St. Isidore of Seville, Patron Saint of the Internet.

Photo by sarahlboydIn case you don’t believe there’s actually a saint for everything, we found a super interesting one for our fabulous fans.  Yes, you read that title right:  Patron Saint of the Internet.

Surprised? Us too.

St. Isidore was born circa 560 in Spain.  He became one of the most learned men of his time, writing a dictionary, encyclopedia and complete history of the Goths.

He attempted to compile a summa of universal knowledge. This encyclopedia epitomized all ancient and contemporary learning. It preserves many fragments of classical learning, otherwise hopelessly lost. The fame of this work imparted a new impetus to encyclopedic writing, which bore abundant fruit in the subsequent centuries of the Middle Ages. (Wikipedia)

Photo by Lucius Beebe Memorial LibraryHe has been widely recognized as the patron saint of both computer users and schoolchildren.  You know those days where you just want to throw a rock through your computer screen? Now you have options.  We suggest you try a prayer to St. Isidore instead.

EcoJoe Wishes You a Happy St. Valentine’s Day!.

Photo by Shandi-leeSome people dread it, some people love it — what kind of saint would EcoJoe be if we didn’t give you the low down on the most romantic saint of all?

Did you know Saint Valentine actually refers to not one, but several martyred saints of Ancient Rome.  Saint Valentine, whose feast is celebrated on February 14th, was a holy priest in Rome and is the patron saint of young people and happy marriages.  The origin of St. Valentine, and how many St. Valentines there were, remains a mystery. One opinion is that he was a Roman martyred for refusing to give up his Christian faith. Other historians hold that St. Valentine was a temple priestjailed for defiance during the reign of Claudius. In 496 AD Pope Gelasius marked February 14th as a celebration in honor of his martyrdom.

Photo by historic.brusselsIt’s unclear and not exactly known if the noble priest had any relation at all to what we know celebrate as Valentine’s Day.  One legend ties the celebration in with the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalis, a fertility celebration on February 15th.

How does a martyred priest evolve into flowers, candy, and lovey dovey greeting cards?  It’s quite a leap of faith, but then again — so is burying a certain saint in the ground to sell your home *ahem*.  In love and all things, you just have to have faith. Happy Valentines Day from EcoJoe!
Photo by Muffet

Christmas Around the World with St. Joseph.

Now that we’ve gotten past Thanksgiving, it’s time to celebrate our favorite time of the year: Christmas! We know that St. Joseph is honored in different parts of the world in different ways:  as the human father figure of Jesus Christ, as the patron saint of carpenters and the home, and as a good luck charm in selling real estate.  During Christmas, St. Joseph tends to take a back burner as Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  Here are three Christmas traditions from around the world:

In our last post we talked a little about the traditional Nativity Scene.  In Brazil, they call this the Presépio.  The word origins from the Hebrew word “presepium” which means the bed of straw upon which Jesus first slept in Bethlehem. The Presépio is common in northeastern Brazil The Presépio was introduced in the 17th century, in the city of Olinda in the state of Pernambuco by a Franciscan friar named Gaspar de Santo Agostinho. Nowadays presépios are set up in December and displayed in churches, homes, and stores.  These Nativity Scenes are lifelike human sized figures or even live displays.

Christmas in Australia is celebrated just like it might be in the United States, with one tiny twist:  it is a summer holiday! There is a lot of concern about Santa Claus perhaps suffering heat stroke whilst Down Under. “Swag Man” wears a brown Akubra, a blue singlet and long baggy shorts. He spends all winter under Uluru with his merry dingoes and then at Christmas time, he gets in his huge four-wheel drive and sets off through the red dust to deliver his presents.

