The Basilica of St Anne, in Jerusalem, is shown by the apocryphal sources and traditions as the place where the house of St Joachim and St Anne stood and where the Virgin Mary was born. As every year, on 8 September the friars of the Custody of the Holy Land make a peregrination here, on the liturgical feast-day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The particularities include the veneration of the birth place of the Virgin Mary, in […]
In the hands of fra Balu gouges (scalpels to carve and shape) quickly scoop out the cakes of Marseille soap. Human shapes, animals and small architectures emerge from the cubes. “When I arrived in the Holy Land three years ago, for my theological studies,” he says, “I started to work olive wood, which is available here in large amounts. But it was too hard and my tools were not suitable. One day, in the convent’s laundry, I saw the blocks […]
They are martyrs and witnesses of the faith, men who exercised Christian virtues heroically and lived a life of holiness. About fifteen Franciscan friars whose lives are intertwined, at least in part, with the Holy Land and the mission of the Custody, who have been raised to the honour of the altars. At the end of the 19th century, the paths of the blessed Salvatore Lilli, the blessed Frédéric Janssoone and the blessed Mamerto Esquiú cross in Jerusalem. Eight Franciscans […]
"A gesture of solidarity to support the Holy Places and the needs of the confreres in the land of Jesus": Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, asked for it, just a few days from the Pro Terra Sancta Collection, the collection of offerings that takes place in all the churches of the world for the Christians of the Middle East. It is usually held on Good Friday but this year, due to the Covid emergency, […]
