Saint Joseph of Arimathea

Regarding the Holy Shroud, in which Joseph of Arimathea buried the body of the Savior, Father François Victon, a Minim, speaks of it in this way in a treatise he wrote specifically on this subject: It is, he says, of a fine and strong cloth, three cubits wide, twelve long, and of a single piece; the figure and shadows of the body of Our Lord are represented there, both on the front and on the fold. Joseph and Nicod emus ano Nicodème Disciple who assisted Joseph with the embalming and burial. inted this adorable body with one hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes, and then placed it in the monument that this first disciple had recently had carved for himself, in the rock, in a place in his garden. This is what the four Evangelists teach us, and what we have for certain about this disciple of Jesus. In a Gospel attributed to Nicodemus , it is noted, if we are to Évangile attribué à Nicodème Apocryphal text recounting the imprisonment of Joseph. believe Gregory of Tours and Baronius, that the Princes of the priests were so strongly irritated against Joseph of Arimathea, regarding the burial he had given to Jesus Christ, that they seized this disciple, locked him up, and guarded him themselves while the soldiers watched over the sepulcher; that on the night in which the Savior rose again, Joseph was miraculously delivered from prison by an angel, and that the Jews, reproaching the soldiers for their cowardice in having thus allowed the body of Jesus to be taken from the tomb, the latter replied to them: "Deliver Joseph to us, and we will"

LIVES OF THE SAINTS. — Volume III. 33 we shall deliver Christ; but as you cannot give us back the benefactor of God, neither can we, for our part, put the Son of God into your hands.

Although tradition tells us nothing of the retirement of Joseph of Arimathea after the burial of Jesus, one may nevertheless be persuaded that he remained, until the end of his life, in the company of the most holy Virgin and the other disciples, and that he was thus with them on the day of the Ascension, on the Mount of Olives, to see ascend into heaven that same body to which he had rendered the pious duties of burial; that ten days later, he received the Holy Spirit with the twelve Apostles; that he brought the price of all his goods to their feet to embrace an entirely apostolic life himself, and that he finally died in Jerusalem, from where his body was transported to France, under Charlemagn e, to the abbey of Moye abbaye de Moyen-Moutier Vosgian monastery claiming possession of the saint's relics. n-Moutier, in the diocese of Toul, by Fortunatus, Patri Fortunat, patriarche de Grado Patriarch of Grado who brought relics to France. arch of Grado, who was fleeing the persecution of the idolaters, and who was, thereafter, abbot o f the same mona saint Hylduiphe Founder of the Abbey of Moyen-Moutier. stery, founded by Saint Hylduiphe, Archbishop of Trier. There are authors who believe that the Jews did not cease to persecute this generous disciple, and that, to banish him from their lands, they exposed him without sails or oars, with Saint Martha, Saint Magdalene, Saint Lazarus their brother, and Saint Maximin; but that the vessel, by an effect of divine Providence, having arrived happily at the port of Marseille, in Provence, Joseph of Arimathea traversed all of France and passed on to Great Britain, preached Jesus Christ there, and died there in peace; and it is apparently for this reason that the English recognize him as their first Apostle.

The arts have summarized the history of the saint who buried Jesus as follows:

1° According to a legend dear to the English of the Middle Ages, Saint Joseph of Arimathea inherited the cup used by Jesus Christ on the day of the Last Supper: this is why he is depicted with a cup in his hand; — 2° he is also represented holding one of the ends of the Holy Shroud, while Nicodemus holds the other; — 3° he naturally forms part of the group of those who buried the Savior: Nicodemus, Saint John, and the Blessed Virgin, when this scene is retraced by painting, sculpture, or engraving; — 4° at other times he is represented planting a staff in the ground, for English legend also claims that at Glas tonbury, he Glastonbury Final place of translation of the saint's relics. thrust his staff into the ground, which became a shrub bearing red and white flowers around Christmas; — 5° finally, he is placed in the vessel that brought Saint Lazarus and Saint Mary Magdalene to the coasts of Provence.

## RELICS OF SAINT JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA.

Abbé Deblaye wrote to us from Imling, on November 25, 1862:

I am happy to be able to answer your questions of November 22, 1862.