Christmas in Spain is a very religious holiday.  The country’s patron saint is the Virgin Mary.  The Christmas season officially begins on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception.  The feast is celebrated each year in front of the great Gothic cathedral in Seville with a ceremony called Los Seises or “the dance of six.”  The ritual dance is performed by ten costumed boys.  Also celebrated in Spain is the Feast of the Holy Innocents. Young boys of a town or village light bonfires and one of them acts as the mayor who orders townspeople to perform civic chores such as sweeping the streets. Refusal to comply results in fines which are used to pay for the celebration.  In Spain they also celebrate The Feast of the Three Kings, where children leave their shoes out and receive more gifts — this time from the Magi traveling to bring gifts to the baby Jesus.

What are some unique traditions that your family will celebrate at Christmas?

Source:  Learn more about how Christmas is celebrated around the World here.

Another happy customer!.

It’s email like this that brightens our day and makes us love our inbox!!

“I’m a Realtor in NJ, and I was getting ready to put my own house on the market. I had only told a select few (didn’t want bad vibes from others) and my best friend Zuzy sent me a surprise in the mail to wish me luck. It was an Eco-Joe! I’d heard of St. Joseph before but never heard of Eco-Joe. I was a little skeptical but went ahead and followed all the directions and did the prayer. Ten days later we had our first contract! They were great people and we felt so happy that our house was going to have such wonderful new owners. The transaction went very smoothly and we closed last month Thanks for putting out such a great product. I will be buying these for my clients!!! – Patty”

We are just so grateful for fans like these!

Friday the 13th!.

Photo by Leo Reynolds
Photo by Leo Reynolds
Photo by Leo ReynoldsHello friends, Happy Friday the 13th!

Here are a few fun facts about the Friday the 13th superstition / myth:

Are you a believer of Paul the Octopus?.

Are you a believer of Paul the Octopus?

So many people are still debating if Pauly the Octopus can predict the future, just like many still debate if burying Saint Joseph statues can indeed guarantee a speedy sale. But hey, 8 out of 8 predictions for World Cup 2010 is pretty darn good.  What do you think?

By the way, Paul has become such an icon, he now has his own iPhone app:

Do you want an iPhone app for Saint Joseph?

Image source

Image source

Image source

Rising From the Ground or Buried Underneath, More About St. Joe’s Miracles.

We know about St. Joseph, but what do we know about St. Joseph of Cupertino?

A Franciscan friar, born in 1603 — this St. Joseph was best known for miracles that he performed over and over again.  Over seventy times, during mass or prayer, people saw him rise from the ground — floating in mid air!!

Learn more about St. Joseph of St. Cupertino.

Superstition Friday: Summer Brides Take Note, A Statue May Save Your Day.

Photo by tabrandtSince June seems to be the month of weddings galore, we thought we would do some digging on wedding superstitions for this month’s Superstition Friday.

Catholic Statue?

Saintly Intervention?

Sound familiar?

It’s not St. Joseph this time but a small statue of the Virgin Mary that is called on for extra help, not for selling homes but for a sunny wedding day.

Photo by Lawrence OPDifferent sources have different versions, but it sounds like if you put a tiny statue of the Virgin Mary in your windowsill, facing outwards at least one week before your wedding day (and say a small prayer), you can increase your chances of having a sunny wedding day.  Looks like St. Joseph won’t be the only saint performing miracles this summer.

Just in case you need to have extra wedding bliss, you can read more about wedding superstitions here.

St. Joseph Gets Some Facetime with the Pope in the Vatican Gardens.

Image Source

On July 5, 2010 the Pope dedicated the 100th Vatican fountain to none other than St. Joseph.  Located in the Vatican gardens, this fountain was dedicated to St. Joseph and was commissioned to pay homage to the Pope and his given name, Joseph.

In an address translated from Italian, the Pope said the fountain “represents a symbolic reminder of the values of simplicity and humility in accomplishing God’s will every day…”

The was designed by by Italian artist Franco Murer and is decorated by six bronze panels depicting different scenes from St. Joseph’s life and service.  The address by the Pope goes on to describe St. Joseph and how he lived his life with humility and trust.  An especially thoughtful part of the address highlights how St. Joseph carries out his service to others and activities in silence.

