St Joseph of Arimathea

Joseph came from Arimathea in Judea and was a rich and respected member of the Sanhedrin, 'a good and righteous man who was waiting for the kingdom of God' and who, Luke records, had not consented to the council's purpose against Jesus. He had been a disciple of the Lord in secret for fear of the Jews; but when Christ died on the Cross, the secret disciple acted with a boldness the open ones could not find. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus, and with Nicodemus he took the Lord down from the Cross, wrapped him in fine linen with myrrh and aloes, and laid him in his own new tomb, hewn from the rock, in which no one had yet been laid. The Church sings of him at every burial vigil of Holy Friday. Later traditions tell of imprisonment for his deed and of missionary journeys; the hymns call him the noble Joseph.