1° Was the body of Saint Joseph of Arimathea brought to Moyen-Moutier: and then, subsequently stolen by monks?

Does any trace of it still remain?

Dom Humbert Belhomme, in his *Historia mediani monasterii, argentorati*, 1724, in-4°, will answer us.

Fortunatus, Patriarch of Grado, and not of Jerusalem, having had to take refuge in France, obtained the Abbey of Moyen-Moutier from Charlemagne. The history of the successors of Saint Hylduiphe, which Dom Belhomme publishes in his book, based on a manuscript from Paderborn, believing it to be anonymous, although it is by Valcandus, a monk of Moyen-Moutier, at the beginning of the 11th century, speaks thus of the relics brought there by Fortunatus: « Ipsius vero collatione, ex cunctis pene instrumentis

humans conversationi atque passioni Domini aptatis amplexibilia pignora locus hic mernit percipere, paritorque pretiosorum Martyrum Stephani, Lazari quadridui sepulti, Georgii, atque Pancrati, cum plurimis : quod nunc longum videtur prosequi.

The relics mentioned above were not whole relics, but partial; thus, nothing remains of them. You see, moreover, that our oldest chronicler does not speak of Joseph of Arimathea at all.

Here is Dom Belhomme's note on the text above:

« E. Richerius in chronico Senonieni et Johannes a Bayona in historia Medianensi tradunt Fortunatum attulisse ad medianum monasterium corpus sancti Josephi Arimathei, sed postmodum eo videlicet tempore, quo Canonici idem monasterium possederunt, a quibusdam monuchis peregrinis nocte furatum et exportatum fuisse. At rem suspectam reddit silentium anonymi hujus auctoris (Valcandi), qui Richerium docentis et Joannem a Bayono trecentis annis præcedit ».

Dom Belhomme seems to me to be in the right, in not believing the accounts of Richer and Jean de Bayon. It is quite certain that for many centuries no trace of this relic has remained at Moyen-Moutier.

2° You then ask what became of the abbey? The ancient abbey was demolished about a hundred years ago, and rebuilt a few hundred meters lower down: of the first, hardly anything remains but the enclosure wall; the current presbytery, which is quite recent, is approximately on the site of the Church. The total demolition by the monks themselves would have uncovered the hidden treasures and monuments, if there had been any.

The new abbey still exists in very large part and belongs to the Sellières, who also have the Abbey of Senones; both are cotton mills: Moyen-Moutier is the laundry. The church, which exists entirely with its tower, is parochial.

The Church still possesses the body of Saint Hylduiphe, almost complete; the bodies of his two disciples, Jean and Benigne, two brothers; some bones of Saint Spinule or Spin, another disciple. Another part was transported from the priory of Belval to the parish church of Portieux, and all the large bones that were in the Saint-Léopold abbey, in Nancy, perished during the Revolution: — some bones of the body of Saint Genus, another disciple; the bodies of Saint Maximin, Archbishop of Trier, and of Saint Boniface, the Theban, minus the heads, brought to Moyen-Moutier, probably by Saint Hylduiphe.

In the reliquary of Saint Hylduiphe there is also a dalmatic from the 7th century which could well be that of Saint Leodegar, rather than what was called the tunic of Saint Hylduiphe, given this text from the chronicle of Jean de Bayon: « Ego vero in ipso scrinio vidi, cum plurimis aliis ipsorum martyrum reliquis, de saxo quo lapidatus est sanctus Stephanus, et carbones sanguineos sancti Laurentii levit, et dalmaticam sancti Leodegarii ».

In 1854, I published, in the Journal of the Lorraine Archaeological Society, a description of this sacred garment.

The tomb of Saint Hylduiphe also exists in the Saint-Grégoire chapel, in the cemetery: it is a stone sarcophagus without an inscription. — The relics of Moyen-Moutier were solemnly recognized on August 6, 1854, by Mgr Caverot, Bishop of Saint-Dié, after a long study of revision carried out by me.

The Roman Martyrology marks the memory of this disciple of Jesus on March 17, and Cardinal Baronius speaks of him in the first volume of his Annals.