I went back to be after my last post and woke about 10:35 A.M. I lay there making a plan to call the producers of Oak Island and tell them they should help me get to Jerusalem to do a show on Easter. I was going to tell them I am the Son of God, and the embodiment of Saint Francis, thus in the name of the Franciscans I claim Jerusalem. I wanted to go to Switzerland, and show them where real Knight Templar are buried. I turn on my T.V. and……it’s on!
John ‘The Nazarite Son of God after Samson, and, Heir to The Republican Party’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custody_of_the_Holy_Land
Today, the mount is also the final piece of occupied East Jerusalem that remains out of the grasp of an Israeli settler movement that is actively working to make the city more Jewish. A planned takeover, under the guise of plans for a national park, could fundamentally alter the spiritual character of the holy city, and has set alarm bells ringing in the Holy See and the White House.
Mary Magdalene Rosamond of Saint Francis
Posted on December 1, 2016 by Royal Rosamond Press
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Briar_Cliff_University
The Fate of Franciscan Property In Jerusalem
Posted on December 16, 2017 by Royal Rosamond Press
I am considering making a claim.
Giovanni ‘The Nazarite’
King David’s Tomb
17SaturdayMay 2014
Posted by gary bowersin Current Events
Tags
Benjamin Netanyahu, Holy Sites, Pope Francis, The Vatican
The Vatican in Jerusalem!
News Flash! “Israeli Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says police have ‘stepped up’ patrols and surveillance across the country, and that thousands of police officers will be deployed during the pope’s visit to ensure it goes smoothly.” (Source: Israel Hayom, May 14, 2014). Rosenfeld’s statement was in direct response to the Roman Catholic official in charge of the Vatican’s properties in the Holy Land, who urged Israel to protect Christian holy sites including churches and monasteries in Jerusalem that had recently been vandalized. And to please do so before Pope Francis’ visit to Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank (Judea/Samaria) May 24-26.
Israeli forces storm Jerusalem mosque, arrest hundreds of Palestinians
Story by Haley Ott • 5h ago
Violence broke out at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City overnight after Israeli police stormed the sensitive compound, fueling fear that already-high tension in the heart of the Middle East could erupt again into conflict during a sensitive holiday season.
a disputed site that is revered by Muslims and Jews
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Al-Aqsa is one of the holiest sites in Islam and shares a hilltop with the Temple Mount, the holiest site for Jews. Palestinians consider the site a national symbol, and the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli security forces was a major catalyst for 11 days of violent clashes in 2021.
In response to the raid, a series of rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, which is run by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Israel then said it had conducted airstrikes targeting Hamas weapons storage and manufacturing sites.
Palestinians perform morning prayers by the Al-Asbat Gate as Israeli police again raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in East Jerusalem on April 05, 2023. / Credit: Mostafa Alkharouf / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images© Provided by CBS News
Since the holy Muslim month of Ramadan began on March 22, some Palestinian worshippers have been trying to stay overnight inside Al-Aqsa, which is typically permitted only during the final 10 days of the festive period, The Associated Press reported. Israeli police have entered the site daily to evict the worshippers, the AP said.
After tens of thousands of people attended prayers at Al-Aqsa Tuesday evening, Israeli officials said they were forced to enter the compound when hundreds of Palestinian “agitators” barricaded themselves inside the mosque armed with fireworks and stones.
Videos posted online appeared to show police storming the compound, beating Palestinians with batons and rifle butts and restraining dozens of worshipers, and Palestinians taking aim at police with fireworks. Police said rocks had also been thrown at the officers.
“The youths were afraid and started closing the doors,” Talab Abu Eisha, who was there at the time of the raid, told the AP. “It was an unprecedented scene of violence in terms of police brutality.”
“After many and prolonged attempts to get them out by talking to no avail, police forces were forced to enter the compound in order to get them out,” the Israeli police said.
Police dispersed Palestinians outside the mosque with rubber bullets and stun grenades.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said at least 50 Palestinians were injured in the raid. The police said 350 people were arrested, and one officer was injured in the leg.
