https://hope-of-israel.org/i000111a.htm
Joseph of Arimathea and David's Throne in Britain!
We get a fleeting glimpse in the New Testament. This great man of YEHOVAH God strides onto center-stage, commands our attention for a few brief verses then, just as quickly, disappears -- never to be heard from again! Yet this man, whose life is just as fascinating or as intriguing as that of Paul or Peter, performed a VITAL mission in the plan of YEHOVAH God! As a close relative of the Messiah himself, Joseph of Arimathea carried the Pharez branch of the royal line of Judah to the tin islands of Britain where it merged with the line of Zarah already present in the islands. Read how the two lines merged in the person of the famous King Arthur and NOT by a fictitious marriage between a daughter of King Zedekiah and the Irish prince Heremon.
Not only that, but early documents of Britain and Gaul refer to Joseph in the same manner. The Welshman Maelgwyn of Llandaff calls Joseph the "NOBILIS DECURIO," as well as Rabanus Maurus (776-856 A.D.), Archbishop of Mayence and writer of the manuscript called the Life of St. Mary Magdalene.
A copy of this document is to be found in the Magdalen College Library at Oxford, England, and dates from the early part of the fifteenth century. No history is known of this manuscript; but it is neatly written on parchment and beautifully illuminated in colors and in gold. Experts note that the writing and illumination is very similar to that of the manuscript copy of the Tertius Opus of Roger Bacon in the Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford, which is generally considered to date from the end of the fourteenth or beginning of the fifteenth century.
It is abundantly clear that this copy of the Life of St. Mary from Rabanus' original is written by a professional scribe. The careful "illumination," the various copying errors, and the fact that at the end of the manuscript the writer goes on to transcribe a homily (sermon) of Origen (the celebrated writer, teacher and theologian of antiquity) on Mary Magdalen, lends credence to this being a faithful copy of the original.
In the 22nd chapter of this manuscript an account of the embalming and burial of the Messiah by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus is related, along with a detailed description of the mausoleum and sepulcher that Joseph had hewn out of the rock for his own use. Then the manuscript states that Joseph was known as the NOBILIS DECURION.
Gildas Badonicus ( 516- 570 A.D.), one of the earliest British historians, also refers to Joseph as "NOBILIS DECURIO." What does this Latin title mean?
Diodorus Siculus himself, in book V of his history of the world, details the British tin industry:
They that inhabit THE BRITISH PROMONTORY OF BELERIUM [old name for Cornwall], by reason of their converse with merchants, are more civilized and courteous to strangers than the rest. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT MAKE THE TIN, which with a great deal of care and labour they dig out of the ground; and that being rocky, the metal is mixed with some veins of earth, out of which they melt the metal and then refine it. Then they beat it into four square pieces like a die and carry it TO A BRITISH ISLE, near at hand, CALLED ICTIS. For at low tide, all being dry between them and the island, they convey over in carts ABUNDANCE OF TIN. But there is one thing that is peculiar to these islands which lie between Britain and Europe: for at full sea they appear to be islands, but at low water for a long way they look like so many peninsulas. Hence the merchants transport the tin they buy of the inhabitants of Gaul, and for thirty days' journey they carry it in packs upon horses' backs THROUGH GAUL TO THE MOUTH OF THE RIVER RHONE.
The Boat Without Oars!
The time came when the Sanhedrin finally caught up with Joseph and his faithful companions. Frederic Mistral, the French Provencal poet who lived in the nineteenth century (1830-1914), relates what happened in his work called Mireio -- published in 1859.
According to this, after Saul's persecution Joseph and his companions were thrust into A BOAT WITHOUT OARS OR SAILS by the Jews, who were glad to be finally rid of them. This occurred, according to Mistral, on the coast of Palestine -- somewhere near to Mt. Carmel. Thrust into the boat with Joseph were Lazarus, Trophimus, Maximin, Cleon, Eutropius, Sidonius (Restitutus, "the man born blind"), Martial and Saturninus. Included in the boat were also Mary, wife of Cleopas; Salome; Mary Magdalene; Martha and the maid of the two latter, Marcella.
The poem relates that as the boat was drifting out to sea Sarah, the handmaid of Salome and Mary Cleopas, cast herself into the sea to join her mistress, and by the help of Salome was brought into the boat. After beating about the Mediterranean for some time, the boat drifted to THE COAST OF PROVENCE IN GAUL (FRANCE) and, following the RIVER RHONE, ARRIVED AT ARLES, which was eventually converted to Christianity by the preaching of Trophimus.
Mistral drew his material from the Provencal traditions as they live today in the scattered homesteads of the Camargue, and in the minds and hearts of all the people in the adjacent countryside.
Further information can be found in the Ecclesiastical Annals of the sixteenth century Vatican librarian, CARDINAL CAESAR BARONIUS (1538-1609 A.D.). Baronius, an historian of great integrity who was known for his uncompromising treatment of the truth, discovered a document of great antiquity in the Vatican archives. To his fascination, the manuscript revealed that in THE YEAR 35 A.D. Joseph of Arimathea and a group of companions that included Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, Martha and a number of others, WERE CAST ADRIFT IN A BOAT from the coast of Palestine by PERSECUTING JEWS.
In that year the party mentioned was exposed to the sea in A VESSEL WITHOUT SAILS OR OARS. The vessel drifted finally TO MARSEILLES and they were saved. From Marseilles JOSEPH AND HIS COMPANY PASSED INTO BRITAIN and after preaching the Gospel there, died. (Ecclesiastical Annals, under section A.D. 35).
On commenting about this information from Cardinal Baronius, Ivor C. Fletcher notes:
No trace of Joseph in Palestine is found after about A.D. 35, no record of any martyrdom and no reference to his movements outside of the areas of Britain and France. The information given by Baronius relating to the enforced voyage to Marseilles of Joseph and his companions seems THE MOST LIKELY AND LOGICAL ACCOUNT OF HIS MOVEMENTS. -- The Incredible History of God's True Church, p. 73.
The Cardinal's Annals quote the Acts of Magdalen, which we have already discussed, for the record of the voyage to Marseilles and the spreading of the gospel in the south part of Gaul.
In chapter 37 of the Acts, after listing the names of Joseph's companions in the OARLESS BOAT, Rabanus Maurus goes on to describe their dangerous voyage: "Leaving the shores of Asia and favoured by an east wind, they went round about, down the Tyrrhenian Sea, between Europe and Africa, leaving the city of Rome and all the land of Italy to the right. Then happily turning their course to the right, they came near to the city of Marseilles, in the Viennoise province of the Gauls, where the RIVER RHONE is received by the sea. There, having called upon God, the great King of all the world, they parted; each company going to the province where the Holy Spirit had directed them, presently preaching everywhere, 'the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.'"
Gladys Taylor, in her book Our Neglected Heritage, takes note of the same incident:
Caesar Baronius, the church historian who was also appointed librarian of the Vatican in 1596, wrote in his magnum opus, Annales Ecclesiastici, of the finding in the Vatican Library of a most ancient manuscript in which was described the voyage of a company of our Lord's friends, travelling in an OLD BOAT which had been abandoned by its master and was WITHOUT OARS OR SAILS, who LANDED AT MARSEILLES, whence they spread out over SOUTHERN FRANCE where many churches record them as their founders. Among this company is JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA, who is not mentioned as founder of any of these churches, a fact which suggests that he may have journeyed on and could not have spent much time in southern France. Baronius dates the arrival of this boat to A.D. 35. -- Covenant Books, London. 1969, p. 15.
Further confirmation of the voyage of Joseph and his companions can be found in the Otia Imperialia, a book written by Gervais de Tilbury who was Marshall of the Kingdom of Arles (in France) in the year 1212. Dedicating the book to Otho IV, Tilbury writes about the old church of Les Saintes Maries in the Camargue:
There, on the seacoast, one sees the first of Continental churches which was founded in honour of the most blessed mother of our Lord, and consecrated by many of the seventy-two disciples WHO WERE DRIVEN FROM JUDEA AND EXPOSED TO THE SEA IN AN OARLESS BOAT: Maximin of Aix, Lazarus of Marseilles, the brother of Martha and Mary, Eutrope of Orange, George of Velay, Saturninus of Toulouse, Martial of Limoges, in the presence of Martha, Mary Magdalene and many others.
"The tradition of Joseph of Arimathea and his companions in the oarless boat was accepted by the whole LATIN CHURCH for over a thousand years. For proof of this we have only to turn to the BREVIARY (book of prayers, hymns, psalms and readings used by Roman Catholic priests) at ST. MARTHA'S DAY, JULY 29th. There we find a LECTION FOR THE SECOND NOCTURNE (NIGHT) which tells how Mary, Martha and Lazarus, with their servant Marcella, and Maximin, one of the seventy-two disciples, WERE SEIZED BY THE JEWS, PLACED IN A BOAT WITHOUT SAILS OR OARS, AND CARRIED SAFELY TO THE PORT OF MARSEILLES. Moved by this remarkable fact, the people of the neighbouring lands were speedily converted to Christianity; Lazarus became bishop of Marseilles, Maximinus of Aix... and...Martha ...died on the fourth day before the Kalends of August, and was buried with great honour at Tarascon." (Monuments Inedits, By Faillon. Vol. ii, p. 114).
There are many other sources, including Greek and Roman authorities that tell the story of Joseph and the oarless boat. Even the Jewish Encyclopedia, under the title "Arles," mentions that the first Jews in Arles arrived by boat without captain, sails or oars.
Another source adds that "without sails and oars, they drifted with the wind and the currents arriving unharmed at CYRENE, in northern Africa. After obtaining sails and oars, the little party of refugees followed the trade route of the Phoenician merchant ships as far west as Marseilles, France." (The Traditions of Glastonbury, p. 37).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salome_(disciple)
Saint
Salome
Saint Salome.jpg
Greek fresco of St Salome
Myrrhbearer, Midwife
Died 1st century
Venerated in Roman Catholicism
Eastern Catholicism
Eastern Orthodoxy
Feast 24 April (Roman Catholic)
22 October (Roman Catholic)
3 August (Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic & Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod)
Sunday of the Myrrhbearers (Eastern Orthodox & Eastern Catholic)
Attributes Thurible
In the New Testament, Salome was a follower of Jesus who appears briefly in the canonical gospels and in apocryphal writings. She is named by Mark as present at the crucifixion and as one of the women who found Jesus's tomb empty. Interpretation has further identified her with other women who are mentioned but not named in the canonical gospels. In particular, she is often identified as the wife of Zebedee, the mother of James and John, two of the Twelve apostles.[1] In medieval tradition Salome (as Mary Salome) was counted as one of the Three Marys who were daughters of Saint Anne, so making her the sister or half-sister of Mary, mother of Jesus.[2]
Name
"Salome" may be the Hellenized form of a Hebrew name derived from the root word שָׁלוֹם (shalom), meaning "peace".[3]
The name was a common one; apart from the famous dancing "daughter of Herodias", both a sister and daughter of Herod the Great were called Salome, as well as Queen Salome Alexandra (d. 67 BC), the last independent ruler of Judea.
