You don't have to be Catholic to bury a statue of St Joseph

There is a long standing legend that claims burying a statue of St Joseph in your yard when you’re trying to sell your house will make your house sell faster. Thousands of home owners and realtors swear that the legend is true and that if you bury a statue of St. Joseph upside down in the yard then the house will sell faster. Even if you’re not Catholic this tradition can work for you if you’re trying to sell your home.

In the Catholic faith St. Joseph is the patron saint of home and family.  St. Joseph was the adopted father of Jesus and raised Jesus as his child. Because he was a responsible and loving father that worked hard to provide a stable, happy home he is known as the patron saint of homes and families.  He was a carpenter by trade and built houses, among other things, which is why Catholics believe that praying to him will help a house sell more quickly.

The tradition of burying a statue of St. Joseph in the yard of a home and praying to St. Joseph to make the house sell faster can be traced back through thousands of years.  Some people believe that the tradition started far back in the 1500s when a famous Catholic mystic, St. Teresa of Avila, needed to find land to build a new convent on. She had founded an order of Carmelite nuns that lived in extreme poverty to show their devotion to God and to be closer to God.  St. Teresa was not having much luck finding a piece of land that was right for her new convent so she told the nuns in her order to bury consecrated medals of St. Joseph in the grounds of their convent and to pray to him to help her find land for the new convent.  The prayers and burying the blessed medals worked, and St. Teresa quickly found a perfect piece of land. 

Another version of the legend says that the practice began with carpenters and home builders in Germany who used to bury small statues of St. Joseph and blessed St. Joseph medals in the walls and foundation of the homes that they built while praying for the safety and happiness of the family that would live in the house.  Over the years the tradition became to bury small statues of St. Joseph and pray to him when you wanted to sell your home. 

If you want to sell your home quickly, even if you’re not Catholic, burying a statue of St. Joseph might be exactly what you need.  You will need to get a small statue of St. Joseph and bury it upside down in your yard.  Legend says that the statue should be buried upside down so that the statue will need to work harder to get out of the ground and into a home.  The best place to bury the statue is by the For Sale sign in your yard although people have also had success when they buried the St. Joseph statue in the backyard of the house and in the front yard of the house facing the house. Once the house has been sold you should dig up the statue of St. Joseph and bring the statue with you to your new home. Put the statue in a place of honor in your new home and say a prayer of thanks to St. Joseph for his help.

You could also leave the statue buried in the ground to protect the new homeowners and help them find safety and comfort in the home but some people warn that not bringing the statue with you will only make the property change hands again and again. So it’s probably a good idea to put a marker where you bury the statue and make sure that you dig up the statue and take it with you so that you’re not causing the property to get sold over and over again.  

There is no particular prayer that you need to say in order to ask St. Joseph for help. If you’re not Catholic just ask St. Joseph from the heart to help you find a buyer for your home and that will be just as good as a formal prayer.  Prayers that come from the heart are always heard, even if you’re not Catholic.

Leo Wallman