ST JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA - 31 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 31st of August

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA 

Saint Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, but a faithful disciple of Jesus. It was no small proof of his great piety, that, though he had riches and honours to lose, he feared not the malice of men, but at a time when the apostles trembled, boldly declared himself a follower of Jesus who was crucified; and with the greatest devotion embalmed and buried his sacred body.

THE PATRON OF GLASTONBURY

St Joseph of Arimathea was the patron of Glastonbury, where a church and hermitage, very famous in the times of the ancient Britons, were built by the first apostles of this island: among whom some moderns have placed St Joseph himself, and Aristobulus. 

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints) 

DID HE TRAVEL TO ENGLAND?

N. B.: There exist very interesting accounts of Joseph of Arimathea having been to Glastonbury, England, and that he brought Saviour Jesus Christ there for some time when He was a youth. These accounts inspired William Blake to the following lines (from the poem "Jerusalem"):

"And did those feet in ancient time 

Walk upon England's mountain green? 

And was the holy Lamb of God 

On England's pleasant pastures seen?"