In the canonical gospels
Main article: Women at the crucifixion
In Mark 15:40–41, Salome is named as one of the women present at the crucifixion who also ministered to Jesus: "There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and of Joses; and Salome who also followed Him and ministered to Him when he was in Galilee. And many other women who followed Him to Jerusalem."(15:40–41, King James Version) The parallel passage of Matthew 27:56 reads thus: "Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children." The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) concludes that the Salome of Mark 15:40 is probably identical with the mother of the sons of Zebedee in Matthew; the latter is also mentioned in Matthew 20:20, in which she petitions Jesus to let her sons sit with him in Paradise.[4]
In John, three, or perhaps four, women are mentioned at the crucifixion; this time they are named as Jesus' "mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene." (John 19:25 KJV) A common interpretation identifies Salome as the sister of Jesus' mother, thus making her Jesus' aunt.[1] Traditional interpretations associate Mary the wife of Cleophas (the third woman in the Gospel of John) with Mary the mother of James son of Alphaeus (the third woman in the Gospel of Matthew).
In the Gospel of Mark, Salome is among the women who went to Jesus' tomb to anoint his body with spices. "And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him." (Mark 16:1 KJV) They discovered that the stone had been rolled away, and a young man in white then told them that Jesus had risen, and told them to tell Jesus' disciples that he would meet them in Galilee. In Matthew 28:1, two women are mentioned in the parallel passage: Mary Magdalene and the "other Mary" – identified previously in Matthew 27:56 as Mary the mother of James and Joses.
The canonical gospels never go so far as to label Salome a "disciple" ("pupil" mathētēs), and so mainstream Christian writers usually describe her as a "follower" of Jesus per references to the women who "followed" and "ministered" to Jesus (Mark 15:41). However, feminist critiques have argued that the mainstream tradition consistently underplays the significance of Jesus's female supporters.[5]
In non-canonical works
See also: Apocrypha
The Gospel of Thomas found at Nag Hammadi mentions among the "disciples" of Jesus (the Greek expression "apostles" does not appear) two women, Salome and Mary Magdalene (referred to simply as "Mary", The name might also denote Salome's mother Mary[citation needed], the sister of Elizabeth and Anne who is the mother of Christ's mother Mary. Thus Salome's mother Mary[citation needed] would be Jesus' great aunt, the sister of his grandmother Anne and aunt of his mother.[citation needed])
The Diatessaron, which is part of the Ante-Nicene Fathers collection, separates Salome and the mother of the sons of Zebedee as two distinct persons, contrary to tradition that identify them. "And there were in the distance all the acquaintance of Jesus standing, and the women that came with Him from Galilee, those that followed Him and ministered. One of them was Mary Magdalene; and Mary the mother of James the little and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee, and Salome, and many others which came up with Him unto Jerusalem." (Diatessaron 52:21–23)
The controversial Secret Gospel of Mark, that was referred to and quoted in the Mar Saba letter ascribed by his modern editors[6] to Clement of Alexandria, contains a further mention of Salome which is not present in the canonical Mark at 10:46. Clement quotes the passage in his letter: "Then he came into Jericho. And the sister of the young man whom Jesus loved was there with his mother and Salome, but Jesus would not receive them." The lines complete a well-known lacuna in Mark as the text currently stands.
In the non-canonical Greek Gospel of the Egyptians (2nd century), Salome appears again as a disciple of Jesus. She asks him how long death would hold sway, and he says to her, "So long as women bring forth, for I come to end the works of the female." To this Salome replies, "Then I have done well in not bringing forth." It would appear from this text that there was an early tradition that Salome the disciple was childless, and possibly unmarried.
In the Gospel of Thomas there is a reference to Jesus reclining on a couch and eating at a table that belonged to Salome and being asked by her: "Who are you sir, that you have taken your place on my couch and eaten from my table?" Jesus answers: "I am he who is from the One, and the things that belong to the Father have been given to me." Salome replies, "But I am your disciple", and Jesus answers, "When the disciple is united he will be filled with light, but if he is divided he will be filled with darkness."
A 2nd-century Greek, Celsus, wrote a True Discourse attacking the Christian sects as a threat to the Roman state. He described the variety of Christian sects at the time he was writing, c. AD 178, as extremely broad. His treatise is lost, but quotes survive in the attack written somewhat later by Origen, Contra Celsum ("Against Celsus"): "While some of the Christians proclaim [that] they have the same god as do the Jews, others insist that there is another god higher than the creator-god and opposed to him. And some Christians teach that the Son came from this higher god. Still others admit of a third god – those, that is to say, who call themselves gnostics – and still others, though calling themselves Christians, want to live according to the laws of the Jews. I could also mention those who call themselves Simonians after Simon, and those naming themselves Helenians after Helen, his consort. There are Christian sects named after Marcellina, Harpocratian Christians who trace themselves to Salome, and some who follow Mariamne and others who follow Martha, and still others who call themselves Marcionites after their leader, Marcion."
In the early Christian texts, there are several other references to "Salome". A Salome appears in the infancy gospel attached to the name of James the Just, the Protevangelion of James, ch. XIV:
"14 And the midwife went out from the cave, and Salome met her. 15 And the midwife said to her, "Salome, Salome, I will tell you a most surprising thing, which I saw. 16 A virgin has brought forth, which is a thing contrary to nature." 17 To which Salome replied, "As the Lord my God lives, unless I receive particular proof of this matter, I will not believe that a virgin has brought forth."
18 Then Salome went in, and the midwife said, "Mary, show yourself, for a great controversy has arisen about you." 19 And Salome tested her with her finger. 20 But her hand was withered, and she groaned bitterly, 21 and said, "Woe to me, because of my iniquity! For I have tempted the living God, and my hand is ready to drop off."
That Salome is the first, after the midwife, to bear witness to the Miraculous Birth and to recognize Jesus as the Christ, are circumstances that tend to connect her with Salome the disciple. By the High Middle Ages this Salome was often (but not always) identified with Mary Salome in the West, and therefore regarded as the believing midwife.[7]
Salome as midwife
Cappella Palatina, Palermo, c. 1150
Salome (right) and the midwife (left), bathing the infant Jesus, is a common figure in Orthodox icons of the Nativity (fresco, 12th century, "Dark Church", Open Air Museum, Goreme, Cappadocia.
Capella dei Scrovegni, Padua, Giotto (1267–1337)
Guido da Siena, 13th century
Duccio 1308–1311
An apocryphal Coptic Book of the Resurrection of Christ, attributed to the apostle Bartholomew, names the women who went to the tomb. Among them were: Mary Magdalene; Mary the mother of James, whom Jesus delivered out of the hand of Satan; Mary who ministered to him; Martha her sister; Joanna (perhaps also Susanna) who renounced the marriage bed; and "Salome who tempted him".
Sainthood
Saint Salome is commemorated in the Eastern Orthodox Church on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers, i.e., the third Sunday of Pascha (Easter), and on 3 August.[8][9]
Her feast day in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church is 24 April[10][11] or 22 October.[12]
In the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, her feast is on 3 August with Joanna and Mary.
In art, she is often portrayed with the Holy Family in paintings of the Holy Kinship. She is also portrayed holding a thurible as a symbol of her sacrifice and faith in Jesus Christ.
Legend of Saint Anne's three husbands
According to a legend propounded by Haymo of Auxerre in the mid-9th century,[13] but rejected by the Council of Trent,[14] Saint Anne had, by different husbands, three daughters, all of whom bore the name Mary and who are referred to as the Three Marys:
Mary, the mother of Jesus
Mary of Clopas
Salome, in this tradition called Mary Salome (as in the tradition of the three Marys at the tomb)
Mary Magdalene is not part of this group.[15] Mary Salome thus becomes the half-sister of the Virgin Mary.
This account was included in the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine, written in about 1260.[16] It was the subject of a long poem in rhymed French written in about 1357 by Jean de Venette. The poem is preserved in a mid-15th-century manuscript on vellum containing 232 pages written in columns. The titles are in red and illuminated in gold. It is decorated with seven miniatures in monochrome gray.[17][18]
Mary Salome is the figure in the right-hand panel in this altarpiece of the Holy Kinship by Lucas Cranach the Elder.
For some centuries, religious art throughout Germany and the Low Countries frequently presented Saint Anne with her husbands, daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren as a group known as the Holy Kinship. During the Reformation the idea of the three husbands was rejected by Protestants, and by the Council of Trent by Catholic theologians also, but Salome continued to be regarded as probably the sister of the Virgin Mary, and the wife of Zebedee, and mother of the two apostles.[2] The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 said (rather more cautiously than leading 19th-century Protestant books of biblical reference) that "some writers conjecture more or less plausibly that she is the sister of the Blessed Virgin mentioned in John 19:25".[4]
See also
Holy Kinship
Mary Salome and Zebedee
Myrrhbearers
Saint Sarah
Salome (Gospel of James)
References
Citations
Topical Bible: Salome including Smith's Bible Dictionary, ATS Bible Dictionary, Easton's Bible Dictionary and International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
"NETBible:Salome". Archived from the original on 1 September 2009.
Behind the Name: Meaning, Origin and History of the Name Salome
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Salome" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
King, Karen L., 1954– (2003). The Gospel of Mary of Magdala : Jesus and the first woman apostle. Santa Rosa, CA: Polebridge Press. ISBN 978-0-944344-58-3. OCLC 53019716.
In 1980 the Mar Saba letter was included in the revision of the standard edition of works of Clement of Alexandria: Otto Stählin and Ursula Treu, Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 4.1: Register, 2nd ed. (Berlin:Akademie-Verlag, 1980), XVII–XVIII.
G Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I,1971 (English translation from German), Lund Humphries, London, p.62, ISBN 0-85331-270-2
"August 3 – OrthodoxWiki".
https://web.archive.org/web/20170502211421/http://westserbdio.org/en/prologue/590-august-3
Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2001 ISBN 88-209-7210-7
"St. Salome, Who Went to Anoint Our Lord".
"St. Mary Salome – Saints & Angels".
Patrick J. Geary, Women at the Beginning (Princeton University Press 2006 ISBN 9780691124094), p. 72
Fernando Lanzi, Gioia Lanzi, Saints and Their Symbols (Liturgical Press 2004 ISBN 9780814629703), p. 37
Stefano Zuffi, Gospel Figures in Art (Getty Publication 2003 ISBN 9780892367276), p. 350
The Children and Grandchildren of Saint Anne Archived 8 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
"Le manuscrit médiéval" ~ The Medieval Manuscript, Nov. 2011, p. 1
The Chronicle of Jean de Venette, translated by Jean Birdsall. Edited by Richard A. Newhall. N.Y. Columbia University Press. 1953. Introduction
Sources
Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897). Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons
Joseph of Arimathea and David's Throne in Britain!
