The Franciscans in the Land of Our Redemption

P. CONRAD AERTS, O.F.M.

THE FRANCISCANS IN THE LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION

InTl~ S OATES f5 WASHBOUJU,E LDIITED THE FRANCISCANS IN THE LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION

MAGYAR FERENCES KONYVTAR

1111111111111111111111111111111111 01210065 The Franciscans in the Land of our Redemption

By FR. CONRAD AERTS, O.F.M.

Translated from the French by FR. PAULINUS LAVERY, O.F.M., B.A.

LONDON BURNS OATES & WASHBOURNE LTD. IMPRIMATUR:

FR. LITDOVlCUS COFFEY, O.F.M., Mi«. Provo

Losouu, di.211 M arlil, '933.

NIHIL OBSTAT:

CAROLUS KUVPERS, Censor deputatus,

IMPRIMATUR:

~ ARTHURUS, Episco-pus Brenhuoodensis.

BUNTWOODa"SI, IIi. '7" MUTtii, '933.

~JADE AND PRINTED rN CREAT BRITAIN 1933 FOREWORD

THE Very Rev. Daniel Lappan, O.F.M., Belgian Commissary of the Holy Land, in graciously con- ceding the rights of translation, authorised me to make such variations as might be considered desirable. I am happy to say this generous latitude has not been abused, in fact it has been availed of most sparingly. However, there is one change which must be mentioned. The original bears the title Les Franoiscains au pays de Jesus, the translation that of The Eranciscans in the Land of Our Redemption. 'Why? Because it appears in the Holy Year, the year of the Extraordinary Jubilee which His Holi- ness, Pope Pius XI-may God spare him to the Church for many years-inspired by the nineteenth centenary of the world's Redemption, has proclaimed. In inviting the faithful to come to the Eternal City and share in the spiritual riches thrown open to them, he furthermore exhorts all who can to proceed further, saying in the Bull, Quod Nuper, given at S. Peter's on the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord,

1933: I It is fitting that during this year pious pilgrimages to the Holy Land should be more numerous, and that the faithful should visit and venerate the scene of such holy and memorable events.' (Translation of C.T.S.) v vi FOREWORD Moreover, whilst most of the Indulgences throughout the world have been suspended, those of the Holy Land are left intact and the faculties granted to all confessors there are increased. Finally, as will be seen on page II, this is the sixth centenary of the official recognition of the Franciscans as custodians of the Holy Places in the name of the Church. F.A.E. TABLE OF CONTENTS

PA.OB FOREWORD v

CHA'PTItR 1. THE CRUSADER OF AsSISI

II. ON THE FRINGE OF THE IDEAL OF S. FRANCIS. 7

Ill. NEW HIGHWAYS 13

IV. VICISSITUDES 22

V. THE VOICE OF ROME 33

VI. TO-DAY

VII. THE POPES ALb10NERS FOR PALESTINE 52

ApPENDIX 55

vii ) I r THE FRANCISCANS IN THE LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION

CHAPTER I

THE CRUSADER OF ASSISI

THE first of all rules of Religious Orders to speak specifically of the missions is that of S. Francis (U82-1226). It will come as a surprise to no one, familiar with his chivalrous nature, to learn that Umbria's Saint wished to send forth his troops to conquer pagan lands. Was he not the embodiment of all the noble aspirations of his age? It is, therefore, no mere whim that induces us to invoke his memory here, at the beginning of this little work, which aims at telling in its main outlines the work of the Franciscans in the Holy Land. For it must never be forgotten that he. was the true founder of the mission in the land of our Redemption.

When S. Francis was still a youth all Europe was in a state of ferment. For a century the Popes, like sentinels for ever on the alert on the watch-tower,

