From the Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by Msgr. Gentilucci:
“We cannot fix precisely,” says Father Binet, “the year of Saint Joseph’s death; what is regarded as certain is, that he passed from this to another life before the passion of Christ. He died in the arms of Jesus and Mary: a happiness which causes feelings of the deepest devotion… His passage to the other world was more a triumph than a death…..On that occasion, I doubt not, all the court of Heaven descended to venerate that body, in which had dwelt so great a soul, adorned with those riches of virtue which the Gospel embraces in the name of Just.
“ ‘Go,’ must the angels have said, ‘go, O new precursor, and bear to the holy patriarchs the tidings of their coming liberation, which now appears as the dawn of the Sun of Justice above the horizon, foretokening happiness…Already is thy throne prepared at the right hand of that which awaits thy spouse. Thou shalt be as the great counselor in the court of Heaven, the treasurer of the riches and grace which the Almighty Father dispenses; thou shalt be the protector of the Church about to arise, and the advocate of its children in all necessities and cares.’
“We…recur to the conjecture of Papebroke, to suppose that Saint Joseph died in Jerusalem, and was buried in that valley, in which stand the tomb of Josaphat and the garden of Gethsemani….where stood the tomb of his illustrious ancestors.”