We get a fleeting glimpse in the New Testament. This great man of YEHOVAH God strides onto center-stage, commands our attention for a few brief verses then, just as quickly, disappears -- never to be heard from again! Yet this man, whose life is just as fascinating or as intriguing as that of Paul or Peter, performed a VITAL mission in the plan of YEHOVAH God! As a close relative of the Messiah himself, Joseph of Arimathea carried the Pharez branch of the royal line of Judah to the tin islands of Britain where it merged with the line of Zarah already present in the islands. Read how the two lines merged in the person of the famous King Arthur and NOT by a fictitious marriage between a daughter of King Zedekiah and the Irish prince Heremon.
Not only that, but early documents of Britain and Gaul refer to Joseph in the same manner. The Welshman Maelgwyn of Llandaff calls Joseph the "NOBILIS DECURIO," as well as Rabanus Maurus (776-856 A.D.), Archbishop of Mayence and writer of the manuscript called the Life of St. Mary Magdalene.
A copy of this document is to be found in the Magdalen College Library at Oxford, England, and dates from the early part of the fifteenth century. No history is known of this manuscript; but it is neatly written on parchment and beautifully illuminated in colors and in gold. Experts note that the writing and illumination is very similar to that of the manuscript copy of the Tertius Opus of Roger Bacon in the Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford, which is generally considered to date from the end of the fourteenth or beginning of the fifteenth century.
It is abundantly clear that this copy of the Life of St. Mary from Rabanus' original is written by a professional scribe. The careful "illumination," the various copying errors, and the fact that at the end of the manuscript the writer goes on to transcribe a homily (sermon) of Origen (the celebrated writer, teacher and theologian of antiquity) on Mary Magdalen, lends credence to this being a faithful copy of the original.
In the 22nd chapter of this manuscript an account of the embalming and burial of the Messiah by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus is related, along with a detailed description of the mausoleum and sepulcher that Joseph had hewn out of the rock for his own use. Then the manuscript states that Joseph was known as the NOBILIS DECURION.
Gildas Badonicus ( 516- 570 A.D.), one of the earliest British historians, also refers to Joseph as "NOBILIS DECURIO." What does this Latin title mean?
Diodorus Siculus himself, in book V of his history of the world, details the British tin industry:
They that inhabit THE BRITISH PROMONTORY OF BELERIUM [old name for Cornwall], by reason of their converse with merchants, are more civilized and courteous to strangers than the rest. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT MAKE THE TIN, which with a great deal of care and labour they dig out of the ground; and that being rocky, the metal is mixed with some veins of earth, out of which they melt the metal and then refine it. Then they beat it into four square pieces like a die and carry it TO A BRITISH ISLE, near at hand, CALLED ICTIS. For at low tide, all being dry between them and the island, they convey over in carts ABUNDANCE OF TIN. But there is one thing that is peculiar to these islands which lie between Britain and Europe: for at full sea they appear to be islands, but at low water for a long way they look like so many peninsulas. Hence the merchants transport the tin they buy of the inhabitants of Gaul, and for thirty days' journey they carry it in packs upon horses' backs THROUGH GAUL TO THE MOUTH OF THE RIVER RHONE.
The Boat Without Oars!
The time came when the Sanhedrin finally caught up with Joseph and his faithful companions. Frederic Mistral, the French Provencal poet who lived in the nineteenth century (1830-1914), relates what happened in his work called Mireio -- published in 1859.
According to this, after Saul's persecution Joseph and his companions were thrust into A BOAT WITHOUT OARS OR SAILS by the Jews, who were glad to be finally rid of them. This occurred, according to Mistral, on the coast of Palestine -- somewhere near to Mt. Carmel. Thrust into the boat with Joseph were Lazarus, Trophimus, Maximin, Cleon, Eutropius, Sidonius (Restitutus, "the man born blind"), Martial and Saturninus. Included in the boat were also Mary, wife of Cleopas; Salome; Mary Magdalene; Martha and the maid of the two latter, Marcella.
The poem relates that as the boat was drifting out to sea Sarah, the handmaid of Salome and Mary Cleopas, cast herself into the sea to join her mistress, and by the help of Salome was brought into the boat. After beating about the Mediterranean for some time, the boat drifted to THE COAST OF PROVENCE IN GAUL (FRANCE) and, following the RIVER RHONE, ARRIVED AT ARLES, which was eventually converted to Christianity by the preaching of Trophimus.
Mistral drew his material from the Provencal traditions as they live today in the scattered homesteads of the Camargue, and in the minds and hearts of all the people in the adjacent countryside.
Further information can be found in the Ecclesiastical Annals of the sixteenth century Vatican librarian, CARDINAL CAESAR BARONIUS (1538-1609 A.D.). Baronius, an historian of great integrity who was known for his uncompromising treatment of the truth, discovered a document of great antiquity in the Vatican archives. To his fascination, the manuscript revealed that in THE YEAR 35 A.D. Joseph of Arimathea and a group of companions that included Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, Martha and a number of others, WERE CAST ADRIFT IN A BOAT from the coast of Palestine by PERSECUTING JEWS.
In that year the party mentioned was exposed to the sea in A VESSEL WITHOUT SAILS OR OARS. The vessel drifted finally TO MARSEILLES and they were saved. From Marseilles JOSEPH AND HIS COMPANY PASSED INTO BRITAIN and after preaching the Gospel there, died. (Ecclesiastical Annals, under section A.D. 35).
On commenting about this information from Cardinal Baronius, Ivor C. Fletcher notes:
No trace of Joseph in Palestine is found after about A.D. 35, no record of any martyrdom and no reference to his movements outside of the areas of Britain and France. The information given by Baronius relating to the enforced voyage to Marseilles of Joseph and his companions seems THE MOST LIKELY AND LOGICAL ACCOUNT OF HIS MOVEMENTS. -- The Incredible History of God's True Church, p. 73.
The Cardinal's Annals quote the Acts of Magdalen, which we have already discussed, for the record of the voyage to Marseilles and the spreading of the gospel in the south part of Gaul.
In chapter 37 of the Acts, after listing the names of Joseph's companions in the OARLESS BOAT, Rabanus Maurus goes on to describe their dangerous voyage: "Leaving the shores of Asia and favoured by an east wind, they went round about, down the Tyrrhenian Sea, between Europe and Africa, leaving the city of Rome and all the land of Italy to the right. Then happily turning their course to the right, they came near to the city of Marseilles, in the Viennoise province of the Gauls, where the RIVER RHONE is received by the sea. There, having called upon God, the great King of all the world, they parted; each company going to the province where the Holy Spirit had directed them, presently preaching everywhere, 'the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.'"
Gladys Taylor, in her book Our Neglected Heritage, takes note of the same incident:
Caesar Baronius, the church historian who was also appointed librarian of the Vatican in 1596, wrote in his magnum opus, Annales Ecclesiastici, of the finding in the Vatican Library of a most ancient manuscript in which was described the voyage of a company of our Lord's friends, travelling in an OLD BOAT which had been abandoned by its master and was WITHOUT OARS OR SAILS, who LANDED AT MARSEILLES, whence they spread out over SOUTHERN FRANCE where many churches record them as their founders. Among this company is JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA, who is not mentioned as founder of any of these churches, a fact which suggests that he may have journeyed on and could not have spent much time in southern France. Baronius dates the arrival of this boat to A.D. 35. -- Covenant Books, London. 1969, p. 15.
Further confirmation of the voyage of Joseph and his companions can be found in the Otia Imperialia, a book written by Gervais de Tilbury who was Marshall of the Kingdom of Arles (in France) in the year 1212. Dedicating the book to Otho IV, Tilbury writes about the old church of Les Saintes Maries in the Camargue:
There, on the seacoast, one sees the first of Continental churches which was founded in honour of the most blessed mother of our Lord, and consecrated by many of the seventy-two disciples WHO WERE DRIVEN FROM JUDEA AND EXPOSED TO THE SEA IN AN OARLESS BOAT: Maximin of Aix, Lazarus of Marseilles, the brother of Martha and Mary, Eutrope of Orange, George of Velay, Saturninus of Toulouse, Martial of Limoges, in the presence of Martha, Mary Magdalene and many others.
"The tradition of Joseph of Arimathea and his companions in the oarless boat was accepted by the whole LATIN CHURCH for over a thousand years. For proof of this we have only to turn to the BREVIARY (book of prayers, hymns, psalms and readings used by Roman Catholic priests) at ST. MARTHA'S DAY, JULY 29th. There we find a LECTION FOR THE SECOND NOCTURNE (NIGHT) which tells how Mary, Martha and Lazarus, with their servant Marcella, and Maximin, one of the seventy-two disciples, WERE SEIZED BY THE JEWS, PLACED IN A BOAT WITHOUT SAILS OR OARS, AND CARRIED SAFELY TO THE PORT OF MARSEILLES. Moved by this remarkable fact, the people of the neighbouring lands were speedily converted to Christianity; Lazarus became bishop of Marseilles, Maximinus of Aix... and...Martha ...died on the fourth day before the Kalends of August, and was buried with great honour at Tarascon." (Monuments Inedits, By Faillon. Vol. ii, p. 114).
There are many other sources, including Greek and Roman authorities that tell the story of Joseph and the oarless boat. Even the Jewish Encyclopedia, under the title "Arles," mentions that the first Jews in Arles arrived by boat without captain, sails or oars.
Another source adds that "without sails and oars, they drifted with the wind and the currents arriving unharmed at CYRENE, in northern Africa. After obtaining sails and oars, the little party of refugees followed the trade route of the Phoenician merchant ships as far west as Marseilles, France." (The Traditions of Glastonbury, p. 37).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salome_(disciple)
Saint
Salome
Saint Salome.jpg
Greek fresco of St Salome
Myrrhbearer, Midwife
Died 1st century
Venerated in Roman Catholicism
Eastern Catholicism
Eastern Orthodoxy
Feast 24 April (Roman Catholic)
22 October (Roman Catholic)
3 August (Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic & Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod)
Sunday of the Myrrhbearers (Eastern Orthodox & Eastern Catholic)
Attributes Thurible
In the New Testament, Salome was a follower of Jesus who appears briefly in the canonical gospels and in apocryphal writings. She is named by Mark as present at the crucifixion and as one of the women who found Jesus's tomb empty. Interpretation has further identified her with other women who are mentioned but not named in the canonical gospels. In particular, she is often identified as the wife of Zebedee, the mother of James and John, two of the Twelve apostles.[1] In medieval tradition Salome (as Mary Salome) was counted as one of the Three Marys who were daughters of Saint Anne, so making her the sister or half-sister of Mary, mother of Jesus.[2]
Name
"Salome" may be the Hellenized form of a Hebrew name derived from the root word שָׁלוֹם (shalom), meaning "peace".[3]
The name was a common one; apart from the famous dancing "daughter of Herodias", both a sister and daughter of Herod the Great were called Salome, as well as Queen Salome Alexandra (d. 67 BC), the last independent ruler of Judea.