Israeli police detain a Palestinian man at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound following clashes that erupted during the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan in Jerusalem, April 5, 2023. / Credit: AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty© Provided by CBS News
The violence at the mosque triggered calls for mass protests by Hamas militants in Gaza. Palestinian civil affairs minister Hussein al-Sheikh said the “the level of brutality requires urgent Palestinian, Arab and international action,” according to the AFP news agency.
Muslim-majority states quickly issued statements condemning the raid, including Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Arab League called an emergency meeting later on Wednesday.
Tensions have soared in the region since Israel’s new far-right, ultra-nationalist government coalition took power late last year under returning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel’s police are now overseen by one of the most radical members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was previously convicted of inciting racism and supporting a terrorist organization.
Palestinians sort through the aftermath of a raid by Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem on April 5, 2023. / Credit: Mahmoud Illean / AP© Provided by CBS News
Al-Aqsa is managed by an Islamic endowment called the Waqf as part of a long-standing agreement under which Muslims are allowed to pray at the site but Jews and Christians are not. The Waqf called the raid a “flagrant violation of the identity and function of the mosque as a place of worship for Muslims.”
Netanyahu has said he is committed to maintaining the status quo at the sensitive site.
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/syrian-air-defenses-respond-to-airstrikes-near-damascuss-637385
The IDF carried out airstrikes against targets belonging to the Syrian military in southern Syria on Monday night, in response to an attempted terrorist attack that was thwarted along the Syrian border the night before.
IDF aircraft, including fighter jets and helicopters, carried out the strikes, according to the IDF.
The targets hit in the strikes included lookout points, intelligence gathering mechanisms, anti-aircraft weapons and means of control and command at Syrian military bases.
Founding The Secular Order of Saint Francis
Posted on December 1, 2016 by Royal Rosamond Press
On Thanksgiving Eve, I received a wound that almost killed me. I could not stop the bleeding until Saturday around 10:00 P.M. A miracle happened. I did not recieve a call from any family member of friend. I was mocked when I called a proffesional for medical assistence. This fulfils a dream I had when I was very young.
For this reason, and a host of other pressing matters, I found this day, December 1, 2016, the Secular Order of Saint Francis that will unite and revive ancient orders that spring around the name Rougemont and Rosamond. The Red Tower of Rougemont will be the coat of arms of this order. Come gather around the one who came for the poor, the lame, the alien, and the disenfranchised.
The Poor Knights of Christ a.k.a Knights Templar
The Carmelites
The Order of Saint George
The Order of Saint Francis
Jean Gregory de Francis
Saint Francis and The Perfect Master
Posted on December 24, 2014by Royal Rosamond Press
Am I The Embodiment of St. Francis?
Posted on March 28, 2017 by Royal Rosamond Press
Sister Mary Dominca is my grandmother’s cousin. Many people in these images, and in the video, are my kindred.
The Third Order of Saint Francis, historically known as the Order of Penance of Saint Francis,[1][2][3] is a third order within the Franciscan movement of the Catholic Church. It includes both congregations of vowed men and women and fraternities of men and women living standard lives in the world, often married.
It has been believed that the Third Order of Saint Francis was the oldest of all third orders, but historical evidence does not support this. Similar institutions are found in documentation of some monastic orders in the 12th century. In addition, a third order has been found among the Humiliati, confirmed together with its rule by Pope Innocent III in 1201.[4]
In 1978, the Third Order of Saint Francis was re-organised and given a new Rule of Life by Pope Paul VI. With the new rule, the name used by the secular branch of the order was changed to the Secular Franciscan Order.[5]
There also are Third Order, Society of St. Francis within the Anglican & Episcopal Church.[6]
Above is a photo of the real cave of Saint Francis that Meher Baba entered in 1933. I am very curious when the Order of Saint Francis went to Assisi. The world needs a Champion of the Poor. Who better than Saint Francis? I suspect Eutropia Maude, and Mary Magdalene, were ordained to go into the world and born children. The death of the Kellys, was devastating. B. Stark needs to post the rest of Mary’s book, for, we may have a appearance of Mother Mary to my sisters, and Kay Coakley.
