Will burying St. Joseph help house sell?
by C.J. Schepers There’s a new real estate agent in town named St. Joseph. He’s thousands of years old, wears a long robe instead of a suit and calls upon God instead of a multiple listing book. It is uncertain where the custom of burying St. Joseph statues originated, but those who follow it believe the saint will bring about a quicker sale of their property. “It’s one of the pecularities of certain traditions among the faithful,” said the Rev. Kenneth Borowiak, spokesman for the Lincoln Diocese. “It certainly has no basis in Scripture. It belongs to the realm of pious traditions from the Middle Ages.” According to the U.S. Catholic Information Center in Washington, D.C., the tradition is traced back hundreds of years to Theresa of Avila, who prayed to St. Joseph when the convents needed more land and encouraged nuns to bury St. Joseph medals in the ground as a symbol of their devotion. Mary Jane VanBerg decided to follow the custom after her sister in California, who had a friend try