In the canonical gospels
Main article: Women at the crucifixion
In Mark 15:40–41, Salome is named as one of the women present at the crucifixion who also ministered to Jesus: "There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and of Joses; and Salome who also followed Him and ministered to Him when he was in Galilee. And many other women who followed Him to Jerusalem."(15:40–41, King James Version) The parallel passage of Matthew 27:56 reads thus: "Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children." The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) concludes that the Salome of Mark 15:40 is probably identical with the mother of the sons of Zebedee in Matthew; the latter is also mentioned in Matthew 20:20, in which she petitions Jesus to let her sons sit with him in Paradise.[4]
In John, three, or perhaps four, women are mentioned at the crucifixion; this time they are named as Jesus' "mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene." (John 19:25 KJV) A common interpretation identifies Salome as the sister of Jesus' mother, thus making her Jesus' aunt.[1] Traditional interpretations associate Mary the wife of Cleophas (the third woman in the Gospel of John) with Mary the mother of James son of Alphaeus (the third woman in the Gospel of Matthew).
In the Gospel of Mark, Salome is among the women who went to Jesus' tomb to anoint his body with spices. "And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him." (Mark 16:1 KJV) They discovered that the stone had been rolled away, and a young man in white then told them that Jesus had risen, and told them to tell Jesus' disciples that he would meet them in Galilee. In Matthew 28:1, two women are mentioned in the parallel passage: Mary Magdalene and the "other Mary" – identified previously in Matthew 27:56 as Mary the mother of James and Joses.
The canonical gospels never go so far as to label Salome a "disciple" ("pupil" mathētēs), and so mainstream Christian writers usually describe her as a "follower" of Jesus per references to the women who "followed" and "ministered" to Jesus (Mark 15:41). However, feminist critiques have argued that the mainstream tradition consistently underplays the significance of Jesus's female supporters.[5]
In non-canonical works
See also: Apocrypha
The Gospel of Thomas found at Nag Hammadi mentions among the "disciples" of Jesus (the Greek expression "apostles" does not appear) two women, Salome and Mary Magdalene (referred to simply as "Mary", The name might also denote Salome's mother Mary[citation needed], the sister of Elizabeth and Anne who is the mother of Christ's mother Mary. Thus Salome's mother Mary[citation needed] would be Jesus' great aunt, the sister of his grandmother Anne and aunt of his mother.[citation needed])
The Diatessaron, which is part of the Ante-Nicene Fathers collection, separates Salome and the mother of the sons of Zebedee as two distinct persons, contrary to tradition that identify them. "And there were in the distance all the acquaintance of Jesus standing, and the women that came with Him from Galilee, those that followed Him and ministered. One of them was Mary Magdalene; and Mary the mother of James the little and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee, and Salome, and many others which came up with Him unto Jerusalem." (Diatessaron 52:21–23)
The controversial Secret Gospel of Mark, that was referred to and quoted in the Mar Saba letter ascribed by his modern editors[6] to Clement of Alexandria, contains a further mention of Salome which is not present in the canonical Mark at 10:46. Clement quotes the passage in his letter: "Then he came into Jericho. And the sister of the young man whom Jesus loved was there with his mother and Salome, but Jesus would not receive them." The lines complete a well-known lacuna in Mark as the text currently stands.
In the non-canonical Greek Gospel of the Egyptians (2nd century), Salome appears again as a disciple of Jesus. She asks him how long death would hold sway, and he says to her, "So long as women bring forth, for I come to end the works of the female." To this Salome replies, "Then I have done well in not bringing forth." It would appear from this text that there was an early tradition that Salome the disciple was childless, and possibly unmarried.
In the Gospel of Thomas there is a reference to Jesus reclining on a couch and eating at a table that belonged to Salome and being asked by her: "Who are you sir, that you have taken your place on my couch and eaten from my table?" Jesus answers: "I am he who is from the One, and the things that belong to the Father have been given to me." Salome replies, "But I am your disciple", and Jesus answers, "When the disciple is united he will be filled with light, but if he is divided he will be filled with darkness."
A 2nd-century Greek, Celsus, wrote a True Discourse attacking the Christian sects as a threat to the Roman state. He described the variety of Christian sects at the time he was writing, c. AD 178, as extremely broad. His treatise is lost, but quotes survive in the attack written somewhat later by Origen, Contra Celsum ("Against Celsus"): "While some of the Christians proclaim [that] they have the same god as do the Jews, others insist that there is another god higher than the creator-god and opposed to him. And some Christians teach that the Son came from this higher god. Still others admit of a third god – those, that is to say, who call themselves gnostics – and still others, though calling themselves Christians, want to live according to the laws of the Jews. I could also mention those who call themselves Simonians after Simon, and those naming themselves Helenians after Helen, his consort. There are Christian sects named after Marcellina, Harpocratian Christians who trace themselves to Salome, and some who follow Mariamne and others who follow Martha, and still others who call themselves Marcionites after their leader, Marcion."
In the early Christian texts, there are several other references to "Salome". A Salome appears in the infancy gospel attached to the name of James the Just, the Protevangelion of James, ch. XIV:
"14 And the midwife went out from the cave, and Salome met her. 15 And the midwife said to her, "Salome, Salome, I will tell you a most surprising thing, which I saw. 16 A virgin has brought forth, which is a thing contrary to nature." 17 To which Salome replied, "As the Lord my God lives, unless I receive particular proof of this matter, I will not believe that a virgin has brought forth."
18 Then Salome went in, and the midwife said, "Mary, show yourself, for a great controversy has arisen about you." 19 And Salome tested her with her finger. 20 But her hand was withered, and she groaned bitterly, 21 and said, "Woe to me, because of my iniquity! For I have tempted the living God, and my hand is ready to drop off."
That Salome is the first, after the midwife, to bear witness to the Miraculous Birth and to recognize Jesus as the Christ, are circumstances that tend to connect her with Salome the disciple. By the High Middle Ages this Salome was often (but not always) identified with Mary Salome in the West, and therefore regarded as the believing midwife.[7]
Salome as midwife
Cappella Palatina, Palermo, c. 1150
Salome (right) and the midwife (left), bathing the infant Jesus, is a common figure in Orthodox icons of the Nativity (fresco, 12th century, "Dark Church", Open Air Museum, Goreme, Cappadocia.
Capella dei Scrovegni, Padua, Giotto (1267–1337)
Guido da Siena, 13th century
Duccio 1308–1311
An apocryphal Coptic Book of the Resurrection of Christ, attributed to the apostle Bartholomew, names the women who went to the tomb. Among them were: Mary Magdalene; Mary the mother of James, whom Jesus delivered out of the hand of Satan; Mary who ministered to him; Martha her sister; Joanna (perhaps also Susanna) who renounced the marriage bed; and "Salome who tempted him".
Sainthood
Saint Salome is commemorated in the Eastern Orthodox Church on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers, i.e., the third Sunday of Pascha (Easter), and on 3 August.[8][9]
Her feast day in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church is 24 April[10][11] or 22 October.[12]
In the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, her feast is on 3 August with Joanna and Mary.
In art, she is often portrayed with the Holy Family in paintings of the Holy Kinship. She is also portrayed holding a thurible as a symbol of her sacrifice and faith in Jesus Christ.
Legend of Saint Anne's three husbands
According to a legend propounded by Haymo of Auxerre in the mid-9th century,[13] but rejected by the Council of Trent,[14] Saint Anne had, by different husbands, three daughters, all of whom bore the name Mary and who are referred to as the Three Marys:
Mary, the mother of Jesus
Mary of Clopas
Salome, in this tradition called Mary Salome (as in the tradition of the three Marys at the tomb)
Mary Magdalene is not part of this group.[15] Mary Salome thus becomes the half-sister of the Virgin Mary.
This account was included in the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine, written in about 1260.[16] It was the subject of a long poem in rhymed French written in about 1357 by Jean de Venette. The poem is preserved in a mid-15th-century manuscript on vellum containing 232 pages written in columns. The titles are in red and illuminated in gold. It is decorated with seven miniatures in monochrome gray.[17][18]
Mary Salome is the figure in the right-hand panel in this altarpiece of the Holy Kinship by Lucas Cranach the Elder.
For some centuries, religious art throughout Germany and the Low Countries frequently presented Saint Anne with her husbands, daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren as a group known as the Holy Kinship. During the Reformation the idea of the three husbands was rejected by Protestants, and by the Council of Trent by Catholic theologians also, but Salome continued to be regarded as probably the sister of the Virgin Mary, and the wife of Zebedee, and mother of the two apostles.[2] The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 said (rather more cautiously than leading 19th-century Protestant books of biblical reference) that "some writers conjecture more or less plausibly that she is the sister of the Blessed Virgin mentioned in John 19:25".[4]
See also
Holy Kinship
Mary Salome and Zebedee
Myrrhbearers
Saint Sarah
Salome (Gospel of James)
References
Citations
Topical Bible: Salome including Smith's Bible Dictionary, ATS Bible Dictionary, Easton's Bible Dictionary and International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
"NETBible:Salome". Archived from the original on 1 September 2009.
Behind the Name: Meaning, Origin and History of the Name Salome
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Salome" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
King, Karen L., 1954– (2003). The Gospel of Mary of Magdala : Jesus and the first woman apostle. Santa Rosa, CA: Polebridge Press. ISBN 978-0-944344-58-3. OCLC 53019716.
In 1980 the Mar Saba letter was included in the revision of the standard edition of works of Clement of Alexandria: Otto Stählin and Ursula Treu, Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 4.1: Register, 2nd ed. (Berlin:Akademie-Verlag, 1980), XVII–XVIII.
G Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I,1971 (English translation from German), Lund Humphries, London, p.62, ISBN 0-85331-270-2
"August 3 – OrthodoxWiki".
https://web.archive.org/web/20170502211421/http://westserbdio.org/en/prologue/590-august-3
Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2001 ISBN 88-209-7210-7
"St. Salome, Who Went to Anoint Our Lord".
"St. Mary Salome – Saints & Angels".
Patrick J. Geary, Women at the Beginning (Princeton University Press 2006 ISBN 9780691124094), p. 72
Fernando Lanzi, Gioia Lanzi, Saints and Their Symbols (Liturgical Press 2004 ISBN 9780814629703), p. 37
Stefano Zuffi, Gospel Figures in Art (Getty Publication 2003 ISBN 9780892367276), p. 350
The Children and Grandchildren of Saint Anne Archived 8 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
"Le manuscrit médiéval" ~ The Medieval Manuscript, Nov. 2011, p. 1
The Chronicle of Jean de Venette, translated by Jean Birdsall. Edited by Richard A. Newhall. N.Y. Columbia University Press. 1953. Introduction
Sources
Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897). Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons
https://hope-of-israel.org/i000111a.htm
Joseph of Arimathea and David's Throne in Britain!
