A Jubilee event was held for the religious in the Holy Land on 1 February in Bethlehem, with the solemn celebration of the First Vespers of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord at the Temple, the Day of Consecrated Life. The prayer was presided over by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, in St Catherine’s church, the Latin part of the Basilica of the Nativity. Jubilee crosses in the Holy Land On this occasion, the Jubilee […]
There is no pilgrim who has not lingered to gaze, at least in the last three centuries, at the painting which dominates the upper part of the Edicule of the Holy Sepulchre, above the low door which leads to the chapel of the Angel. It is the Resurrection of Christ, oil on canvas, without any doubt the work of Paolo De Matteis, the painter born in Piano Vetrale di Orria, today in the province of Salerno (Italy), and dated to […]
Dear friends, As the evangelist Luke recounts, Mary and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem for the census. Since there was no room for them in some hostel, they had to adapt; and they found refuge in a cave, one of those that shepherds also used. In this way they have a little privacy and Mary can give birth to the infant Jesus, who, wrapped in swaddling clothes, is placed in the manger (cf. Lk 2). It almost seems like […]
When the Centro Tierra Santa in Madrid was opened on 12th May 1982, the then Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Ignazio Mancini, had a very precise idea: to build a “bridge” with the Holy Land so that the work of the Franciscans in the Holy Land could be known in Spain. There has always been a close connection between Spain and the Holy Land, and it is one of the countries that has most stood out (along with Italy, […]