I 2 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE had been sounding the tocsin and calling men to arms against Islam.! The enemy was indeed formidable. Anxious for pillage, hungering for conquests, he covered all Southern Europe with a crescent, which threatened Constantinople from the east and, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, stretched into Spain on the west. Christians, who were familiar with the Mussulmans from the heroic epics and the deeds of Charlemagne, knew them better and feared them less after the successes of the First Crusade, which led up to the foundation of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (July I5th, I099). Alas, since that time many dreams had been shattered by bitter defeats; but it only needed the first puff of victory to rekindle the sacred fire of enthusiasm and cause it to blaze up anew in powerful, inspiring flames. It was in this atmosphere, over which the glorious banner of the Crusades seemed to flutter in every breeze of heroism, that S. Francis grew up. Inspired by the epic songs of the troubadours, the impulsive youth spoke of nothing but chivalry. It was his vocation, he believed, to attack the dreaded soldiers of Mahomet. But, as he was on his way to Spoleto, his armour glittering from head to foot in the midday sun, God seized the bridle of this warrior's charger

1 It was at the close of the Council of Clermont, November 28th. 1095.that Pope Urban II first issued an appeal for a crusade. In the eleventh century the Moslem peril was great. Having first overthrown the Arabic Empire of Bagdad, the Turks (Seldjou- kides) took away from the Greek Emperors of Byzantium almost the whole of Asia Minor. Establishing themselves a.t Nicea, they threatened Constantinople. On the Spanish side the outlook was equally foreboding: the Almoravides, Moslems who had come from Africa, wiped out at Zalacca.in the year 1086 the Christia.n armies which were striving to reconquer the country. LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 3 and substituted for his dreams of military prowess a thirst for spiritual conquests. After this meeting, so decisive in the career of the Saint, all seemed changed to him and yet all remained the same; his spirit remained that of a knight vowed to the crusade, only the ideal had assumed another aspect. Possibly in I209 Innocent III sensed it. His intuitions were realised in the chapter entitled: • Of those who wish to go amongst the Saracens,' inserted later in the Franciscan Rule. Was it not a faithful echo of the cry , God wills it ' that the Popes had made resound for more than a century? The great inspirer of the Fourth Crusade, who had blessed so many swords of heroes setting out for the East, blessed also the cross of the twelve Crusaders of the coarse habit and girdle. In the year I2I7 the Friars were sent to Mahom- medan Spain and to Syria. 1 The Franciscan crusade began and, as we see, the attack was made on both flanks of the power of Islam. The expeditionary force sent to Spain did not fight for long: driven into Morocco, all its members perished on January rfith, 1220. They are our first martyrs, and it is noteworthy that the Franciscan Order, which was so often to dye its rough habit in the blood of confessors, should have offered up its firstfruits in Mahom- medan lands. On May zfith, 1219, the Founder summoned his second General Chapter. Europe at this moment trembled with anxiety and yet with pride and hope;

1 The mission to the East was led by Brother Elias: that to Spain by Brother Berard. The Moslems, who had been badly defeated in the ba.ttle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, now only retained Granada, where they were to remain until 1492. 4 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE it was a year ago that the Crusaders had set out for Damietta. How could the Eastern question be passed over in silence when Cross and Crescent con- fronted one another on the banks of the Nile? Brother Giles and some others were appointed to go to Tunis. Francis himself chose twelve companions to take with him to Egypt. Thus all the strategic points of the power of Islam were attacked: Morocco by Berard and his four attendants, Tunis by the saintly Brother Giles and his companions, Egypt by Francis, surrounded by his twelve brethren, Palestine by Elias and his knights. S. Francis reached Ancona with his escort, whence a band of crusaders was about to set sail. How his apostolic heart must have quickened with holy zeal I Whilst the warriors who travelled with him trusted in their arms, the Saint placed all his hope in his Lord to give such power of persuasion to his words as would take by storm the citadels of souls. Crusaders booted and spurred and crusaders with bare feet soon reached Egypt. The aim of this chivalrous apostle had always been to strike a blow at the heart of Islam; now he was able to meet two of its most powerful leaders at Damietta : the Sultan of Damascus, Melek el Moaddem or Conradin, and his brother, the Sultan of Egypt, Melek el Kamel. If he could but win them to the Catholic Faith, would it not be like reattaching to the Kingdom of Christ the vast empire founded by Saladin and, in par- ticular, to give back to Christ his Fatherland? But how was he to reach them ? At the beginning of September a truce was signed between the belligerents who were both alike LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 5 exhausted. This armistice was the signal for S. Francis to begin a peaceful offensive. Furnished with a passport, he reached the tent of Melek el Kamel. According to historians the Saint remained for nearly a month amongst the Saracens, preaching daily with the same zeal and alas I with the same lack of success, until, on the renewal of hostilities, he had to leave the camp.! Shortly after the fall of Damietta (November 5th, I2I9), disheartened by the moral slackness of the Crusaders, whose armies retained nothing of the sublime idealism of a holy war, he left them and set out for Syria, where his brethren had been working for two years. The Saint remained there -from March I220 to March I22I and had the opportunity of visiting Palestine. Did he seize that opportunity, imitating the pious pilgrims who, from the dawn of Christianity, had sought for Christ's footsteps on the highways of the Holy Land Ps It is difficult to doubt it. Francis, for whom Christ was his All and an Ever-living Reality, could hardly let pass this occasion for foster- ing his seraphic love. Those who picture him as overflowing with enthusiasm when he beheld the Holy City are certainly not deluded. Towards the end of 1220 the Saint was suddenly recalled to Italy. His mission was ended, but, besides introducing into the West certain devotions