We get a fleeting glimpse in the New Testament. This great man of YEHOVAH God strides onto center-stage, commands our attention for a few brief verses then, just as quickly, disappears -- never to be heard from again! Yet this man, whose life is just as fascinating or as intriguing as that of Paul or Peter, performed a VITAL mission in the plan of YEHOVAH God! As a close relative of the Messiah himself, Joseph of Arimathea carried the Pharez branch of the royal line of Judah to the tin islands of Britain where it merged with the line of Zarah already present in the islands. Read how the two lines merged in the person of the famous King Arthur and NOT by a fictitious marriage between a daughter of King Zedekiah and the Irish prince Heremon.
Not only that, but early documents of Britain and Gaul refer to Joseph in the same manner. The Welshman Maelgwyn of Llandaff calls Joseph the "NOBILIS DECURIO," as well as Rabanus Maurus (776-856 A.D.), Archbishop of Mayence and writer of the manuscript called the Life of St. Mary Magdalene.
A copy of this document is to be found in the Magdalen College Library at Oxford, England, and dates from the early part of the fifteenth century. No history is known of this manuscript; but it is neatly written on parchment and beautifully illuminated in colors and in gold. Experts note that the writing and illumination is very similar to that of the manuscript copy of the Tertius Opus of Roger Bacon in the Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford, which is generally considered to date from the end of the fourteenth or beginning of the fifteenth century.
It is abundantly clear that this copy of the Life of St. Mary from Rabanus' original is written by a professional scribe. The careful "illumination," the various copying errors, and the fact that at the end of the manuscript the writer goes on to transcribe a homily (sermon) of Origen (the celebrated writer, teacher and theologian of antiquity) on Mary Magdalen, lends credence to this being a faithful copy of the original.
In the 22nd chapter of this manuscript an account of the embalming and burial of the Messiah by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus is related, along with a detailed description of the mausoleum and sepulcher that Joseph had hewn out of the rock for his own use. Then the manuscript states that Joseph was known as the NOBILIS DECURION.
Gildas Badonicus ( 516- 570 A.D.), one of the earliest British historians, also refers to Joseph as "NOBILIS DECURIO." What does this Latin title mean?
Diodorus Siculus himself, in book V of his history of the world, details the British tin industry:
They that inhabit THE BRITISH PROMONTORY OF BELERIUM [old name for Cornwall], by reason of their converse with merchants, are more civilized and courteous to strangers than the rest. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT MAKE THE TIN, which with a great deal of care and labour they dig out of the ground; and that being rocky, the metal is mixed with some veins of earth, out of which they melt the metal and then refine it. Then they beat it into four square pieces like a die and carry it TO A BRITISH ISLE, near at hand, CALLED ICTIS. For at low tide, all being dry between them and the island, they convey over in carts ABUNDANCE OF TIN. But there is one thing that is peculiar to these islands which lie between Britain and Europe: for at full sea they appear to be islands, but at low water for a long way they look like so many peninsulas. Hence the merchants transport the tin they buy of the inhabitants of Gaul, and for thirty days' journey they carry it in packs upon horses' backs THROUGH GAUL TO THE MOUTH OF THE RIVER RHONE.
The Boat Without Oars!
The time came when the Sanhedrin finally caught up with Joseph and his faithful companions. Frederic Mistral, the French Provencal poet who lived in the nineteenth century (1830-1914), relates what happened in his work called Mireio -- published in 1859.
According to this, after Saul's persecution Joseph and his companions were thrust into A BOAT WITHOUT OARS OR SAILS by the Jews, who were glad to be finally rid of them. This occurred, according to Mistral, on the coast of Palestine -- somewhere near to Mt. Carmel. Thrust into the boat with Joseph were Lazarus, Trophimus, Maximin, Cleon, Eutropius, Sidonius (Restitutus, "the man born blind"), Martial and Saturninus. Included in the boat were also Mary, wife of Cleopas; Salome; Mary Magdalene; Martha and the maid of the two latter, Marcella.
The poem relates that as the boat was drifting out to sea Sarah, the handmaid of Salome and Mary Cleopas, cast herself into the sea to join her mistress, and by the help of Salome was brought into the boat. After beating about the Mediterranean for some time, the boat drifted to THE COAST OF PROVENCE IN GAUL (FRANCE) and, following the RIVER RHONE, ARRIVED AT ARLES, which was eventually converted to Christianity by the preaching of Trophimus.
Mistral drew his material from the Provencal traditions as they live today in the scattered homesteads of the Camargue, and in the minds and hearts of all the people in the adjacent countryside.
Further information can be found in the Ecclesiastical Annals of the sixteenth century Vatican librarian, CARDINAL CAESAR BARONIUS (1538-1609 A.D.). Baronius, an historian of great integrity who was known for his uncompromising treatment of the truth, discovered a document of great antiquity in the Vatican archives. To his fascination, the manuscript revealed that in THE YEAR 35 A.D. Joseph of Arimathea and a group of companions that included Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, Martha and a number of others, WERE CAST ADRIFT IN A BOAT from the coast of Palestine by PERSECUTING JEWS.
In that year the party mentioned was exposed to the sea in A VESSEL WITHOUT SAILS OR OARS. The vessel drifted finally TO MARSEILLES and they were saved. From Marseilles JOSEPH AND HIS COMPANY PASSED INTO BRITAIN and after preaching the Gospel there, died. (Ecclesiastical Annals, under section A.D. 35).
On commenting about this information from Cardinal Baronius, Ivor C. Fletcher notes:
No trace of Joseph in Palestine is found after about A.D. 35, no record of any martyrdom and no reference to his movements outside of the areas of Britain and France. The information given by Baronius relating to the enforced voyage to Marseilles of Joseph and his companions seems THE MOST LIKELY AND LOGICAL ACCOUNT OF HIS MOVEMENTS. -- The Incredible History of God's True Church, p. 73.
The Cardinal's Annals quote the Acts of Magdalen, which we have already discussed, for the record of the voyage to Marseilles and the spreading of the gospel in the south part of Gaul.
In chapter 37 of the Acts, after listing the names of Joseph's companions in the OARLESS BOAT, Rabanus Maurus goes on to describe their dangerous voyage: "Leaving the shores of Asia and favoured by an east wind, they went round about, down the Tyrrhenian Sea, between Europe and Africa, leaving the city of Rome and all the land of Italy to the right. Then happily turning their course to the right, they came near to the city of Marseilles, in the Viennoise province of the Gauls, where the RIVER RHONE is received by the sea. There, having called upon God, the great King of all the world, they parted; each company going to the province where the Holy Spirit had directed them, presently preaching everywhere, 'the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.'"
Gladys Taylor, in her book Our Neglected Heritage, takes note of the same incident:
Caesar Baronius, the church historian who was also appointed librarian of the Vatican in 1596, wrote in his magnum opus, Annales Ecclesiastici, of the finding in the Vatican Library of a most ancient manuscript in which was described the voyage of a company of our Lord's friends, travelling in an OLD BOAT which had been abandoned by its master and was WITHOUT OARS OR SAILS, who LANDED AT MARSEILLES, whence they spread out over SOUTHERN FRANCE where many churches record them as their founders. Among this company is JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA, who is not mentioned as founder of any of these churches, a fact which suggests that he may have journeyed on and could not have spent much time in southern France. Baronius dates the arrival of this boat to A.D. 35. -- Covenant Books, London. 1969, p. 15.
Further confirmation of the voyage of Joseph and his companions can be found in the Otia Imperialia, a book written by Gervais de Tilbury who was Marshall of the Kingdom of Arles (in France) in the year 1212. Dedicating the book to Otho IV, Tilbury writes about the old church of Les Saintes Maries in the Camargue:
There, on the seacoast, one sees the first of Continental churches which was founded in honour of the most blessed mother of our Lord, and consecrated by many of the seventy-two disciples WHO WERE DRIVEN FROM JUDEA AND EXPOSED TO THE SEA IN AN OARLESS BOAT: Maximin of Aix, Lazarus of Marseilles, the brother of Martha and Mary, Eutrope of Orange, George of Velay, Saturninus of Toulouse, Martial of Limoges, in the presence of Martha, Mary Magdalene and many others.
"The tradition of Joseph of Arimathea and his companions in the oarless boat was accepted by the whole LATIN CHURCH for over a thousand years. For proof of this we have only to turn to the BREVIARY (book of prayers, hymns, psalms and readings used by Roman Catholic priests) at ST. MARTHA'S DAY, JULY 29th. There we find a LECTION FOR THE SECOND NOCTURNE (NIGHT) which tells how Mary, Martha and Lazarus, with their servant Marcella, and Maximin, one of the seventy-two disciples, WERE SEIZED BY THE JEWS, PLACED IN A BOAT WITHOUT SAILS OR OARS, AND CARRIED SAFELY TO THE PORT OF MARSEILLES. Moved by this remarkable fact, the people of the neighbouring lands were speedily converted to Christianity; Lazarus became bishop of Marseilles, Maximinus of Aix... and...Martha ...died on the fourth day before the Kalends of August, and was buried with great honour at Tarascon." (Monuments Inedits, By Faillon. Vol. ii, p. 114).
There are many other sources, including Greek and Roman authorities that tell the story of Joseph and the oarless boat. Even the Jewish Encyclopedia, under the title "Arles," mentions that the first Jews in Arles arrived by boat without captain, sails or oars.
Another source adds that "without sails and oars, they drifted with the wind and the currents arriving unharmed at CYRENE, in northern Africa. After obtaining sails and oars, the little party of refugees followed the trade route of the Phoenician merchant ships as far west as Marseilles, France." (The Traditions of Glastonbury, p. 37).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salome_(disciple)
Saint
Salome
Saint Salome.jpg
Greek fresco of St Salome
Myrrhbearer, Midwife
Died 1st century
Venerated in Roman Catholicism
Eastern Catholicism
Eastern Orthodoxy
Feast 24 April (Roman Catholic)
22 October (Roman Catholic)
3 August (Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic & Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod)
Sunday of the Myrrhbearers (Eastern Orthodox & Eastern Catholic)
Attributes Thurible
In the New Testament, Salome was a follower of Jesus who appears briefly in the canonical gospels and in apocryphal writings. She is named by Mark as present at the crucifixion and as one of the women who found Jesus's tomb empty. Interpretation has further identified her with other women who are mentioned but not named in the canonical gospels. In particular, she is often identified as the wife of Zebedee, the mother of James and John, two of the Twelve apostles.[1] In medieval tradition Salome (as Mary Salome) was counted as one of the Three Marys who were daughters of Saint Anne, so making her the sister or half-sister of Mary, mother of Jesus.[2]
Name
"Salome" may be the Hellenized form of a Hebrew name derived from the root word שָׁלוֹם (shalom), meaning "peace".[3]
The name was a common one; apart from the famous dancing "daughter of Herodias", both a sister and daughter of Herod the Great were called Salome, as well as Queen Salome Alexandra (d. 67 BC), the last independent ruler of Judea.
