And this is the route that many people took. Although no one is quite sure where the practice started -- Chicago is most often cited -- anxious sellers across the country began burying statues of St. Joseph in their yards.
Although the market is no longer depressed, many hoping to unload the old homestead are still looking for heavenly assistance and still burying St. Joseph.
Nationally, about 2 million St. joseph statues are sold every year, said Baker Patrick Sr., owner of Baker Patrick & Sons in Southington, a major retailer of religious articles.
"We sell about 10 plastic St. Joseph statues a day," says Lucille Perry, a clerk at Baker Patrick. "Most of them are to people who want to sell their homes..."
The custom of burying St. Joseph has become so widespread that there is even a "Home Sale Kit," which includes a plastic statue, a prayer card and an introduction to the "Saint Joseph Home Sale Practice." The relationship between St. Joseph and a three-bedroom ranch with finished basement stems from his being the patron of home and family, says Gloria Gick, assistant manager of the Catholic Book Store in Hartford, Conn.
Another theory traces the connection to a chapel building effort in Montreal in the late 1800s.
According to a book called The Litany of Saints, Brother Andre Bessett wanted to buy some land on Mount Royal in Montreal to construct a small chapel called an oratory. When the landowners refused to sell, Bessett began planting medals of St. Joseph on the property. In 1896, the owners suddenly relented and sold, and Bessett was able to build his oratory.
The current sowing of plastic figurines is also rooted in transactional desperation.
"When the big crash came, suddenly people who had a $250,000 house now had one worth $175,000," says Patrick. "People were in dire straits. The statue became a personal thing they tried. And it's amazing how many people called back to say they sold their house after burying a statue. I remember one woman who called and said she had to sell her house and was wondering about St. Joseph. I asked her what the price of her house was, and she told me $395,000. I said you better buy an expensive statue for that price. And she did. A month later, she called back and said, 'I can't thank you enough.'"
Those who buy St. Joseph statues for real estate purposes can be broken down into two main groups: the faithful and the superstitious.
Superstitions associated with the burying of St. Joseph include:
"To some people it's, 'Hey, give me a statue,'" says Patrick. "We had a Realtor call one day who said he wanted to buy 100 statues. He was going to hand them out like they were candy or something."
"Our position is that the statue in and of itself doesn't do anything," says Gick.
"What we say to people is we don't know about the statue, but what we do know is that prayer works."
Although the St. Joseph Home Sale Practice supports the notion of faith as being more important than icon, it also alludes to a third factor:
"For this practice to be fully effective, however ... the seller must, of course, first do such practical yet all important chores as completing all necessary fix-up, properly staging the home and finally, adjusting the price so as to exactly reflect market value."
