It also traces its tradition back to Celtic Christianity and the mission that, according to medieval legend, Saint Joseph of Arimathea took to Glastonbury and the Celts in 36 AD.
The Grand Duke actually appeared in his last play, "King of Judea," playing the role of Joseph of Arimathea.
The mytheme of the staff that Joseph of Arimathea set in the ground at Glastonbury, which broke into leaf and flower as the Glastonbury Thorn is a common miracle in hagiography.
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When Joseph set his walking staff on the ground to sleep, it miraculously took root, leafed out, and blossomed as the "Glastonbury Thorn".
Each of the Gospels mention this town as Arimathea once, and always in association with Joseph of Arimathea — who placed Christ's body in his own tomb.
The story begins in the voice of the Jewess Mariamne as a child living a privileged life in her widowed father Josephus’ home in Jerusalem.
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For most of his professional life he was interested in the translation of 12th- and 13th-century manuscripts, written by monks, about the stories of Joseph of Arimathea and the Holy Grail, and the legend of El Cid.
In the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, Joseph of Arimathea and his followers visit the island on their way to Britain; while there Joseph's son Josephus is invested as a bishop and shown the mysteries of the Grail by Christ himself.
In the same method, and also in the same gallery, is the Dead Christ supported by Joseph of Arimathea, with a weeping Magdalene colossal half-length figures.