1 On the Fifth Crusade and the part played in it by S. Francis see Girolamo Golubovich, O.F.M., Biblioteca Bio-Bibliografica della Terra Santa e dell' Oriente Francescano, I, 89 ss. Quaracchi 1906. a Early historians of the Order, such as Angelo of Clareno, state expressly that S. Francis visited the Holy Sepulchre. They even maintain that the Sultan granted him a permit allowing the Franciscans access to the Holy Sepulchre without paying Q, tax. (See G. Golubovich, l.c., I, 56 ss.) 6 THE FRANCISCANS such as the Crib, which bear the stamp of one who had visited the very places hallowed by the footsteps of Christ I ubi steterunt pedes eius,' he left behind him in the East the beginnings of a work which was to defy the centuries.!

1 The Saint must have had to wait for good weather in order to return. Navigation began again in the Mediterranean about March. CHAPTER II

ON THE FRINGE OF THE IDEAL OF S. FRANCIS

LIKE seeds plentifully sown on rich soil the Province of Palestine grew rapidly.! Did it increase its numbers even from the ranks of the Latin clergy who had been attracted to the East by the Crusades? It would seem so, to judge from a letter of Cardinal J ames of Vitry, bishop of S. Jean D'Acre, to his friends in Lorraine. t Monsieur Renier,' he writes, t Provost of Saint-Michel, has entered the Order of Friars Minor. My chaplain, Colin the Englishman, and two others have followed his example. I have great trouble in dissuading my cantor and Henry and a crowd of others.' In short, the whole episcopal household was going that way, and perhaps the bishop himself. He was certainly a great admirer of the Friars, but, speaking of himself, he adds, either gloomily or jestingly: 'As for myself, frail and heavy at heart, I long to finish my course in peace and rest.' Such was the progress of the Province of the Holy Land that less than fifty years after its foundation it was divided into two by the General Chapter of the

1 This Province has different names: the Province of the Holy Land, Ultramarine, of the Promise, of Antioch, of Roumania, of Greece. These last two names were reserved for the Province wbich was separated from the Holy Land in 1263. 7 8 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE

Order held at Pisa in 1263 under the presidency of S. Bonaventure. Greece, Constantinople, Asia Minor, Crete and the neighbouring islands were erected into a province under the name of the Province of Roumania. The Minister Provincial of the Holy Land retained jurisdiction over Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Lower Armenia and Cyprus. The mother province, even after the separation from Roumania, probably numbered nineteen residences.' As long as the Crusaders had a footing in the East the fate of the Franciscans was necessarily linked to that of these Christian soldiers. As these gradually lost ground the sons of S. Francis abandoned their convents and when, on May rSth, 1291, Saint-Jean d'Acre, the last Christian stronghold, sank beneath the blows of Melek el Asceraf, the last Franciscan friary disappeared also. That is what history tells us of the matter. What a different story is told by certain fantastic people I How often are we not shown in pictures a Crusader, clad in armour, handing to a son of S. Francis his banner, emblazoned with a flaming cross of victory I The scene takes place on the seashore, and in the background a galley, which appears to have been commissioned without diffi- culty, waits patiently. One is tempted to write under this picture the explanatory exergue: The Change oj Guard. A rich theme for oratorical imaginings I One cannot but acclaim the Franciscans as the heirs of the Crusaders, the successors of the Kings of Jerusalem, the army of occupation left there by our

