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..