Jon Presco
It has been believed that the Third Order of Saint Francis was the oldest of all third orders, but historical evidence does not support this. Similar institutions are found in documentation of some monastic orders in the 12th century. In addition, a third order has been found among the Humiliati, confirmed together with its rule by Pope Innocent III in 1201.[4]
In 1978, the Third Order of Saint Francis was re-organised and given a new Rule of Life by Pope Paul VI. With the new rule, the name used by the secular branch of the order was changed to the Secular Franciscan Order.[5]
There also are Third Order, Society of St. Francis within the Anglican & Episcopal Church.[6]
Don Stevens asked, “Baba, you have explained in the Discourses, God Speaks and elsewhere that an individual cannot attain God-Realization without the aid of a living Perfect Master. Since there was no Perfect Master in Europe at that time, how did Saint Francis achieve Realization?”
Baba turned to Ivy and asked, “Have you heard of the ancient Sufi prophet, Khwaja Khizr?” She replied that she had heard Rabia Martin speak of him. Baba explained: “Khwaja Khizr now and then takes on a physical body if there is some spiritual situation that absolutely demands it. The Realization of Francis was such a case, because he had no Perfect Master to give him Realization. So, on the night we read about on Mount La Verna, near Assisi, during which St. Francis also received the stigmata [wounds of the Crucified Christ], Khwaja Khizr, in his temporary human form, gave this beloved Western saint the touch of grace which made him a Perfect Soul – a Qutub or Perfect Master.”
https://www.meherbabatravels.com/location-gallery/italy/assisi-italy/
- Seclusion in a cave in Assisi; moments of anguish when Baba’s internal worked caused him intense suffering; and a dramatic meeting of the spiritual hierarchy; Baba said: “Spiritually, a big meeting of spiritual personages took place here the likes of which has never before been held. It is due to the greatest upheaval that is coming for the world. It will be the greatest upheaval of all times.”
http://kendrasnotebook.blogspot.com/2009/03/meher-baba-in-italia.html
http://kendrasnotebook.blogspot.com/2007/05/tales-of-drunkenness-and-cruelty-does.html
Meher Baba and Saint Francis
Posted on February 10, 2014by Royal Rosamond Press
“Saint Francis of Assisi was the only one of the very few saints in Europe to become a Perfect Master.”
Just before Jesus died, he said; “I am thirsty.” The first thing I said when I came back to life, after seeing the Lord, was; “I’m thirsty.”
Consider Mary Dominica Wieneke and the Order of Saint Francis. In searching for the Blue Angel that appeared to my sisters while they slept, and Kay Coakley, I look to my aunt, June Rice, who took care of me while I had the hooping cough. I almost died several times. I was eleven. I had turned blue and my fingers were contorted when I came into the living room where my aunt Lillian and uncle Dick were sitting. Lillian screamed, and Dick started hitting me on my back.
When June would come to my bed in her nightgown, I saw a blue glow coming from her abdomen. She could not have a child due to some operations. She and Vinnie treated me like their child, and were my patrons. June was a devout Catholic.
I suspect this blue angel is associated with Mother Mary. I wondered if it was her ghost. But, I believe it is the Angel that came to Saint Francis when he died during a terrible illness, and came back.
I suspect I am the embodiment of Saint Francis. When I read about Baba coming to the true cave of Saint Francis, all of a sudden I had a vision. I was sitting in that cave. I heard the dry summer grass being stepped upon. Suddenly Baba’s face is beaming at me. I reached out my wounded hand and cried;
“Father!”
Not the energy around me (click on photo to enlarge) Christine and Brian took photos of me because Christine wanted to do her first portrait of a male. She developed both rolls, and was shocked to see this energy in every image of me. she did not do my portrait because of it.
Baba told his disciples not to touch him when he came out of the cave. Above is Vicki mocking me while I am doing my secret work. She is reaching out with her finger to touch me while I have my eyes closed.
