Is St. Joseph the greatest saint after the Blessed Virgin Mary? According to Catholic teaching, is St. Joseph the greatest saint after the Blessed Virgin Mary?
Yes, since the 16th century this has become the more common teaching.cf. Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., Mother of the Saviour and Our Interior Life, ch. 7 &quot;The Predestination of St. Joseph and His Eminent Sanctity&quot;
Leo XIII, Quamquam pluries, August 15th, 1899, argues that St. Joseph's eminent sanctity is due to the graces of the sacrament of matrimony:

The dignity of the Mother of God is so elevated that there can be no higher created one. But since St. Joseph was united to the Blessed Virgin by the conjugal bond (maritale vinculum), there is no doubt that he approached nearer than any other to that super-eminent dignity of hers by which the Mother of God surpasses all created natures. Conjugal union is the greatest of all (coniugium societas necessitudoque omnium maxima); by its very nature it is accompanied by a reciprocal communication of the goods of the spouses. If then God gave St. Joseph to Mary to be her spouse He certainly did not give him merely as a companion in life, a witness of her virginity, a guardian of her honor, but He made him also participate by the conjugal bond (coniugali fœdere) in the eminent dignity which was hers.

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