In the canonical gospels
Main article: Women at the crucifixion
In Mark 15:40–41, Salome is named as one of the women present at the crucifixion who also ministered to Jesus: "There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and of Joses; and Salome who also followed Him and ministered to Him when he was in Galilee. And many other women who followed Him to Jerusalem."(15:40–41, King James Version) The parallel passage of Matthew 27:56 reads thus: "Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children." The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) concludes that the Salome of Mark 15:40 is probably identical with the mother of the sons of Zebedee in Matthew; the latter is also mentioned in Matthew 20:20, in which she petitions Jesus to let her sons sit with him in Paradise.[4]
In John, three, or perhaps four, women are mentioned at the crucifixion; this time they are named as Jesus' "mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene." (John 19:25 KJV) A common interpretation identifies Salome as the sister of Jesus' mother, thus making her Jesus' aunt.[1] Traditional interpretations associate Mary the wife of Cleophas (the third woman in the Gospel of John) with Mary the mother of James son of Alphaeus (the third woman in the Gospel of Matthew).
In the Gospel of Mark, Salome is among the women who went to Jesus' tomb to anoint his body with spices. "And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him." (Mark 16:1 KJV) They discovered that the stone had been rolled away, and a young man in white then told them that Jesus had risen, and told them to tell Jesus' disciples that he would meet them in Galilee. In Matthew 28:1, two women are mentioned in the parallel passage: Mary Magdalene and the "other Mary" – identified previously in Matthew 27:56 as Mary the mother of James and Joses.
The canonical gospels never go so far as to label Salome a "disciple" ("pupil" mathētēs), and so mainstream Christian writers usually describe her as a "follower" of Jesus per references to the women who "followed" and "ministered" to Jesus (Mark 15:41). However, feminist critiques have argued that the mainstream tradition consistently underplays the significance of Jesus's female supporters.[5]
In non-canonical works
See also: Apocrypha
The Gospel of Thomas found at Nag Hammadi mentions among the "disciples" of Jesus (the Greek expression "apostles" does not appear) two women, Salome and Mary Magdalene (referred to simply as "Mary", The name might also denote Salome's mother Mary[citation needed], the sister of Elizabeth and Anne who is the mother of Christ's mother Mary. Thus Salome's mother Mary[citation needed] would be Jesus' great aunt, the sister of his grandmother Anne and aunt of his mother.[citation needed])
The Diatessaron, which is part of the Ante-Nicene Fathers collection, separates Salome and the mother of the sons of Zebedee as two distinct persons, contrary to tradition that identify them. "And there were in the distance all the acquaintance of Jesus standing, and the women that came with Him from Galilee, those that followed Him and ministered. One of them was Mary Magdalene; and Mary the mother of James the little and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee, and Salome, and many others which came up with Him unto Jerusalem." (Diatessaron 52:21–23)
The controversial Secret Gospel of Mark, that was referred to and quoted in the Mar Saba letter ascribed by his modern editors[6] to Clement of Alexandria, contains a further mention of Salome which is not present in the canonical Mark at 10:46. Clement quotes the passage in his letter: "Then he came into Jericho. And the sister of the young man whom Jesus loved was there with his mother and Salome, but Jesus would not receive them." The lines complete a well-known lacuna in Mark as the text currently stands.
In the non-canonical Greek Gospel of the Egyptians (2nd century), Salome appears again as a disciple of Jesus. She asks him how long death would hold sway, and he says to her, "So long as women bring forth, for I come to end the works of the female." To this Salome replies, "Then I have done well in not bringing forth." It would appear from this text that there was an early tradition that Salome the disciple was childless, and possibly unmarried.
In the Gospel of Thomas there is a reference to Jesus reclining on a couch and eating at a table that belonged to Salome and being asked by her: "Who are you sir, that you have taken your place on my couch and eaten from my table?" Jesus answers: "I am he who is from the One, and the things that belong to the Father have been given to me." Salome replies, "But I am your disciple", and Jesus answers, "When the disciple is united he will be filled with light, but if he is divided he will be filled with darkness."
A 2nd-century Greek, Celsus, wrote a True Discourse attacking the Christian sects as a threat to the Roman state. He described the variety of Christian sects at the time he was writing, c. AD 178, as extremely broad. His treatise is lost, but quotes survive in the attack written somewhat later by Origen, Contra Celsum ("Against Celsus"): "While some of the Christians proclaim [that] they have the same god as do the Jews, others insist that there is another god higher than the creator-god and opposed to him. And some Christians teach that the Son came from this higher god. Still others admit of a third god – those, that is to say, who call themselves gnostics – and still others, though calling themselves Christians, want to live according to the laws of the Jews. I could also mention those who call themselves Simonians after Simon, and those naming themselves Helenians after Helen, his consort. There are Christian sects named after Marcellina, Harpocratian Christians who trace themselves to Salome, and some who follow Mariamne and others who follow Martha, and still others who call themselves Marcionites after their leader, Marcion."
In the early Christian texts, there are several other references to "Salome". A Salome appears in the infancy gospel attached to the name of James the Just, the Protevangelion of James, ch. XIV:
"14 And the midwife went out from the cave, and Salome met her. 15 And the midwife said to her, "Salome, Salome, I will tell you a most surprising thing, which I saw. 16 A virgin has brought forth, which is a thing contrary to nature." 17 To which Salome replied, "As the Lord my God lives, unless I receive particular proof of this matter, I will not believe that a virgin has brought forth."
18 Then Salome went in, and the midwife said, "Mary, show yourself, for a great controversy has arisen about you." 19 And Salome tested her with her finger. 20 But her hand was withered, and she groaned bitterly, 21 and said, "Woe to me, because of my iniquity! For I have tempted the living God, and my hand is ready to drop off."
That Salome is the first, after the midwife, to bear witness to the Miraculous Birth and to recognize Jesus as the Christ, are circumstances that tend to connect her with Salome the disciple. By the High Middle Ages this Salome was often (but not always) identified with Mary Salome in the West, and therefore regarded as the believing midwife.[7]
Salome as midwife
Cappella Palatina, Palermo, c. 1150
Salome (right) and the midwife (left), bathing the infant Jesus, is a common figure in Orthodox icons of the Nativity (fresco, 12th century, "Dark Church", Open Air Museum, Goreme, Cappadocia.
Capella dei Scrovegni, Padua, Giotto (1267–1337)
Guido da Siena, 13th century
Duccio 1308–1311
An apocryphal Coptic Book of the Resurrection of Christ, attributed to the apostle Bartholomew, names the women who went to the tomb. Among them were: Mary Magdalene; Mary the mother of James, whom Jesus delivered out of the hand of Satan; Mary who ministered to him; Martha her sister; Joanna (perhaps also Susanna) who renounced the marriage bed; and "Salome who tempted him".
Sainthood
Saint Salome is commemorated in the Eastern Orthodox Church on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers, i.e., the third Sunday of Pascha (Easter), and on 3 August.[8][9]
Her feast day in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church is 24 April[10][11] or 22 October.[12]
In the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, her feast is on 3 August with Joanna and Mary.
In art, she is often portrayed with the Holy Family in paintings of the Holy Kinship. She is also portrayed holding a thurible as a symbol of her sacrifice and faith in Jesus Christ.
Legend of Saint Anne's three husbands
According to a legend propounded by Haymo of Auxerre in the mid-9th century,[13] but rejected by the Council of Trent,[14] Saint Anne had, by different husbands, three daughters, all of whom bore the name Mary and who are referred to as the Three Marys:
Mary, the mother of Jesus
Mary of Clopas
Salome, in this tradition called Mary Salome (as in the tradition of the three Marys at the tomb)
Mary Magdalene is not part of this group.[15] Mary Salome thus becomes the half-sister of the Virgin Mary.
This account was included in the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine, written in about 1260.[16] It was the subject of a long poem in rhymed French written in about 1357 by Jean de Venette. The poem is preserved in a mid-15th-century manuscript on vellum containing 232 pages written in columns. The titles are in red and illuminated in gold. It is decorated with seven miniatures in monochrome gray.[17][18]
Mary Salome is the figure in the right-hand panel in this altarpiece of the Holy Kinship by Lucas Cranach the Elder.
For some centuries, religious art throughout Germany and the Low Countries frequently presented Saint Anne with her husbands, daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren as a group known as the Holy Kinship. During the Reformation the idea of the three husbands was rejected by Protestants, and by the Council of Trent by Catholic theologians also, but Salome continued to be regarded as probably the sister of the Virgin Mary, and the wife of Zebedee, and mother of the two apostles.[2] The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 said (rather more cautiously than leading 19th-century Protestant books of biblical reference) that "some writers conjecture more or less plausibly that she is the sister of the Blessed Virgin mentioned in John 19:25".[4]
See also
Holy Kinship
Mary Salome and Zebedee
Myrrhbearers
Saint Sarah
Salome (Gospel of James)
References
Citations
Topical Bible: Salome including Smith's Bible Dictionary, ATS Bible Dictionary, Easton's Bible Dictionary and International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
"NETBible:Salome". Archived from the original on 1 September 2009.
Behind the Name: Meaning, Origin and History of the Name Salome
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Salome" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
King, Karen L., 1954– (2003). The Gospel of Mary of Magdala : Jesus and the first woman apostle. Santa Rosa, CA: Polebridge Press. ISBN 978-0-944344-58-3. OCLC 53019716.
In 1980 the Mar Saba letter was included in the revision of the standard edition of works of Clement of Alexandria: Otto Stählin and Ursula Treu, Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 4.1: Register, 2nd ed. (Berlin:Akademie-Verlag, 1980), XVII–XVIII.
G Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I,1971 (English translation from German), Lund Humphries, London, p.62, ISBN 0-85331-270-2
"August 3 – OrthodoxWiki".
https://web.archive.org/web/20170502211421/http://westserbdio.org/en/prologue/590-august-3
Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2001 ISBN 88-209-7210-7
"St. Salome, Who Went to Anoint Our Lord".
"St. Mary Salome – Saints & Angels".
Patrick J. Geary, Women at the Beginning (Princeton University Press 2006 ISBN 9780691124094), p. 72
Fernando Lanzi, Gioia Lanzi, Saints and Their Symbols (Liturgical Press 2004 ISBN 9780814629703), p. 37
Stefano Zuffi, Gospel Figures in Art (Getty Publication 2003 ISBN 9780892367276), p. 350
The Children and Grandchildren of Saint Anne Archived 8 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
"Le manuscrit médiéval" ~ The Medieval Manuscript, Nov. 2011, p. 1
The Chronicle of Jean de Venette, translated by Jean Birdsall. Edited by Richard A. Newhall. N.Y. Columbia University Press. 1953. Introduction
Sources
Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897). Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons
Joseph of Arimathea and David's Throne in Britain!
