Joseph was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church and Anglicanism. His feast day is observed by some Lutherans. In Catholic traditions, Joseph is regarded as the patron saint of workers and is associated with various feast days. The month of March is dedicated to Saint Joseph. Pope Pius IX declared him to be both the patron and the protector of the Catholic Church, in addition to his patronages of the sick and of a happy death, due to the belief that he died in the presence of Jesus and Mary. Joseph has become patron of various dioceses and places.
Joseph C. Panjikaran (1888-1949) of Shertallay was a Syro-Malabar Catholic monsignor, historian, theologian, journalist, and the founder of the Dharmagiri Hospital, Kothamangalam, and the Congregation of the Medical Sisters of St. Joseph (Dharmagiri sisters). The cause of his canonisation was initiated by the Diocese of Kothamangalam in 2010. Joseph C. Panjikaran was born on 10 September 1888 in the village of Uzhuva, in the diocese of Ernakulam as the son of Chacko Panjikaran and Mariam Kanichattu. Panjikaran became director of the propagation of faith in the Vicariate of Ernakulam. He believed that the church had responsibility to provide medical services to the poor and the sick. He opened a hospital named Dharmagiri at Kothamangalam, Kerala in 1934 and founded the congregation of Medical Sisters of St. Joseph in 1944. He died of a heart attack on 4 November 1949