The rich celebrations of the Custody of the Holy Land for the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary took place in Jerusalem at the Grotto of the Apostles and the Basilica of Gethsemane: the Tomb of the Virgin Mary, a place that has been looked after and venerated since the first centuries by Christians, stands here, at the foot of the Mount of Olives. The story of the death of Mary and her Assumption is known thanks to apocryphal literature, […]
On Monday 16th November, Fr. Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land, opened the proceedings of the course of Franciscan Permanent Formation for the guardians of shrines and the sacristans. The course, which will end on 19th November, is attended by numerous Franciscans engaged in this apostolate of the Custody, both in person and remotely: all are at work confidently waiting for the reopening to the faithful and tourists, eight months after the official closure due to the pandemic. The Custos […]
A historic moment: this is how it was defined by the Patriarch of the Latins Pierbattista Pizzaballa who presided over the Mass at the Filoxenia centre in Nicosia on Saturday 16 March for the ordination of fr. Bruno Varriano as Bishop of Astigi, thus becoming the new auxiliary bishop of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem on Cyprus. The last presence of a Latin bishop at the service of the island of Cyprus goes back 340 years. A numerous and warm […]