We get a fleeting glimpse in the New Testament. This great man of YEHOVAH God strides onto center-stage, commands our attention for a few brief verses then, just as quickly, disappears -- never to be heard from again! Yet this man, whose life is just as fascinating or as intriguing as that of Paul or Peter, performed a VITAL mission in the plan of YEHOVAH God! As a close relative of the Messiah himself, Joseph of Arimathea carried the Pharez branch of the royal line of Judah to the tin islands of Britain where it merged with the line of Zarah already present in the islands. Read how the two lines merged in the person of the famous King Arthur and NOT by a fictitious marriage between a daughter of King Zedekiah and the Irish prince Heremon.
Not only that, but early documents of Britain and Gaul refer to Joseph in the same manner. The Welshman Maelgwyn of Llandaff calls Joseph the "NOBILIS DECURIO," as well as Rabanus Maurus (776-856 A.D.), Archbishop of Mayence and writer of the manuscript called the Life of St. Mary Magdalene.
A copy of this document is to be found in the Magdalen College Library at Oxford, England, and dates from the early part of the fifteenth century. No history is known of this manuscript; but it is neatly written on parchment and beautifully illuminated in colors and in gold. Experts note that the writing and illumination is very similar to that of the manuscript copy of the Tertius Opus of Roger Bacon in the Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford, which is generally considered to date from the end of the fourteenth or beginning of the fifteenth century.
It is abundantly clear that this copy of the Life of St. Mary from Rabanus' original is written by a professional scribe. The careful "illumination," the various copying errors, and the fact that at the end of the manuscript the writer goes on to transcribe a homily (sermon) of Origen (the celebrated writer, teacher and theologian of antiquity) on Mary Magdalen, lends credence to this being a faithful copy of the original.
In the 22nd chapter of this manuscript an account of the embalming and burial of the Messiah by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus is related, along with a detailed description of the mausoleum and sepulcher that Joseph had hewn out of the rock for his own use. Then the manuscript states that Joseph was known as the NOBILIS DECURION.
Gildas Badonicus ( 516- 570 A.D.), one of the earliest British historians, also refers to Joseph as "NOBILIS DECURIO." What does this Latin title mean?
Diodorus Siculus himself, in book V of his history of the world, details the British tin industry:
They that inhabit THE BRITISH PROMONTORY OF BELERIUM [old name for Cornwall], by reason of their converse with merchants, are more civilized and courteous to strangers than the rest. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT MAKE THE TIN, which with a great deal of care and labour they dig out of the ground; and that being rocky, the metal is mixed with some veins of earth, out of which they melt the metal and then refine it. Then they beat it into four square pieces like a die and carry it TO A BRITISH ISLE, near at hand, CALLED ICTIS. For at low tide, all being dry between them and the island, they convey over in carts ABUNDANCE OF TIN. But there is one thing that is peculiar to these islands which lie between Britain and Europe: for at full sea they appear to be islands, but at low water for a long way they look like so many peninsulas. Hence the merchants transport the tin they buy of the inhabitants of Gaul, and for thirty days' journey they carry it in packs upon horses' backs THROUGH GAUL TO THE MOUTH OF THE RIVER RHONE.
The Boat Without Oars!
The time came when the Sanhedrin finally caught up with Joseph and his faithful companions. Frederic Mistral, the French Provencal poet who lived in the nineteenth century (1830-1914), relates what happened in his work called Mireio -- published in 1859.
According to this, after Saul's persecution Joseph and his companions were thrust into A BOAT WITHOUT OARS OR SAILS by the Jews, who were glad to be finally rid of them. This occurred, according to Mistral, on the coast of Palestine -- somewhere near to Mt. Carmel. Thrust into the boat with Joseph were Lazarus, Trophimus, Maximin, Cleon, Eutropius, Sidonius (Restitutus, "the man born blind"), Martial and Saturninus. Included in the boat were also Mary, wife of Cleopas; Salome; Mary Magdalene; Martha and the maid of the two latter, Marcella.
The poem relates that as the boat was drifting out to sea Sarah, the handmaid of Salome and Mary Cleopas, cast herself into the sea to join her mistress, and by the help of Salome was brought into the boat. After beating about the Mediterranean for some time, the boat drifted to THE COAST OF PROVENCE IN GAUL (FRANCE) and, following the RIVER RHONE, ARRIVED AT ARLES, which was eventually converted to Christianity by the preaching of Trophimus.
Mistral drew his material from the Provencal traditions as they live today in the scattered homesteads of the Camargue, and in the minds and hearts of all the people in the adjacent countryside.
Further information can be found in the Ecclesiastical Annals of the sixteenth century Vatican librarian, CARDINAL CAESAR BARONIUS (1538-1609 A.D.). Baronius, an historian of great integrity who was known for his uncompromising treatment of the truth, discovered a document of great antiquity in the Vatican archives. To his fascination, the manuscript revealed that in THE YEAR 35 A.D. Joseph of Arimathea and a group of companions that included Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, Martha and a number of others, WERE CAST ADRIFT IN A BOAT from the coast of Palestine by PERSECUTING JEWS.
In that year the party mentioned was exposed to the sea in A VESSEL WITHOUT SAILS OR OARS. The vessel drifted finally TO MARSEILLES and they were saved. From Marseilles JOSEPH AND HIS COMPANY PASSED INTO BRITAIN and after preaching the Gospel there, died. (Ecclesiastical Annals, under section A.D. 35).
On commenting about this information from Cardinal Baronius, Ivor C. Fletcher notes:
No trace of Joseph in Palestine is found after about A.D. 35, no record of any martyrdom and no reference to his movements outside of the areas of Britain and France. The information given by Baronius relating to the enforced voyage to Marseilles of Joseph and his companions seems THE MOST LIKELY AND LOGICAL ACCOUNT OF HIS MOVEMENTS. -- The Incredible History of God's True Church, p. 73.
The Cardinal's Annals quote the Acts of Magdalen, which we have already discussed, for the record of the voyage to Marseilles and the spreading of the gospel in the south part of Gaul.
In chapter 37 of the Acts, after listing the names of Joseph's companions in the OARLESS BOAT, Rabanus Maurus goes on to describe their dangerous voyage: "Leaving the shores of Asia and favoured by an east wind, they went round about, down the Tyrrhenian Sea, between Europe and Africa, leaving the city of Rome and all the land of Italy to the right. Then happily turning their course to the right, they came near to the city of Marseilles, in the Viennoise province of the Gauls, where the RIVER RHONE is received by the sea. There, having called upon God, the great King of all the world, they parted; each company going to the province where the Holy Spirit had directed them, presently preaching everywhere, 'the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.'"
Gladys Taylor, in her book Our Neglected Heritage, takes note of the same incident:
Caesar Baronius, the church historian who was also appointed librarian of the Vatican in 1596, wrote in his magnum opus, Annales Ecclesiastici, of the finding in the Vatican Library of a most ancient manuscript in which was described the voyage of a company of our Lord's friends, travelling in an OLD BOAT which had been abandoned by its master and was WITHOUT OARS OR SAILS, who LANDED AT MARSEILLES, whence they spread out over SOUTHERN FRANCE where many churches record them as their founders. Among this company is JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA, who is not mentioned as founder of any of these churches, a fact which suggests that he may have journeyed on and could not have spent much time in southern France. Baronius dates the arrival of this boat to A.D. 35. -- Covenant Books, London. 1969, p. 15.
Further confirmation of the voyage of Joseph and his companions can be found in the Otia Imperialia, a book written by Gervais de Tilbury who was Marshall of the Kingdom of Arles (in France) in the year 1212. Dedicating the book to Otho IV, Tilbury writes about the old church of Les Saintes Maries in the Camargue:
There, on the seacoast, one sees the first of Continental churches which was founded in honour of the most blessed mother of our Lord, and consecrated by many of the seventy-two disciples WHO WERE DRIVEN FROM JUDEA AND EXPOSED TO THE SEA IN AN OARLESS BOAT: Maximin of Aix, Lazarus of Marseilles, the brother of Martha and Mary, Eutrope of Orange, George of Velay, Saturninus of Toulouse, Martial of Limoges, in the presence of Martha, Mary Magdalene and many others.
"The tradition of Joseph of Arimathea and his companions in the oarless boat was accepted by the whole LATIN CHURCH for over a thousand years. For proof of this we have only to turn to the BREVIARY (book of prayers, hymns, psalms and readings used by Roman Catholic priests) at ST. MARTHA'S DAY, JULY 29th. There we find a LECTION FOR THE SECOND NOCTURNE (NIGHT) which tells how Mary, Martha and Lazarus, with their servant Marcella, and Maximin, one of the seventy-two disciples, WERE SEIZED BY THE JEWS, PLACED IN A BOAT WITHOUT SAILS OR OARS, AND CARRIED SAFELY TO THE PORT OF MARSEILLES. Moved by this remarkable fact, the people of the neighbouring lands were speedily converted to Christianity; Lazarus became bishop of Marseilles, Maximinus of Aix... and...Martha ...died on the fourth day before the Kalends of August, and was buried with great honour at Tarascon." (Monuments Inedits, By Faillon. Vol. ii, p. 114).
There are many other sources, including Greek and Roman authorities that tell the story of Joseph and the oarless boat. Even the Jewish Encyclopedia, under the title "Arles," mentions that the first Jews in Arles arrived by boat without captain, sails or oars.
Another source adds that "without sails and oars, they drifted with the wind and the currents arriving unharmed at CYRENE, in northern Africa. After obtaining sails and oars, the little party of refugees followed the trade route of the Phoenician merchant ships as far west as Marseilles, France." (The Traditions of Glastonbury, p. 37).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salome_(disciple)
Saint
Salome
Saint Salome.jpg
Greek fresco of St Salome
Myrrhbearer, Midwife
Died 1st century
Venerated in Roman Catholicism
Eastern Catholicism
Eastern Orthodoxy
Feast 24 April (Roman Catholic)
22 October (Roman Catholic)
3 August (Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic & Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod)
Sunday of the Myrrhbearers (Eastern Orthodox & Eastern Catholic)
Attributes Thurible
In the New Testament, Salome was a follower of Jesus who appears briefly in the canonical gospels and in apocryphal writings. She is named by Mark as present at the crucifixion and as one of the women who found Jesus's tomb empty. Interpretation has further identified her with other women who are mentioned but not named in the canonical gospels. In particular, she is often identified as the wife of Zebedee, the mother of James and John, two of the Twelve apostles.[1] In medieval tradition Salome (as Mary Salome) was counted as one of the Three Marys who were daughters of Saint Anne, so making her the sister or half-sister of Mary, mother of Jesus.[2]
Name
"Salome" may be the Hellenized form of a Hebrew name derived from the root word שָׁלוֹם (shalom), meaning "peace".[3]
The name was a common one; apart from the famous dancing "daughter of Herodias", both a sister and daughter of Herod the Great were called Salome, as well as Queen Salome Alexandra (d. 67 BC), the last independent ruler of Judea.
