Sfingi and Zeppole Pastries

On the eve of the feast of St. Joseph's Day, I think of my father, Joseph, who always gave me a tremendous amount of encouragement, a love of books and so much more. He is greatly missed. My middle initial stands for Jo, which is my middle name. If I were born a boy, I would have been named Joseph but since I was a girl, I was given the middle name Jo.

Tomorrow I will go to the bakery and buy sfingi and zeppole. I can hardly wait. I was looking up references to St. Joseph's pastries and many sites have pictures of these delicious Italian pastries, which made me want to go to the bakery now....

St. Joseph is the patron of the universal Church, given this title by Pope Pius IX, for his role as guardian and protector of the Church. A righteous, just and humble man, who descended from royal lineage (he is linked to the house of King David), he can teach us all something about humility. 

St. Teresa of Avila wrote this about St. Joseph, To other saints the Most High seems to have given grace to assist us in some special necessity, but St. Joseph, I know by experience, has power to help us in ALL. I recently found a St. Joseph prayer card that I had, which came from the Carmel of Buffalo and it had St. Teresa's quote on it, which is how it found it's way into this entry. 

NJA