1 There were, amongst others, residences at Jerusalem. Jaffa. Saphet, Acre, Tyre, Nazareth, Beirut, Antioch (two friaries). Sis (Cilicia), Damietta Tripoli (Syria), Aleppo. and in the island of Cyprus at Limasol, Nicosia, Famagusta and Paphos. LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 9 heroes, who were without fear or reproach, to guard their booty. Alas, the facts are quite otherwise. The steel-clad knight, whose sword had carved out an immortal epic, had no longer anything to leave to the knight of the coarse habit, and he, if he managed to escape being massacred. had likewise to flee.! This change of guard, accomplished beneath the silken folds of a sacred banner, took place only in the imagination of an idealist. Then, it will be asked, is all this picture false ? No, it has a symbolic value. Even if the Franciscans did not inherit the possession of the Holy Places from the Crusaders, they have inherited their ideal. 2

1 When the Crusaders organised the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099). the Patriarchal See of Jerusalem and all the other episcopal sees in Palestine and Syria were held by prelates who had come from the West. The Latin Rite. which had been represented in different sanctuaries from the early ages of the Church. then held unrivalled the first place. though it did not. for all that, exclude Eastern Rites. These were performed at certain altars. Religious from the West were engaged in the service of the basilicas: Canons Regular of S. Augustine at the Holy Sepulchre, at the Sanctuary of the Ascension. at the Temple of our Lord, at our Lady of Mount Sion and at the basilica of the Nativity a.t Bethlehem; Bene- dictines a.t our Lady of the Valley of Josaphat and at our Lady of the Latins. Put to Hight by the victory of Saladin (lIB?) the Canons Regular of S. Augustine returned. to their sanctuaries from 1229 to 1244, thanks to the truce of Frederick II, but, in 1244. they were finally driven out of Jerusalem. From this time onwards, following the Crusaders in their retreat, they left Palestine for ever in 1291. There could then be no question of handing over the basilicas to the Franciscans; they were irretrievably lost, and became the property of the Mussulman state. (See Pascal Baldi, La Question des Lieu« Saints en general. Rome. Imprimerie Pontificale de l'Institut Pie XI. Tome I. pp. 10 55.) •It is therefore not without reason that the Custody of the Holy Land has embodied in its coat of arms the fivefold cross of tile Crusaders. B IO THE FRANCISCANS IN THE From that time onwards Europe will never again really rouse herself, ready once more to spring to the attack at the cry' God wills it,' but the Fran- ciscan will continue to read the chapter of his Ru1e which speaks of those who wish to go amongst the Saracens and which is itself a summons to the Crusade." The Friars, exiled for the time being from the land of our Redemption, took refuge in their houses in Cyprus, awaiting an opportunity to return. 2 That happy hour was hastened by the intervention of powerful states and the first move came from the court of Aragon. James II of Aragon was on excellent terms with the Sultan of Egypt, Melek en Nazer-Mohammed, and there was a continual exchange of embassies and gifts between the two sovereigns. Barcelona was beginning to develop intensively its sea-traffic, and, in order to expand its trade with Alexandria and Egypt, it was necessary to be in good relations with the court at Cairo. On each occasion the Illig of Aragon, looking higher and further afield, aimed at greater successes. He desired to exercise, and in fact did exercise, a real protectorate over the Oriental Christians. The sixth embassy, in 1327, marks a date memorable in the history of the Franciscan

