A BALLAJURA parish group’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land has revealed in October what could very well be the tomb of St Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.
Under the convent of the Sisters of Nazareth in the town where Christ grew up is an archaeological site of 1st century excavations including what is believed to be a Herodian tomb, a 1st century house and chapel almost certainly believed to be of the early Christian era.
Locals suspect the site could well be where Joseph was buried.
Even if the site – discovered in 1884 when a gardener fell through a hole he was filling in – is not absolutely proven to be the tomb of St Joseph, it reveals much about what Jesus’ tomb and even his ‘manger’ would have looked like.
The convent is across the road from the Catholic Basilica of the Annunciation that is believed to house the place where the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary and she accepted the responsibility of being the Mother of God.
Descending down into the excavation site under the convent and winding through a cave, the remains of an altar are seen in one corner.
Initially, when the site was found, a skeleton was situated in the corner of the room, set inside a rock in a sitting position, likely the remains of a Bishop, monk or a cleric of the community.
It was common for Bishops to be buried in such a manner as a symbol of their power, so “we are sure this house/chapel is of the early Christian era”, the Sisters’ local Superior Sr Stefania Cantore told the Ballajua group.
In the Apocalypse (Revelation) in the Bible, God is referred to as “The Seated One”.
Excavations in the nearby area have revealed many mosaics of the Byzantine era (c 500-1000). All this evidence has led experts to believe that “we are sure that this was a chapel built sometime after the 1st century”, Sr Stefania said.
Space dug out for two graves has also been revealed in the excavations of the chapel area.
The ‘oven’-style grave is a common feature of ancient Jewish graves. Similar open graves were seen by the Ballajura group on their last day in the Holy Land next to an ancient church marking one of four sites believed to be where Jesus appeared to two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection.
In an adjacent room to the chapel in the excavation site under the Nazareth convent, a hole in the roof through which to pull water up and marks in the walls of ropes to pull food up reveals evidence of a functioning 1st century house.
Around another corner are two sets of stairs made by the Crusaders after their conquest of the area in 1099.
It is unknown what the stairs were for as nothing was written on the walls around them, but rocks and stones forming a door in the lower part of the stairs believed to be of the 1st century also provide a model of what is left of a house.
Archaeologists know the walls are 1st century as similar stonework is seen in the walls of a nearby village that was destroyed by the Romans in 70AD when the armies of Titus, son of Roman emperor Vespasian, levelled the whole city of Jerusalem.
In 1900, two holes were discovered from which, when opened by removing stones, incense could still be smelled emanating from the tomb beneath which locals suspect could be that of St Joseph.
They know the Crusaders used the tomb as Knights’ spurs, lamps and spoons for Holy Communion were found. “So we know this area was important for the Crusaders,” Sr Stefania said.
While this is not believed to be the same tomb Christ was buried in – which is actually in Jerusalem, some 105km from Nazareth – this one nonetheless gives a picture of what was common practice at the time. The size of the tomb also indicates that it belonged to “an important person”, Sr Stefania said.
“There are eight such tombs in the country that we know of. They are very few, as they are only made for very important people.” This tomb under the convent, accessed by walking down winding, eroded stairs, reveals something of what Scripture tells us of Jesus’ resurrection:
“When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought perfumed oils with which they intended to go and anoint Jesus. Very early, just after sunrise, on the first day of the week they came to the tomb. They were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ When they looked, they found that the stone had been rolled back. (It was a huge one) (Mk 16:1-4).
And then, later, “(John) did not enter but bent down to peer in, and saw wrappings lying on the ground” (Jn 20:5). As the photos show, a round stone – though not quite “huge” as Mark describes – can be seen rolled back.
It would, nonetheless, be very heavy so could well be of a similar size to that described by the Gospel writer. It can be clearly seen how John would have needed to “bend down” to “peer in”, as through the opening is a lower level where the bodies were buried; then beyond that two more holes with another lower level beyond that.
Just above these tombs in the 1st century house is a manger, as described by Luke: “She gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger”, where animals eat from.
While this was not the manger described by Luke as Christ was born in Bethlehem 128.7km away, the photo fleshes out what Christ’s first bed would have looked like.