In the canonical gospels
Main article: Women at the crucifixion
In Mark 15:40–41, Salome is named as one of the women present at the crucifixion who also ministered to Jesus: "There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and of Joses; and Salome who also followed Him and ministered to Him when he was in Galilee. And many other women who followed Him to Jerusalem."(15:40–41, King James Version) The parallel passage of Matthew 27:56 reads thus: "Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children." The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) concludes that the Salome of Mark 15:40 is probably identical with the mother of the sons of Zebedee in Matthew; the latter is also mentioned in Matthew 20:20, in which she petitions Jesus to let her sons sit with him in Paradise.[4]
In John, three, or perhaps four, women are mentioned at the crucifixion; this time they are named as Jesus' "mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene." (John 19:25 KJV) A common interpretation identifies Salome as the sister of Jesus' mother, thus making her Jesus' aunt.[1] Traditional interpretations associate Mary the wife of Cleophas (the third woman in the Gospel of John) with Mary the mother of James son of Alphaeus (the third woman in the Gospel of Matthew).
In the Gospel of Mark, Salome is among the women who went to Jesus' tomb to anoint his body with spices. "And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him." (Mark 16:1 KJV) They discovered that the stone had been rolled away, and a young man in white then told them that Jesus had risen, and told them to tell Jesus' disciples that he would meet them in Galilee. In Matthew 28:1, two women are mentioned in the parallel passage: Mary Magdalene and the "other Mary" – identified previously in Matthew 27:56 as Mary the mother of James and Joses.
The canonical gospels never go so far as to label Salome a "disciple" ("pupil" mathētēs), and so mainstream Christian writers usually describe her as a "follower" of Jesus per references to the women who "followed" and "ministered" to Jesus (Mark 15:41). However, feminist critiques have argued that the mainstream tradition consistently underplays the significance of Jesus's female supporters.[5]
In non-canonical works
See also: Apocrypha
The Gospel of Thomas found at Nag Hammadi mentions among the "disciples" of Jesus (the Greek expression "apostles" does not appear) two women, Salome and Mary Magdalene (referred to simply as "Mary", The name might also denote Salome's mother Mary[citation needed], the sister of Elizabeth and Anne who is the mother of Christ's mother Mary. Thus Salome's mother Mary[citation needed] would be Jesus' great aunt, the sister of his grandmother Anne and aunt of his mother.[citation needed])
The Diatessaron, which is part of the Ante-Nicene Fathers collection, separates Salome and the mother of the sons of Zebedee as two distinct persons, contrary to tradition that identify them. "And there were in the distance all the acquaintance of Jesus standing, and the women that came with Him from Galilee, those that followed Him and ministered. One of them was Mary Magdalene; and Mary the mother of James the little and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee, and Salome, and many others which came up with Him unto Jerusalem." (Diatessaron 52:21–23)
The controversial Secret Gospel of Mark, that was referred to and quoted in the Mar Saba letter ascribed by his modern editors[6] to Clement of Alexandria, contains a further mention of Salome which is not present in the canonical Mark at 10:46. Clement quotes the passage in his letter: "Then he came into Jericho. And the sister of the young man whom Jesus loved was there with his mother and Salome, but Jesus would not receive them." The lines complete a well-known lacuna in Mark as the text currently stands.
In the non-canonical Greek Gospel of the Egyptians (2nd century), Salome appears again as a disciple of Jesus. She asks him how long death would hold sway, and he says to her, "So long as women bring forth, for I come to end the works of the female." To this Salome replies, "Then I have done well in not bringing forth." It would appear from this text that there was an early tradition that Salome the disciple was childless, and possibly unmarried.
In the Gospel of Thomas there is a reference to Jesus reclining on a couch and eating at a table that belonged to Salome and being asked by her: "Who are you sir, that you have taken your place on my couch and eaten from my table?" Jesus answers: "I am he who is from the One, and the things that belong to the Father have been given to me." Salome replies, "But I am your disciple", and Jesus answers, "When the disciple is united he will be filled with light, but if he is divided he will be filled with darkness."
A 2nd-century Greek, Celsus, wrote a True Discourse attacking the Christian sects as a threat to the Roman state. He described the variety of Christian sects at the time he was writing, c. AD 178, as extremely broad. His treatise is lost, but quotes survive in the attack written somewhat later by Origen, Contra Celsum ("Against Celsus"): "While some of the Christians proclaim [that] they have the same god as do the Jews, others insist that there is another god higher than the creator-god and opposed to him. And some Christians teach that the Son came from this higher god. Still others admit of a third god – those, that is to say, who call themselves gnostics – and still others, though calling themselves Christians, want to live according to the laws of the Jews. I could also mention those who call themselves Simonians after Simon, and those naming themselves Helenians after Helen, his consort. There are Christian sects named after Marcellina, Harpocratian Christians who trace themselves to Salome, and some who follow Mariamne and others who follow Martha, and still others who call themselves Marcionites after their leader, Marcion."
In the early Christian texts, there are several other references to "Salome". A Salome appears in the infancy gospel attached to the name of James the Just, the Protevangelion of James, ch. XIV:
"14 And the midwife went out from the cave, and Salome met her. 15 And the midwife said to her, "Salome, Salome, I will tell you a most surprising thing, which I saw. 16 A virgin has brought forth, which is a thing contrary to nature." 17 To which Salome replied, "As the Lord my God lives, unless I receive particular proof of this matter, I will not believe that a virgin has brought forth."
18 Then Salome went in, and the midwife said, "Mary, show yourself, for a great controversy has arisen about you." 19 And Salome tested her with her finger. 20 But her hand was withered, and she groaned bitterly, 21 and said, "Woe to me, because of my iniquity! For I have tempted the living God, and my hand is ready to drop off."
That Salome is the first, after the midwife, to bear witness to the Miraculous Birth and to recognize Jesus as the Christ, are circumstances that tend to connect her with Salome the disciple. By the High Middle Ages this Salome was often (but not always) identified with Mary Salome in the West, and therefore regarded as the believing midwife.[7]
Salome as midwife
Cappella Palatina, Palermo, c. 1150
Salome (right) and the midwife (left), bathing the infant Jesus, is a common figure in Orthodox icons of the Nativity (fresco, 12th century, "Dark Church", Open Air Museum, Goreme, Cappadocia.
Capella dei Scrovegni, Padua, Giotto (1267–1337)
Guido da Siena, 13th century
Duccio 1308–1311
An apocryphal Coptic Book of the Resurrection of Christ, attributed to the apostle Bartholomew, names the women who went to the tomb. Among them were: Mary Magdalene; Mary the mother of James, whom Jesus delivered out of the hand of Satan; Mary who ministered to him; Martha her sister; Joanna (perhaps also Susanna) who renounced the marriage bed; and "Salome who tempted him".
Sainthood
Saint Salome is commemorated in the Eastern Orthodox Church on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers, i.e., the third Sunday of Pascha (Easter), and on 3 August.[8][9]
Her feast day in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church is 24 April[10][11] or 22 October.[12]
In the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, her feast is on 3 August with Joanna and Mary.
In art, she is often portrayed with the Holy Family in paintings of the Holy Kinship. She is also portrayed holding a thurible as a symbol of her sacrifice and faith in Jesus Christ.
Legend of Saint Anne's three husbands
According to a legend propounded by Haymo of Auxerre in the mid-9th century,[13] but rejected by the Council of Trent,[14] Saint Anne had, by different husbands, three daughters, all of whom bore the name Mary and who are referred to as the Three Marys:
Mary, the mother of Jesus
Mary of Clopas
Salome, in this tradition called Mary Salome (as in the tradition of the three Marys at the tomb)
Mary Magdalene is not part of this group.[15] Mary Salome thus becomes the half-sister of the Virgin Mary.
This account was included in the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine, written in about 1260.[16] It was the subject of a long poem in rhymed French written in about 1357 by Jean de Venette. The poem is preserved in a mid-15th-century manuscript on vellum containing 232 pages written in columns. The titles are in red and illuminated in gold. It is decorated with seven miniatures in monochrome gray.[17][18]
Mary Salome is the figure in the right-hand panel in this altarpiece of the Holy Kinship by Lucas Cranach the Elder.
For some centuries, religious art throughout Germany and the Low Countries frequently presented Saint Anne with her husbands, daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren as a group known as the Holy Kinship. During the Reformation the idea of the three husbands was rejected by Protestants, and by the Council of Trent by Catholic theologians also, but Salome continued to be regarded as probably the sister of the Virgin Mary, and the wife of Zebedee, and mother of the two apostles.[2] The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 said (rather more cautiously than leading 19th-century Protestant books of biblical reference) that "some writers conjecture more or less plausibly that she is the sister of the Blessed Virgin mentioned in John 19:25".[4]
See also
Holy Kinship
Mary Salome and Zebedee
Myrrhbearers
Saint Sarah
Salome (Gospel of James)
References
Citations
Topical Bible: Salome including Smith's Bible Dictionary, ATS Bible Dictionary, Easton's Bible Dictionary and International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
"NETBible:Salome". Archived from the original on 1 September 2009.
Behind the Name: Meaning, Origin and History of the Name Salome
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Salome" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
King, Karen L., 1954– (2003). The Gospel of Mary of Magdala : Jesus and the first woman apostle. Santa Rosa, CA: Polebridge Press. ISBN 978-0-944344-58-3. OCLC 53019716.
In 1980 the Mar Saba letter was included in the revision of the standard edition of works of Clement of Alexandria: Otto Stählin and Ursula Treu, Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 4.1: Register, 2nd ed. (Berlin:Akademie-Verlag, 1980), XVII–XVIII.
G Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I,1971 (English translation from German), Lund Humphries, London, p.62, ISBN 0-85331-270-2
"August 3 – OrthodoxWiki".
https://web.archive.org/web/20170502211421/http://westserbdio.org/en/prologue/590-august-3
Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2001 ISBN 88-209-7210-7
"St. Salome, Who Went to Anoint Our Lord".
"St. Mary Salome – Saints & Angels".
Patrick J. Geary, Women at the Beginning (Princeton University Press 2006 ISBN 9780691124094), p. 72
Fernando Lanzi, Gioia Lanzi, Saints and Their Symbols (Liturgical Press 2004 ISBN 9780814629703), p. 37
Stefano Zuffi, Gospel Figures in Art (Getty Publication 2003 ISBN 9780892367276), p. 350
The Children and Grandchildren of Saint Anne Archived 8 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
"Le manuscrit médiéval" ~ The Medieval Manuscript, Nov. 2011, p. 1
The Chronicle of Jean de Venette, translated by Jean Birdsall. Edited by Richard A. Newhall. N.Y. Columbia University Press. 1953. Introduction
Sources
Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897). Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons
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