Jon Gregory
Beloved Avatar Meher Baba’s Comment on Saint Francis of Assisi:
{1}. On another occasion, Baba revealed to Filis and Adele his four favorite Christian saints,
“My two favorite women saints are Saint Theresa of Avila and Catherine of Siena; my two favorite men, Francis of Assisi and Saint Augustine.”
[LordMEHER 11-3818]
{2}. Do you know how St. Francis of Assisi loved Jesus and became one with him? He loved him as Jesus ought to be loved; but in Francis’s group there was one who was a glutton.
Juniper loved Francis most, though he did not sit in meditation or think of anything. He gave more trouble to Francis than anyone, yet he loved Francis dearly. When we love from the bottom of our hearts we give all our good and bad, even our troubles; the lover gives everything and demands nothing. I give everything and demand nothing.
Love me like that and Baba is your slave. Even if you can’t do that, don’t worry. As long as you are mine, you need not worry. You are mine, that is why I have drawn you such long distances. If you can’t picture me, don’t worry; if you don’t love me, don’t worry; I love you.
-Avatar Meher Baba
[The God-Man Pg.257]
{3}. If you have the love for Me that Saint Francis had for Jesus, then not only will you realize Me but you will please Me.” -Avatar Meher Baba “Saint Francis of Assisi was the only one of the very few saints in Europe to become a Perfect Master.”
*** Meher Baba said Saint Francis was a Perfect Master.
AFTERWARDS he spoke with Ivy Duce, Don Stevens and others about Saint Francis:
Don Stevens asked, “Baba, you have explained in the Discourses, God Speaks and elsewhere that an individual cannot attain God-Realization without the aid of a living Perfect Master. Since there was no Perfect Master in Europe at that time, how did Saint Francis achieve Realization?”
Baba turned to Ivy and asked, “Have you heard of the ancient Sufi prophet, Khwaja Khizr?” She replied that she had heard Rabia Martin speak of him. Baba explained: “Khwaja Khizr now and then takes on a physical body if there is some spiritual situation that absolutely demands it. The Realization of Francis was such a case, because he had no Perfect Master to give him Realization. So, on the night we read about on Mount La Verna, near Assisi, during which St. Francis also received the stigmata [wounds of the Crucified Christ], Khwaja Khizr, in his temporary human form, gave this beloved Western saint the touch of grace which made him a Perfect Soul – a Qutub or Perfect Master.”
[LordMEHER 14-5011]
{4}. BABA WISHED to stay in seclusion for twenty-four hours somewhere in Italy and chose Assisi for the purpose because it was the homeland of Saint Francis. Baba sent Herbert there on August 1st in search of a cave for the seclusion [LordMEHER 5-1688]
{5}.As you know, I need none of you. I can work my will independently, but I have chosen, for my own reasons, a few to help me in that work. But these few need a love and faith as rare as that of Saint Francis [of Assisi]. Let that same love of his for Christ be your goal, and love me as he loved his Master.
-Avatar Meher Baba [LordMEHER 7-2332]
{6}.12th Way -LOVE…If you have that love for Me that St. Francis had for Jesus, then not only will you realize Me, but you will please Me.
[12 ways of realizing me -Meher Baba]
My reason* for believing there is a significant kernel of truth to these theories of Jesus living in India and being buried in Kashmir, is that my master, Meher Baba, said that was the case.
However, Meher Baba was also clear that Jesus was the Avatar of that era. The Avatar is God descended into our realm of cosmic illusion as a man, the ideal or perfect man. Thus he is both God and man simultaneously.
