An angel spoke to St. Joseph through a dream, warning him to flee his homeland, just as dreams told the wise men not to speak to Herod and to return  to their country by another route.  After the wise men had left, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said: 'Get up, take the child and his mother with you, and escape into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and do away with him.' So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, left that night for Egypt (Matthew 2.13,15) 

From his earliest life, Jesus knew the pain of the wanderer and of the refugee. According to tradition, Mary and Joseph were separated from their extended families and forced to live as strangers in a foreign land.  They knew the anguish and uncertainty of traveling in fear for their lives.  They trusted in the Spirit of the Lord speaking through the prophet: 'Out of Egypt I have called my son.' (Matthew 2: 15) While they saved Jesus, they could not save those innocent children in Bethlehem who were massacred by Herod. Again, the words of the prophet were fulfilled: 'It was Rachel weeping for her children, refusing all consolation, because they were no more.' (Matthew 2.18)

When Herod died, again St. Joseph heard the call of God's angel in a dream to return to Israel, and he settled in Nazareth in Galilee. Throughout his life, Jesus was known as a Galilean from northern Israel.