May 1st (or May Day) used to be a secular holiday to celebrate the return of spring, but gradually communist countries staged big parades for workers on May Day. To counter this atheistic notion that separated work from faith, Pope Pius XII instituted May 1st as the feast day of St. Joseph the Worker in 1955. His action built upon earlier popes who had pointed to St. Joseph as the Church’s “labour leader.” Saint Joseph, patron saint of workers, is an example of what it means to work with dedication, humility, and a spirit of service.