The Visitation of Mary, with Joe?

Among the various depictions of Joe at St Jude’s in Elyria, this particular stained glass of the Visitation caught my attention. What strikes me is that Joe is depicted in the scene of Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth but he is never mentioned in this part of the story (Luke 1:39-56).

I was wondering if there is a tradition of Joe accompanying Mary to visit Elizabeth, and so I did what everyone else does, I googled it. I came across this article by Fr Edward Looney that shortly asks the question from three sources: Scripture, private revelations, and art. His conclusion... there’s no way of knowing for sure.

One of the benefits of the holding the view that Joe accompanied Mary is it offers an answer to how Joseph found Mary “with child through the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18). In fact, we could understand this passage in a new way: Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant, before others were able to know, through the Holy Spirit, Who spoke through Elizabeth that Mary was pregnant (Luke 1:41-45).