Holy Rosary Church sets the St. Joseph Table next week

One of the oldest Italian-American parishes in Kansas City, Holy Rosary Catholic Church, is famous for continuing an old Sicilian culinary tradition, the St. Joseph Table, each year in Columbus Park.

A century ago, Sicilian immigrants living in and around the Columbus Park neighborhood practiced a custom they had brought with them from their homeland: celebrating the intercession of the country’s patron, St. Giuseppe, in preventing a famine – by creating rain during a drought – during the Middle Ages. Sicilians began the tradition of honoring the saint with a lavish feast. Over the years, the feast has been transformed from an eating celebration to a more visual-art form: a St. Joseph’s Table is now more about viewing a display of food than eating it.

But in Kansas City, there’s still a significant culinary component to the festivities, with many area churches serving a free pasta dinner on the actual feast day – this year on Tuesday, March 19 – and selling a variety of foodstuffs and pastries.