VATICAN CORNER
continued… The Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land provide pastoral care in 29 parishes, offering Worship, Faith Formation, youth and family programs. Their Media Center tells the story of the Holy Land through multimedia distributed throughout the world. The Franciscan friars organize Liturgical Celebrations for the local Christians and Pilgrims and share with other Christian communities. How did the Franciscan get custody of the Holy Land? In the year 1209, a layman upon hearing the words of Jesus in the Gospel bidding his apostles to go forth on their mission, was struck with a calling. He began to preach and his name was Francis of Assisi. He developed a small following and they went to Rome to see Pope Innocent III, who gave them oral permission to live in the manner Francis had chosen. Thus began the Franciscan order of friars, an entirely new type of order in the church. They wandered about Umbria and through Italy preaching the Gospel, working to pay for their very simple needs. Francis not only sent his brothers abroad, but went himself to Dalmatia, France, Spain and in the years 1219 – 1220 to the Holy Land. It was the time of the disastrous Fifth Crusade where a European Christian army was attempting to recapture Jerusalem from the Muslims. Francis crossed enemy lines to talk with al-Kamil in his camp on the banks of the Nile. He was the sultan of Egypt and a nephew of the great Muslim warrior Saladin. Francis who opposed the warfare, hoped to bring about peace by converting the sultan to Christianity. He didn’t succeed, but had a peaceful encounter and the Sultan who was so impressed that he let Francis continue on his way to the Holy Land. In 1291, the last remaining Crusader stronghold, the city of Akko fell into Muslim hands. The Franciscans retreated to Cyprus, but left some of their friars in Jerusalem and the other Holy Places in the Holy Land. The friars often risked their lives and died trying to stay. In 1333, through Franciscan mediation, the royal family of Naples acquired from the Sultan the legal right to the Holy Cenacle (traditional site of The Last Supper) as well as the right to hold religious services at the Holy Sepulchre (tomb where Jesus was laid after death). In 1342 the royal family of Naples decided that the Franciscans should exercise these rights on behalf of the Christian world and Pope Clement VI approved the decision by presenting the royal family with the bill, thereby officially establishing the Franciscans with the Custody of the Holy Land.
To be continued…Sources: infoplease.com, news.va, proterrasancta.org, custodia.org , panoramio.com, israel-travel-secrets.com, historylearningsite.co.uk