For the whole Church, that of St. John the Baptist is a special feast. The only one concerning a birth along with that of Mary and Jesus. And this, as explained by the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Francesco Ielpo, clearly marks the importance of the Precursor throughout the history of Christianity. The Custody honored the Baptist in Ain Karem, in the two places that tradition identifies as the initial stages of his journey. On Tuesday evening, June 23, […]
There is an image that I cannot forget. I was on retreat at the hermitage of Gethsemane - right there at the foot of the Mount of Olives, where Jesus sweated blood on the night of his betrayal - when I saw a Franciscan friar doing a very simple thing: during Mass he recorded his homily. Not for himself, but to send it via message to his contacts, so that that Word would not remain closed within the stone walls […]
For the Franciscan family, the liturgical memory of Saint Clare of Assisi is a special moment. The woman who chose to follow Saint Francis, to share his ideal of radical poverty, to live in enclosure and contemplation, and to give life to the Poor Ladies, represents a pillar of the whole community linked to the Poverello of Assisi. And on Tuesday, August 11, the Custody of the Holy Land wanted to celebrate the feast that remembers the Saint in the […]
The international Franciscan studentate of Jerusalem welcomes friars in formation from various Franciscan provinces around the world in addition to the friars of the Custody of the Holy Land. In the Studentate of Saint Saviour there are 41 friars coming from entities other than the Order: Angola, Congo, Brazil, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Syria, East Timor, Togo. In the houses of formation in Jerusalem and Ain Karem there are a total of […]