Jesus the Christ The author of this website appears to have a bias (we all have biases) that Jesus was a man only, and that any suggestion that he was divine or of divine origin is a matter of myth. I think his thesis that Jesus’s memory was embellished to make the new religion more palatable to gentiles who were already familiar with similar myths, is plausible. Again, for my bottom-line evaluation, I personally, as a follower of Meher Baba, turn to his explanations rather than to scholarship. (You of course are welcome to give your own weight to various sources.) According to Meher Baba, Jesus was conceived and was born “the usual way,” i.e., the virgin birth was a myth added later on. Jesus did not die from the crucifixion in the sense we usually think of death, but what he did was also not something possible for an ordinary man–he entered the state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi and then returned after the crucifixion, and went to India. If you study the life of Sri Ramakrishna, you will find that he often entered this State, as for example when something would remind him strongly of some particular attribute of God, or when devotional songs were sung in his presence. Nirvikalpa Samadhi is the state of God-Realization or Self-Realization. Jesus, as Avatar, would have had this state along with his ordinary consciousness of being a man, simultaneously. Nirvikalpa Samadhi is only attained by the real death of the limited mind and ego. Jesus already possessed this state of Realization (having been unveiled from it by John the Baptist). So in a sense, Jesus died the real death on the cross, not the faint shadow of it that we consider to be death. One could also say that Jesus was already “dead” in a sense; or one could equally say that he was already beyond death and in the state of being fully alive, so that it was impossible for him to die in the usual sense.** In this sense, whether Jesus took up his same physical body after the crucifixion or didn’t, would not change who Jesus IS one iota. He could take it up again or not take it up again and he would remain the Avatar. In the same way, he was the Avatar before his incarnation as well–“Before Abraham was, I am.” The entire matter is really beyond words to describe adequately, and it comes as no surprise to me how 2,000 years of interpreting and trying to codify it into a rigid doctrine resulted in what has come down to us.
Meher Baba also makes no mention of Jesus being married, but instead refers to him as being single. Comparing events in the life of Meher Baba, the story in the Tomb of Jesus website of the king insisting on Jesus having a companion, and Jesus finally agreeing to allow a woman to assist him, is plausible. However, his having had sexual relations with the woman is not consistent with the behavior of spiritual teachers who have attained this degree of spiritual advancement. I would guess it was assumed on the basis of gossip, by people who could not conceive of a man living with a woman and not having relations with her. If you study the lives of spiritual masters who have achieved this state of consciousness, you find that some of them marry and some do not, but they never get entangled in casual sexual relations. While it is true that spiritual masters of this calibre may have a significant other, very often even this is a chaste relationship. Such was the case with Sri Ramakrishna and his wife Sarada Devi, and one may interpret that it was also the case with St. Francis (who Meher Baba said achieved this state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi) and his beloved Clare.
My main point here is that one must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Though it may turn out that Jesus physically survived the crucifixion, and it may also be true that his history was embellished in the manner of myths that had also been applied to other historical figures, this does not mean that he was not an Incarnation of God. It doesn’t necessarily mean that he was simply a prophet, a man, who lived through the crucifixion and then died later as an ordinary man. It also doesn’t mean that there aren’t important truths embedded in the myths that have been preserved as traditional Christian doctrine. It does mean that these myths contain distortion and embellishment, and that it will be a painful and disorienting process for traditional Christians to sort through it and find the truth of it. When the “dust has settled,” I think they will find that Jesus was and is more than traditional Chuch doctrine has portrayed him to be, not less. (Just as the true goal of religion, God-Realization, is much more than living in paradise forever in linear time.) What will emerge, I believe, is not that Jesus was just an ordinary man; nor that he was the only son of an anthropomorphic God. Jesus will finally be let out of both the little conceptual box of materialism, and the little conceptual box of Christian dogma, in which boxes he has been imprisoned for centuries.
For more information on Meher Baba, see my article, “A Tapestry of Meher Baba’s Connections with the West.”
*Another clue is that when Jesus appeared to the disciples, he appears to have had a body with the same wounds. It makes no sense to me that Jesus would have resurrected a body with the wounds. It further makes no sense to me that Thomas would have thrust his hands into the wound in Jesus’s side, literally, as per the Biblical account, simply because no-one who loved Jesus as the disciples did would have caused him excruciating physical pain just to satisfy their own selfish doubts. Therefore the account must be exaggerated (another clear indication of editing in the New Testament). Nonetheless, we are probably safe in assuming that this much is accurate, that Jesus’s body bore the wounds from the crucifixion when he returned. Under those circumstances, it is a much simpler and more logical interpretation that he survived the crucifixion than that his body was supernaturally resurrected.
