Not all saints have widely celebrated feasts, but many of them are included in the Church’s official Roman Martyrology, which is a listing of all the saints commemorated on specific days in the liturgical calendar.
The Roman Martyrology was most recently updated in 2004, and in it are included many holy men and women from the Bible.
Sts. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus
The entry for August 31 details the following:
At Jerusalem, the commemoration of Saints Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who gathered the body of Jesus under the cross, wrapped it in the shroud and laid it in the tomb. Joseph, noble decurion and disciple of the Lord, was waiting for the kingdom of God; Nicodemus, a Pharisee and prince of the Jews, had gone to Jesus at night to question him about his mission and, before the high priests and Pharisees who wanted to arrest the Lord, defended his cause.
The Gospel of John provides more details about their participation in the burial of Jesus:
After this Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him leave. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who had at first come to him by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds’ weight. They took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb where no one had ever been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, as the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
John 19:38-42
Their names may not be mentioned at Mass, but the Church still provides August 31 as a day when we can remember the love they had for Jesus.
And today we celebrate...