In an address to the Christian Association of Catholic workers in May 1955, Pope Pius XII established the feast of St Joseph the Worker, to be celebrated annually on the first day of May. The date is not incidental, as it coincides with International Workers’ Day, which had been celebrated on 1 May in many countries since the mid-to-late 1890s. The strategic placement of the Feast of St Joseph was meant to accomplish the dual purpose of affirming the dignity of labour but rejecting the Marxist tinge of International Workers’ Day. By claiming 1 May, Pius instituted the Feast of St Joseph to celebrate the worker but discard the ideology.