Summer can be a good time to do volunteer work and perform services for others.  This has been a busy summer for St. Joseph.  Have you spent any time this summer helping others?

Watch a newscast of the dedication here:  Vatican’s 100th Fountain Dedicated to St. Joseph

“St. Joseph – Sell My House!”.

Special thanks to realtor Jennifer Davis, who wrote a great blog sharing the legend behind St. Joseph and how he is helping home sellers everywhere.  We love to read about different ways that others in the real estate industry share this very interesting tradition. Jenn’s blog mentions that many St Joseph statues are still left behind even when the properties had sold, this is the exact problem EcoJoe solves! It’s great to have the eco-friendly alternative to resolve issues like this.

Here is what she wrote:

St. Joseph is the patron saint of real estate matters and home sales. In this recovering market, as some homes languish on the market, the practice of using a St. Joseph statue has become increasingly popular to aid in the sale of homes.

The custom begins with burying a St. Joseph statue upside in the front lawn. If you do not have a front lawn, a potted plant will suffice. Place the statue head down, facing east, and cover the hole. Some say his feet should be facing heaven and his head facing the home (which may not be east-facing). Some say it should face the street or face the “for sale” sign. But there is agreement that his head should be buried upside down.

There is a prayer that needs to be said at this point and that prayer usually comes with the St. Joseph packaging. When the property sells, you must dig up the statue, clean it off, and carry it to your new home where it should be kept in a place of dignity or honor (fireplace mantle, for example). I bet there are many St. Joseph statues still buried upside down and forgotten. I wonder what happened with the subsequent sale of that property?

Of course, none of the sales could be complete without a top notch real estate agent. But that is another discussion for another time. I can send you the St. Joseph prayer; simply email me at jdavis@mcguire.com.

See Jenn Davis’ original St Joseph statue post here.

Around the World Wednesday: South Africa Welcomes ‘Die Hardste Werk Saint in Real Estate!’.

In honor of the World Cup this year, St. Joseph — the hardest working Saint in Real Estate — took a break from his day job and headed to Cape Town, South Africa to catch the games.

Ok — not really.

So St. Joe didn’t make it to the World Cup this year, but he was there in spirit.  And some students from St. Joseph’s Primary School (let’s just call them Ambassadors for St. Joe) were caught in the cutest photographs ever, faces painted and all — cheering on their respective teams from Trafalgar Square.

We think that’s close enough to do this month’s Around the World Wednesday from South Africa.  Don’t you?  (Image Source)

A Special Send Off for St. Joseph.

We found this jewel of a blog by Barb, a Catholic teacher in Nebraska — and *loved* the party they threw for St. Joseph!!  Here’s a quick summary:

Jo, a good friend of Barb’s, is a Religious Education coordinator for three separate parishes in Nebraska.  When The Sisters of the Good Shepherd closed up their convent 21 years ago, they held an auction and she became the proud owner of a 5foot statue of St. Joseph.  She had a special devotion to St. Joseph and and made the statue a center piece in her home.

Recently, Jo learned that the Immaculate Conception Church was in need of  St. Joseph statue — and thought it would make a nice gift to the church and the perfect place to pass on the special piece to.  She held a special send off party at her home, along with special blessings from a group of her 11 closest friends.  They prayed the rosary and reflected on the life of St. Joseph and on the different ways St. Joseph had touched their lives.

After St. Joe takes a quick visit to a local Religious restoration shop he will be moved to his new home at Immaculate Conception.  We’ll check back in with Barb in Nebraska to see how it goes!! (Image Source, credit to Barb’s Flickr stream)  Make sure you visit her great blog!

Don’t miss details of our upcoming party to celebrate EcoJoe’s FIRST BIRTHDAY in August!! Join our Facebook page to make sure you get your invite!