Vespasian and Joseph of Arimathea

'An additional reason for believing the story of St. Joseph of Arimathea's coming to Britain is not a mere invention is provided by the following facts: apocryphal literature and the Grail legend both connect the name of St. Joseph with Vespasian and Titus. De Borron incorrectly makes Titus the father of Vespasian, i.e. older than Vespasian. It has been supposed that the connection of these emperors with St. Joseph originated in the account of the historian Josephus, of his own meeting with the two Roman generals and his subsequent liberation from prison in Palestine shortly before Titus sacked Jerusalem. De Boron's fantastic claim that Vespasian became a convert to Christianity might lend weight to the supposition that the whole story is based on error. But, in fact, the claim is not so fantastic as it at first appears. Vespasian was a comparatively humble Roman officer commanding the Second Augusta Legion in Britain at about the time when St. Joseph of Arimathea would have arrived in this island, so it is just possible that a meeting did take place. Vespasian's elder brother Titus Flavius Sabinus was serving under him in Britain [Dio Bk. LX< 19] and even Dio on one occasion confused Vespasian's elder brother Titus with his famous son the Emperor Titus. There is reason to believe that Titus Flavius Sabinus did become a Christian. Certainly his son Flavius Clemens died a Christian martyr. The conversion of this branch of the family is discussed in 'The Early Church in the Light of Monuments' by A. S. Barnes. It is not impossible, therefore, that the legend of a connection between St. Joseph of Arimathea and a Christian 'Titus' may be founded on truth'  from 'The Ancient Secret' p.133 fn..