelity.

Joseph was held up as the model husband in an age when the institution of marriage was frequently abused.

Humorous cameos of St. Joseph served the purpose of helping the faithful enter into the mystery of Jesus’ human experience.

The Middle Ages depicted Joseph as a safeguard of the purity of the Church and a protector against attacks of self-interested sovereigns.

The original “strong silent type,” St. Joseph was so reticent that for the first 200 years of the life of the Church he was absent from Christian art.