From the New Testament we learn that St. Joseph of Arimathea was a wealthy member of the high Jewish council called the Sanhedrin, and that on the day of the Crucifixion, when evening came, he went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate, after he had heard from the centurion on guard at the foot of the Cross that Our Lord was already dead, granted his request. Joseph took the body down and, with the help of Nicodemus the Pharisee, wrapt it in a linen sheet with spices, laid it in a new tomb hewn out of the rock, which he had made for himself in a garden nearby, rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.

What became of St. Joseph afterwards? The New Testament is silent about him; and so it may be safely assumed that he continued to live in or near Jerusalem until his death.

Although reliable history is also silent about him, legend and romance have been busy with his memory.

For instance it is said that in the time of Charles the Great, when barbarians were ravaging the Holy Land, the Patriarch of Jerusalem sent his body for greater safety to an abbey in France, where it disappeared, being stolen, 
as some said, by monks on pilgrimage.

Another chronicler states that in the year A.D. 48 the Jews, much incensed against Lazarus, Mary Magdalen, Martha, Joseph of Arimathea and others, put them into a ship without oars or sails or pilot, and that by divine providence they were safely carried across the sea to the harbour of Marseilles, whence they travelled to Britain. (1)

He appears also in the so called apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, also known as Acts of Pilate, in which we read that, because he had asked for the body of Jesus, he was put into prison by the Jews, from which he was delivered by Our Lord Himself on the night of the Resurrection.

Another story tells how he was again imprisoned for forty years because he continued to preach the Gospel in Jerusalem, and that during all that time he was miraculously sustained by light and food from heaven. 
This story was afterwards incorporated into the famous legend of the Holy Grail, the dish or cup used at the Last Supper, which St. Joseph is said to have brought to Britain. In this legend there is no mention of Glastonbury; but from Glastonbury we have another account of the coming of Joseph to Britain, which makes no mention of the Holy Grail. It is to be found in the first chapter of William of Malmesbury's book entitled, Concerning the Antiquity of the Church of Glastonbury, written about A.D.1130. It is, however, doubtful whether William really wrote this chapter as the earliest copy of the book dates from about ,A.D.1250; it was probably added after his death by another writer.

It states that during the persecution of the Church in Jerusalem, when St. Stephen was martyred, its members were dispersed, and St. Philip, the Apostle, came to France where he converted many to the Faith. He then chose twelve from among his followers and sent them to evangelise Britain (A.D.63), appointing as their leader his dearest friend, Joseph of Arimathea. The king of the country, Arviragus, refused to accept their message, but gave them the island of Ynys-witrin, on which Glastonbury is now situated. He also presented to each of them a portion of land, now known as the Twelve Hides. By angelic direction they built a Church of Wattles which "God's Son distinguished with greatest dignity by dedicating it in honour of His Mother", and here they dwelt for the rest of their lives.

The Tapestry reminds us too of the legend that when St. Joseph arrived at Glastonbury he planted his staff on Wearyall Hill, below the Tor and like Aaron's rod it miraculously budded. This is the origin of the so-called `Glastonbury Thorn'.

Another account is given by John of Glastonbury, who wrote a history of the Abbey about A.D.1400. He adds a passage said to be taken from a work of a British bard named Melkinus, who lived about the 6th century. 
This passage states that St. Joseph of Arimathea was buried in the Isle of Avalon, in a marble tomb, to the south of the Church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and that in the tomb there were also "two cruets", white and silver, filled with the blood and sweat of the prophet Jesus". It is quoted in support of a general belief that St. Joseph was buried in the monks' cemetery.

A person named John Bloom, of London, had, in fact, been given permission by Edward III in A.D.1345 to search for the body; but there is no record that he actually did so. (2)

That a search ending in failure may have taken place seems to be indicated by the statement of Rev. William Good, a Jesuit priest, born in Glastonbury in A.D.1527. He says that as a boy he served Mass at the Altar of St. Joseph's Chapel shortly before the dissolution, and that "the monks never knew for certain the place of the Saint's burial or pointed it out. They said the body was hidden most carefully, either at Glastonbury or on a hill near Montacute, called Hamden Hill". (3)

Any failure to find the body made no difference to the cult of St. Joseph at Glastonbury. Pilgrimages were made to 
a stone image of the Saint in the crypt beneath the Chapel of Our Lady. This crypt, known as St. Joseph's Chapel, was constructed by Abbot Bere about A.D.1500. Certain representations of the Saint survive, notably in the 15th century glass of the east window of Langport Church (Somerset), in which he is shown carrying the symbolic cruets, just as St. Dunstan was to be recognized by the goldsmith's pincers which he held in his hand.

St. Patrick, St. Dunstan and St. Benignus and the inscription The three Bishops confirm these things.

(1) Probably from Annanles Ecclesiastici by Cardinal Caesar Baronius, l6th century.

(2) The Flowering Hawthorn Hugh Ross Williamson, 1962, p.92.

(3) Two Glastonbury Legends Armitage Robinson, p.46.