Joe, the Holy Date Palm?

Today stands between the feasts of St. Francis de Sales (Jan. 24) and St. John Bosco (Jan. 31). In looking for something to share this week, I began my search for anything that St. John Bosco might have said about Joe. However, I really couldn't find anything, but I was inspired to look at what St. Francis de Sales had to say. After all, John Bosco had such a great devotion to Francis de Sales that he named the religious order that he established after de Sales: the Salesian Order. I came across a talk that de Sales gave, entitled On the Virtues of St. Joseph. You can read the talk here.

What struck me most about this talk was how Francis de Sales compared Joe to a date-palm tree, and it truly is an amazing comparison. He begins the talk by quoting Psalm 92:13, "The just shall flourish like the palm tree..." He basically compares Joe's three "primary" virtues (virginity, humility, and courage) with the date tree:

1. Virginity (pg. 366-371): The date-palm tree is either male or female (the male tree exclusively produces the pollen, and the female tree exclusively produces the flower). Therefore, "the male palm-tree does not bear fruit, and yet it is not unfruitful, for the female palm would bear no fruit without it, or without its aspects." Similarly, Joe does not produce children of his own (de Sales believed that Joe was a young-virgin spouse of Mary, pg. 369); yet, he is not unfruitful because Jesus becomes his son through his spousal relationship with Mary.
2. Humility (pg. 371-378): The date-palm tree does not produce flowers until summer-time. Francis de Sales interprets summer-time spiritually as one's entrance into heaven and the putting forth of flowers as the recognition of virtue. He says that the humble person does not try to make their virtue public, but tries to keep it hidden, and prefers that God will reveal the person's virtue after he or she has died. De Sales points out that the Sacred Scriptures do not directly reveal much about Joe because Joe truly lived a humble and hidden life (pg. 372-373).
3. Courage (pg. 378-383): The date-palm tree does not bend low the more it becomes laden with fruit; instead, the more fruit it has, the taller it seems to grow. This seems to correspond with the virtue of courage, which does not back away when given a heavier load, but rather, seems to grow even stronger. De Sales relates this to Joe who was given the very difficult task of providing for Jesus and Mary in the midst of dangers, poverty and uncertainty.

So, who knew that Joe could be compared to a date tree? 

In case you were wondering about the biological statements about date trees, consider this Encyclopedia Britannica article on date trees. To make the comparison even more interesting, this article concludes by stating that date-palm leaves are commonly used on Palm Sunday. What was proclaimed on Palm Sunday? “Hosanna to the Son of David..." (Matthew 21:30) 

And is not Joe a son of David? (Matthew 1:20)

Coincidence? I think not.