On Passion Sunday, while the Holy Land Christians were coming down from the Mount of Olives commemorating Jesus' messianic entrance into the Holy City, Brother Basilio Kerop Talatinian has gone to meet the Lord.
The Custody never knew the date of birth of Fr. Basilio. Born in Marash, Cilicia (now Turkey), it is known that Brother Basilio was baptized in the Armenian Catholic rite on February 10, 1913 (102 years ago).
The Armenian Genocide (of which the world commemorates the centenary on April 24) threw him and his family to the path of exodus. In Syria, his father was murdered in front of his family, so his mother decided to return to Turkey. She died of typhus. His siblings were left alone in an American orphanage of Marash.
In 1921, the Armenian Genocide survivors were expelled from Turkey. New exile, new wandering; yet, one of Fr. Talatinian’s uncles tracked down his nephews. He was a Franciscan and made them come to Bethlehem in 1922. Educated in an orphanage in Bethlehem, Kerop chooses to learn the trade of shoemaker.
He joined later the Franciscans of the Custody where he took his first vows in 1931. His instructors quickly realized the intellectual abilities of Fr. Basilio. It was useless to deny this fact. They brought him to study and although he insisted all his life on his slowness to understand, in 1942 he was already a Doctor in Canon Law.
Educated by Latin congregations, Brother Basilio remained faithful to his belonging to the Armenian people. He (who spoke only a few words of Turkish at the beginning of the genocide) learned Italian and Arabic with the Salesians. At the small Franciscan seminary he added Latin and rudiments of French. But during his years of philosophy at the seminary of the Custody, he resolutely decided to study Armenian out of loyalty to its roots.
Sent to Rome to study, he was ordained in the Latin rite in 1938. Stuck in Italy because of World War II, he repeatedly expressed his desire to return to Palestine, which he did in a boat of Jewish survivors sailing off to Haifa.
Because of his intimate knowledge of the Eastern Churches he was invited to the Second Vatican Council as an expert. Brother Basilio held many positions within the Custody, where he was twice the Custodial Vicar. He taught Canon Law in Jerusalem for thirty years. The patriarchate also took advantage of his skills, and he was postulator of two causes of saints, including that of Franciscan Salvatore Lili and his companions (Armenian) martyrs in Syria.
Nothing was more important to Brother Basilio than the life of faith. He mingled softness and care of others with his strong character. After so many years in the infirmary, he continued to keep abreast of the life of the Custody and the evolution of each of his Franciscan brothers, not to mention the rest of the world and his fellow Eastern Christians.
When Patriarch Torkhom was received in the infirmary of the convent to end his days, Brother Basilio went every day to recite him the Armenian psalms.
He was lucid until the end and passed away as a serene burnt candle.
A brother came to visit him at night in his agony. He had the strength to say to him: "Go to bed instead." He was ready.
On the other side of the veil, this candle must shine again a thousand bonfires.
Goodbye Brother Basilio.
The Custody never knew the date of birth of Fr. Basilio. Born in Marash, Cilicia (now Turkey), it is known that Brother Basilio was baptized in the Armenian Catholic rite on February 10, 1913 (102 years ago).
The Armenian Genocide (of which the world commemorates the centenary on April 24) threw him and his family to the path of exodus. In Syria, his father was murdered in front of his family, so his mother decided to return to Turkey. She died of typhus. His siblings were left alone in an American orphanage of Marash.
In 1921, the Armenian Genocide survivors were expelled from Turkey. New exile, new wandering; yet, one of Fr. Talatinian’s uncles tracked down his nephews. He was a Franciscan and made them come to Bethlehem in 1922. Educated in an orphanage in Bethlehem, Kerop chooses to learn the trade of shoemaker.
He joined later the Franciscans of the Custody where he took his first vows in 1931. His instructors quickly realized the intellectual abilities of Fr. Basilio. It was useless to deny this fact. They brought him to study and although he insisted all his life on his slowness to understand, in 1942 he was already a Doctor in Canon Law.
Educated by Latin congregations, Brother Basilio remained faithful to his belonging to the Armenian people. He (who spoke only a few words of Turkish at the beginning of the genocide) learned Italian and Arabic with the Salesians. At the small Franciscan seminary he added Latin and rudiments of French. But during his years of philosophy at the seminary of the Custody, he resolutely decided to study Armenian out of loyalty to its roots.
Sent to Rome to study, he was ordained in the Latin rite in 1938. Stuck in Italy because of World War II, he repeatedly expressed his desire to return to Palestine, which he did in a boat of Jewish survivors sailing off to Haifa.
Because of his intimate knowledge of the Eastern Churches he was invited to the Second Vatican Council as an expert. Brother Basilio held many positions within the Custody, where he was twice the Custodial Vicar. He taught Canon Law in Jerusalem for thirty years. The patriarchate also took advantage of his skills, and he was postulator of two causes of saints, including that of Franciscan Salvatore Lili and his companions (Armenian) martyrs in Syria.
Nothing was more important to Brother Basilio than the life of faith. He mingled softness and care of others with his strong character. After so many years in the infirmary, he continued to keep abreast of the life of the Custody and the evolution of each of his Franciscan brothers, not to mention the rest of the world and his fellow Eastern Christians.
When Patriarch Torkhom was received in the infirmary of the convent to end his days, Brother Basilio went every day to recite him the Armenian psalms.
He was lucid until the end and passed away as a serene burnt candle.
A brother came to visit him at night in his agony. He had the strength to say to him: "Go to bed instead." He was ready.
On the other side of the veil, this candle must shine again a thousand bonfires.
Goodbye Brother Basilio.