Nuns also don't get married. Poor Joseph.
I don't know when the idea started of Joseph being a young man when he married Mary, but that's just not true. Joseph was 80 years old when he was charged with the task of being her guardian. He had already been married once before, had children, and lived a full life before he even met her. The only reason he married her was due to the fact that legal guardianship didn't exist yet.
Not that I doubt you, but how/where was his age documented? I always just assumed they were close to the same age since they were going to be married.
Church tradition states that he was 80 years old. The apocryphal text "History of Joseph the Carpenter", written in the fifth century, says he was 90. Also they didn't get married right away. She was only twelve when they met. Girls couldn't get married until they were at least 14.
He was an old man that was more of a guardian than a husband. Remember in 13bc women had no rights. If they weren’t married, they were with their family. If a woman wasn’t a virgin, she legally couldn’t get married. If she was found to not be a virgin on her wedding night, that was a death penalty. As I had said in a previous comment, she was given to the temple. I got this from the Gospel of St. Luke.
Like how old? I mean, I'm not exactly a young guy anymore, but I still like to hit it.
Haha amen to that. To be honest, I’m not sure. I am assuming since they got married once the menstruated she was probably 12 or 13. He had a previous wife and other kids that were adults, so probably 50s-60s. Mary’s cousin Elizabeth and Aaron (St. John the Forerunner’s parents) were in their 80s.
edit I looked it up and some early Church writings put St. Joseph in his 80’s.