In the evening of the Good Friday, still in the Basilica, there was the “Funeral procession”: it is an actual funeral for Jesus who died on the cross, according to an ancient custom which dates back to the 15th century. The liturgy was presided by the Custos of the Holy Land, fr. Francesco Patton, while the task of the Secretary of the Holy Land, fr. Alberto Joan Pari, is to carry the crucifix to which Jesus is nailed. On Calvary, two deacons remove […]
On the eve of the solemnity of St Francis, on the morning of Monday 3 October, teachers, students and staff of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem and of the Studium Theologicum Jerosolimitanum gathered in St Saviour’s church, the seat of the Custody of the Holy Land in Jerusalem, for the solemn celebration marking the opening of the 2022-2023 academic year. The Holy Mass was presided by the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Francesco Patton, who in his homily invited […]
The eleven martyrs of Damascus who will be canonized on 20 October in St Peter’s Square include Fra Nicanor Ascanio Soria: belonging to the Diocese of Madrid. He spent most of his life in Spain. The Lord called him to martyrdom only one year after his arrival in the Holy Land. The desamortización Nicanor was born in 1814 in a village near Madrid, Villarejo de Salvanés. Brought up in a very conservative environment of faith, at 16 he donned the […]
Br. Sergio Galdi D'Aragona ofm, Secretary for the 2021 General Chapter During the General Definitory meeting last March 20, 2019, Br. Sergio Galdi D’Aragona, OFM of the Custody of the Holy Land and the General Commissary of the Holy Land in Italy was elected as Secretary for the 2021 General Chapter. Born in Salerno on 30 October 1965. He has a PhD on Political Science, a Political-International course, and had his Masters in European Citizenship and Public Administration at […]