**My interpretation of the crucifixion, based on studying Meher Baba’s life and teachings, is that Jesus was vicariously taking on the suffering of the world, so as to make the world’s load of karma bearable for us. (Meher Baba said that the Avatar did not take on the karma of the world per se, which I interpret to mean that he took on the suffering that resulted from the karma but not the karma itself.) The external crucifixion of Jesus was thus an outward and visible sign of the real inward crucifixion, of the inner spiritual work that Jesus was doing for humanity and for all of Creation. Thus the real inner crucifixion was much, much more than just the outward event of the physical crucifixion.
“Finally we arrived at Assisi at 5 P.M. to find a rather agitated Herbert waiting for us, because we were three hours late in arriving. After a rather restless and depressing week, he had made most successful arrangements for Baba’s retirement (which he tells in much better words than mine).
“Several kilometers from the town, up in the hills on the slopes of Monte Subasio, lies the famous Hermitage of Carceri built by St. Francis and his fellow monks. Below in the woods are several small caves or retreats where people go for meditation. Herbert discovered one of these half-protected by an outside wall. He had hidden this with branches so that it was difficult to find.
“This was one that was actually used by St. Francis himself. At 6:30 P.M. we had a light meal at the Windsor Hotel and drove in a car most of the way. The last part we walked on foot and, finally, scaled a low wall and plunged into the woods led by Herbert down an intricate winding path.
path.
“The cave we found was an ideal spot and perfectly suited to Baba’s requirements. Herbert had thought out everything with such care that there was nothing left to be desired. Herbert is always very meticulous and careful in all he undertakes. The light was beginning to go a little as we entered the woods. It was just after sunset. I remember the birds and their song dying away gradually.
We settled Baba in and he told us that no one must look at him and, above all, not to touch him.
“It was arranged that Herbert and Chanji were to keep watch outside the cave during the night, to be relieved by Kaka and myself at 9 o’clock the next morning. Baba said that Kaka and I were to go to mass at 7 A.M. the next morning and then we were to kiss the Tomb of St. Francis. We bade them goodnight and found our intricate way out of the woods.
“After mass we shouldered our rucksacks and toiled up the streets through Assisi to the hills of Monte Subasio. As we got out of town, it began to get warmer and warmer.
“Poor Kaka was laden down, and not in such good training as I, so we had to stop from time to time for him to rest and get his breath and cool off. At last we arrived, a little late —about 9:15, and we were glad to reach the cool shade of the wood where we found Herbert and Chanji waiting for as after a wakeful night.
“Nothing had transpired and there had been no interruptions of the calm and peace which pervaded the woods. We settled down to our vigil outside the cave. Herbert and Chanji returned to Assisi to rest.
“The sun rose higher, but we were well shaded from the heat by the trees. An intense calm was everywhere, but the woods were alive with birds whose song was deafening. As if in memory of St. Francis, they seemed to throng around us. Butterflies were often near; several lit on our hands and bodies.
“Gradually it grew warmer, and even in the deep shade, one felt the heat of midsummer.
“Towards midday I heard sounds from inside the cave. Forgetting Baba’s instructions about not looking at him, I saw him stand up with his eyes shut and face the sun. He made strange noises. Not daring to look again, I lay quiet.
“At one o’clock he clapped his hands. We pulled away the branches from the entrance. Taking the board he spelt out directions, telling Kaka to go to Assisi and ask Herbert and Chanji to be with him at 4:30, but that I was to call him there.
“Baba came out of the cave but told us not to come near him or touch him. He walked about alone in the woods for half-an-hour and then went into the cave again.
