Joseph is the silent man of the gospel — he says nothing in any of the four accounts. What he does is righteous, quick, and faithful: he protects Mary when others would have shamed her; he takes the child to Egypt to save him from Herod; he raises Jesus and teaches him his trade.
The tradition has long honored him under three titles: patron of the universal Church, patron of workers (because Jesus learned carpentry from him), and patron of a holy death (because tradition holds he died in the company of Jesus and Mary). His solemnity falls in Lent, a quiet light in the penitential season.