When visitors walked into the St. Joseph Table feast at St. Eugene Parish, 5220 N. Canfield, on March 20, they hardly knew where to look first. On the right, lighted arches formed a huge gazebo around a traditional carved statue of St. Joseph, sitting atop a massive cross-shaped table laden with fruits, desserts and specialty breads baked in the shape of the saint’s staff. The gazebo rose nearly to the ceiling of the parish’s gymnasium. On the left, tables running the length of the gymnasium offered a buffet of spaghetti alla marinara, pasta con sarde, spaghetti aglio e olio, eggplant parmesan, frittata, smelts, salmon, tilapia, salads and desserts. The Northwest Side parish was one of two or three dozen Chicago- area parishes putting on a St. Joseph Table to honor the saint’s March 19 feast day. Immigrants from southern Italy brought the custom here, but it is gaining in popularity because of its devotion to the saint, its focus on helping the needy and, of course, the positively heavenly custard-filled, cherry-topped St. Joseph’s pastries called zeppole. While the tradition’s origins are hazy, one legend goes that centuries ago, people in Sicily were starving and prayed to St. Joseph, vowing that if he interceded to bring food, they would be generous with it, said Scalabrinian Father Gino Dalpiaz, former director of the Italian Cultural Center in Stone Park. When a ship showed up with food, they fulfilled their vow, welcoming the poor to partake. Another version says there was drought and famine in Sicily, and the faithful’s prayers to St. Joseph brought rain that ended the drought, said Regina Scanicchio, president of the board of directors for the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii in Chicago. Make a novena Traditionally, when Italians have a special intention, such as a sick family member, they make a prayer request or novena to St. Joseph and promise to honor the saint on his feast day by preparing a St. Joseph Table or donating food to one, she said. “Other people have devotions to St. Joseph because he is the patron of fathers or father figures. So some prayer requests are made under those headings as well,” she said. In Italy, people prepared St. Joseph Tables in their homes and invited the town’s poor to eat. In the United States, the tables are often held in parishes. They invite all, collect donations from those who can make them and give the money to the poor. Dominic Candeloro, a history professor who has written several books on the history of Italian Americans in Chicago, noted that St. Joseph’s Day is also Fathers Day in Italy. March 19 always falls during Lent, he said, which is why the table is traditionally meatless. “It started in Sicily, became Italian, and now has become a Catholic tradition,” he said. Playing the part Salvatore Sparacino, who along with his brother Russell organizes the St. Joseph Table at St. Eugene Parish, said that in Italy table hosts would ask three townspeople to dress as Mary, Joseph and the child Jesus, and invite them to eat first at the table. Some churches continue this pageantry today by having the Holy Family figures lead a procession from the church to the parish hall for the St. Joseph Table. The brothers are continuing a tradition important to their late father, Joseph Sparacino, who was born in Italy. “Our father instilled a devotion to St. Joseph. It was big in his life and we kind of picked up on it,” said Salvatore Sparacino. Many years ago, his father wanted to hold a St. Joseph Mass and another St. Eugene parishioner, the late Joe Coco, wanted to run the St. Joseph Table, so they teamed up. Sparacino’s father, a carpenter like his namesake, carved the wood frame and statue pedestal for the church’s impressive St. Joseph Table. “I think Joe Coco’s devotion came because one of his sons wasn’t well, and he prayed to St. Joseph for help, and the help came,” said Salvatore Sparacino. “For me and my brother and the other volunteers, we do it to enrich our own spiritual life.” Who was St. Joseph? The spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster father of Jesus, St. Joseph figures in the Infancy narrative of Matthew (1- 2) and Luke (1:2) and is described as a “just man.” A descendant of the royal house of David, Joseph was engaged to Mary before learning that she was expecting a child. He was visited by an angel who informed him that her pregnancy was “by the Holy Spirit.” Joseph took Mary to Bethlehem and was present at the Incarnation. Warned about the intent of King Herod the Great, Joseph then led Jesus and Mary to Egypt, only returning to Nazareth after Herod’s death. He devoted himself to raising Christ. The last mention of Joseph in Scripture is the seeking for Jesus in the temple of Jerusalem. It is believed he died before the passion of Christ. Special veneration to Joseph began in the Eastern church, where apocryphal writings provided a history of his life, while widespread veneration in the West dates to the 15th century. His feast was placed on the Roman calendar in 1479, and in 1870 Joseph was declared patron of the universal church. Often depicted in liturgical art as an elderly man, Joseph, whose feast day is March 19, is also regarded as the patron saint of carpenters (his trade), dying, fathers, social justice and working men. Source: Our Sunday Visitor’s “Encyclopedia of Saints.”