Custody of the Holy Land
20 languag
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Custodian of the Holy Land)
| Latin: Custodia Terræ Sanctæ | |
| Coat of arms of the Custody of the Holy Land | |
| Formation | 1217 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Saint Francis of Assisi |
| Founded at | Porziuncola, Assisi, Umbria |
| Purpose | “The grace of the Holy Places“ |
| Headquarters | Monastery of Saint Saviour |
| Location | Old city of Jerusalem |
| Region | Holy Land; Middle East |
| Services | Fathers of the Holy Sepulchre |
| Custos | Father Francesco Patton |
| Custodial Vicar | Father Dobromir Jasztal |
| General Secretary | Father Marco Carrara |
| Parent organization | Order of Friars Minor |
| Affiliations | Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem Order of the Holy Sepulchre |
| Website | www.custodia.org |
The Custody of the Holy Land (Latin: Custodia Terræ Sanctæ) is a custodian priory of the Order of Friars Minor in Jerusalem, founded as the Province of the Holy Land in 1217 by Saint Francis of Assisi, who had also founded the Franciscan Order in 1209. In 1342, the Franciscans were declared by two papal bulls as the official custodians of the Holy Places in the name of the Catholic Church.[1]
The Custody headquarters are located in the Monastery of Saint Saviour, a 16th-century Franciscan monastery near the New Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. The office can bestow—only to those entering its office—the Jerusalem Pilgrim’s Cross upon deserving Catholic visitors to the city.[citation needed]
The Franciscans trace their presence in the Holy Land to 1217. By 1229, the friars had a small house near the fifth station of the Via Dolorosa and in 1272 were permitted to settle in the Cenacle on Mount Zion. In 1309 they also settled in Bethlehem and the Holy Sepulchre along with the Canons Regular.
After the final fall of the second Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1291, the title of Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem was vested in the Custody ex officio in Rome, while resuming its activities in the Holy Land, including surveilling the accolades of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre 1342–1489 until its Grand Magistry was vested in the papacy. Following the restoration of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem as residential episcopal see in 1847, the Patriarch henceforth additionally assumed the position of the order’s ecclesiastical superior, eventually supplanting the Custody of the Holy land as Grand Prior of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.
The Custody of the Holy Land has repeatedly expressed concern about the survival of the Christians in the Holy Land, including the strained situation for Christians in the rest of the Middle East.[2]
Between 2004 and 2016, the Custodial Curia was led by Custos Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa.[3][4] Since 2016, the chief custodian has been Francesco Patton [it].
Mission[edit]
The mission of the Custody of the Holy Land is to guard “the grace of the Holy Places” of the Holy Land and the rest of the Middle East, “sanctified by the presence of Jesus“,[5] as well as pilgrims visiting them, on behalf of the Catholic Church.[6][7]
History[edit]
Oldest known portrait in existence of the saint who founded the Order of Friars Minor and its Custody of the Holy Land, dating back to Saint Francis’ retreat to Subiaco (1223–1224); depicted without the stigmata.[8]
An online history, The Franciscan Presence in the Holy Land, has been prepared by the Custodian Emeritus (later Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem), Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM.
The Franciscan presence in the Holy Land started in 1217, when the province of Syria was established, with Frater (Brother) Elias of Cortona as Minister. By 1229, the friars had a small house near the fifth station of the Via Dolorosa. In 1272 the Sultan Baibars of Egypt permitted the Franciscans to settle in the Cenacle (also called the Upper Room) on Mount Sion. Later on, in 1309, they also settled in Bethlehem and in the Holy Sepulchre, along with the Canons Regular.
