V. JOSEPH of Arimathea, or of Ramatha1, a Jewish senator, and privately a disciple John xix. 51. Luke xxiii. 51.of Jesus Christ. He was not consenting to the designs of the rest of the Jews, particularly of the members of the Sanhedrim, who condemned and put Jesus Christ to death; and when our Saviour was dead he went boldly to Pilate and desired the body of JesusMark. xv. 43. John xix. 38., in order to bury it. He obtained it, and buried it after an honourable manner, in a Sepulchre newly made in a garden, which was upon the same mount Calvary where Jesus had been crucified. After he had placed it Matth. xxvii. 60. John xix. 40, 41.there, he closed the entrance of it with a stone, cut particularly for this purpose, which exactly filled the open part of it.
The Greek Church keeps the festival of S. Joseph of Arimathea on the 31st of July. We do not meet with his name in the old Latin Martyrologies, nor was it inserted in the Roman, till after the year 1585. The body of Joseph of Arimathea, was, they say,2 brought to the Abby of Moyenmontier, by Fortunatus Archbishop of Grada, to whom Charlemain had given this Monastery under the denomination of a Benefice. Here the body of this Saint was honoured till the tenth Age; but then the Monastery being given to canons, who continued seventy years there, the Relicks of this Saint were carried away by some foreign Monks, and were lost with many others. I do not relate here what we read in the spurious acts of Joseph of Arimathea. As to this, any one who pleases may consult the Bollandists on the 17th of March.
Read this article in its place on the printed pages
Footnotes
-
Eusebius upon the word Ramah says it is the same with Arimathea, and upon the name Armathem Sepha, he says it is the same as Arimathea mentioned in the Gospel. S. Jerom in S. Paula’s Epitaph says, that Arimath- ea, is not far from Diospolis or Lidda. It is therefore the city of Rama or Ramula between Joppa and Jerusalem. ↩
-
Richerii Senonienf. Monachi Chronic. l. 2. c. 7, 8. & Joan. de Bayon. Chronic. MS. Mediani Monasterii. These authors make Fortunatus to be Archbishop of Jerusalem, but without doubt he is the same as Fortunatus Archbishop of Grada, under Charlemain. See le Cointe Annal. Franc. t. 6. p. 817. ↩