Saint Francis before Sultan Al-Kamil of Egypt, witnessing the trial by fire (wall fresco, Giotto)
During the difficult years of the Great War, many friars belonging to the enemy nations fighting against the Ottomans and Germans were deported.[9] In 1917, when the Italian friars were just about to be sent away, reprieve came in the last minute, which was attributed to the triduum celebrated that year in honour of St Anthony of Padua, a saint venerated for his miracles.[9] Consequently, in 1920, St Anthony was chosen as the patron saint of the Custody.[9]
In 1333, Robert d’Anjou, King of Naples, and his wife, Sancia of Majorca, bought the Cenacle from the Sultan of Egypt and gave it to the Franciscans. In 1342, Pope Clement VI, by the Papal bulls Gratiam agimus and Nuper charissimae declared the Franciscans as the official custodians of the Holy Places in the name of the Catholic Church.[1] A portion reads:
A short time ago good news from the king and queen reached our Apostolic See relating that, at great cost and following difficult negotiations, they had obtained a concession from the Sultan of Babylon [that is, Cairo], who to the intense shame of Christians occupies the Holy Sepulchre of the Lord and the other Holy Places beyond the sea that were sanctified by the blood of this same Redeemer, to wit that friars of your Order may reside continuously in the church known as the Sepulchre and celebrate there Solemn Sung Masses and the Divine Office in the manner of the several friars of this Order who are already present in this place; moreover, this same Sultan has also conceded to the King and Queen the Cenacle of the Lord, the chapel where the Holy Spirit was manifested to the Apostles and the other chapel in which Christ appeared to the Apostles after his resurrection, in the presence of Blessed Thomas; and also the news of how the Queen built a convent on Mount Zion where, as is known, the Cenacle and the said chapels are located; where for some time she has had the intention of supporting twelve friars of your Order to assure the divine Liturgy in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, along with three laymen charged with serving the friars and seeing to their needs.[10]
Church of the Holy Sepulchre (1885). Other than some restoration work, its appearance has essentially not changed since 1854. The Immovable Ladder, the small ladder below the top-right window, is also visible in recent photographs; this has remained in the same position since 1754 over a disagreement to remove it.
The Custodian was described as the “Guardian of Mount Zion in Jerusalem”. Between 1342 and 1489, the Custodian was the head of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and held the ex officio title of Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. From 1374, he was based at the Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura in Rome.
In 1489, Pope Innocent VIII suppressed the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and ruled that it was to be merged with the Knights Hospitaller. In 1496, Pope Alexander VI, restored the Order of Holy Sepulchre to independent status, but the Custodian ceased to be the head of the Order. Instead, a Grand Master of the Order was created, and the office vested in the papacy. The Custodian continued to act as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem ex officio until 1830, and by being appointed to both offices until 1905. The office of Grand Master remained vested in the papacy until 1949.[11] On 29 August 2011, Archbishop Edwin Frederick O’Brien was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI Grand Master to succeed Cardinal John Patrick Foley, who resigned the office on 24 February 2011 due to ill health. The Order is a member of many international bodies and has observer status at others (such as the United Nations). The Grand Master is a papal viceroy who assists Vatican diplomacy with procedural support for making motions, proposing amendments and requiring votes in the sphere of international diplomacy.
Franciscan friars cared for the Cenacle, restoring also the building with Gothic vaults, until the Ottoman Empire captured Jerusalem and banished all Christians. After the Franciscan friars’ eviction, the Cenacle was transformed into a mosque. Christians were not allowed to use the room for prayer until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
In 1623, the Latin Province of the Holy Land was split into a number of smaller entities, called Custodies – creating Custodies of Cyprus, Syria, and the Holy Land proper. The Custody of the Holy Land included the monasteries of Saint-Jean-d’Acre, Antioch, Sidon, Tyre, Jerusalem and Jaffa.
In 1847, a resident Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem was restored in the Holy Land, together with the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem became the ecclesiastical superior of the Order, and eventually assumed the title Grand Prior, supplanting the Custodian. The office of Grand Master still remained vested in the papacy.
In 1937, Alberto Gori was appointed Custodian of the Holy Land, an office he would occupy until 1949, when he was appointed Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, an office he held until 1970. In Gori’s reports to the Vatican in the 1940s, he was critical of Jewish and later Israeli forces, whom he accused of destruction of holy places.[12] Despite repeated Israeli assurances that Israel will guarantee freedom of religion and safeguard the Holy Places of all religions, Pope Pius XII issued several encyclicals expressing concerns about the holy places as well as access.[13] In 1949, at the time of appointing Gori to the office of Latin Patriarch, Pius XII also relinquished the title of Grand Master.[14]
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