1 There were later encounters between the Christians and the Moslems in the East but the period 0:( action on a large scale and of united policy had passed. The idea of a united Christen- dom in Europe grew weaker and weaker, giving place to a newly awakened spirit of nationalism in most countries. This change necessarily led to the abandonment of the campaign, in which peoples and races united to form Christian armies. e It was the convents in Cyprus that assured the continuity of the Province of the Holy Land. The Franciscans were at one time expelled from Palestine but the Province did not cease to exist and traces its origin back to the time of S. Francis. LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION II Province of the Holy Land. The legates from Aragon explained to the Sultan how their illustrious master wished that the religious ceremonies performed at the tomb of Christ should be more in harmony with the holiness of the place. Some Franciscans who had come from the Holy Land had drawn a lamentable picture of the liturgy as carried out in the most holy place on earth. In order to remedy this regrettable state of affairs James II asked that a place should be reserved in the Basilica and that they should be allowed to travel throughout the country without paying any tax and that they should enjoy the protection of the Sultan and his ministers. 1 Important as was this embassy of James II, yet it was but the eve of more decisive events. In 1333 another European court placed its Christian zeal, powerful diplomacy and, what was most important of all in the country of backsheesh, its money at the disposal of the proteges of the Kings of Aragon. Robert of Savoy, King of Naples and Jerusalem, Count of Anjou and Provence, and, above all, his wile Sancia, profited by the kindly dispositions of the same Sultan Melek en Nazer-Mohammed to begin important negotiations with him. 2 Not only did they obtain legal and perpetual rights for the Franciscans over the Holy Sepulchre and its neighbouring sanctuaries, but they acquired possession of

I On the subject of the embassies of James II. (See Golubovich, I.e.• Torno II. pp. 73. 185, 232, 309.) In this very year 1327 the Kirlg of France, Charles IV (Tho Fair) likewise sent ambassadors to Cairo in order to obtain freedom of worship in the Holy Places and protection for pilgrims. (Sell Baldi, Lc., p. 16.) , For Melek en Nazer and the court of Naples. (S68 Golu- bovlch, i.e.• Tome IV.) 12 THE FRANCISCANS the Cenacle and the chapels annexed to it on Mount Sion by purchase followed by legal cession of rights. It was.the beginning of the peaceful possession; the first Christian temple, the cradle of the Church, was in the hands of the sons of S. Francis, who are its sole true owners.' In the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre and over the Tomb of our Lord they obtained rights which, without excluding those of the Orientals, were yet superior to theirs. On Mount Sion the Queen Sancia built a friary for twelve religious. Henceforth the Provincial of the Holy Land could assume the title of Guardian of Mount Sion, of the Holy Sepulchre and of the Holy Places. So glorious a title, however, required confirmation from the Church, in whose name these new crusaders had undertaken their task of peaceful penetration. This solemn ratification was given by the bull Gratias agimus of November erst, 1342, which may be called the letter of ennoblement granted by Clement VI to the provincial and the mission of the Holy Land. A charter of ennoblement, without doubt, but the political interventions and the bull of Clement VI had spurred the Franciscans on to an ideal which was but on the fringe of the ideal of S. Francis ... the custody of the Holy Places. Such a function of itself would have been welcometo the mystic soul of the Saint, but would it have satiated his apostolic aspirations?

1 In I5Sl the Moslems, for whom treaties and legal contraots are nothing but scraps of paper, expelled the Franciscans from their convent on Mount Sion at the instigation of the Jews. The Custody then acquired the Convent of our Saviour, which is still the residence of the Custos of the Holy Land and his counsellors. CHAPTER III

NEW HIGHWAYS

S. FRANCIS had dreamt of the conquest of souls. not of sanctuaries. If it was his wish that the superiors should give leave to those who wished to go amongst the Saracens," it was simply to mobilise an army of preachers who should shed the light of Faith or their blood. Without doubt the infallible way of enriching the patrimony of the Church by the possession of the Holy Places was to make the conquerors of the venerable basilicas enter the bosom of the Church. But the Franciscans seemed to have forgotten the Saracens since their return to Palestine. They adopted the ideas of that period, which were those of the Pope and Christian Princes. and they acknow- ledged that they were there in order to ensure the survival of the Latin Rite and to provide for pilgrims from the West. To take care of the churches which Christian devotion had erected on the places where the spirit of the Master still lingered, to celebrate there in a worthy manner the Sacred Mysteries, to gain back gradually and to restore

1 The pilgtUnlJ of thls period-Nicholas of Poggibonsi and Ludolph of Sudheim found the Franciscans mixed with the Georgians, Greeks (Greek-Arabs), Armenians, Jacobites, Syrians, Copts, Abyssinians, Nestorians. Ludolph of Sudheim in par- ticular emphasises the privileged position of the Franciscans: Latini . . . supe" O"U!eS SUllt hello!'ati et soidano co.";' Be etiam i" aliis "&gllis habem semPIJ!, primalum. 13 14 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE those churches which still lay in ruins, to assist at the arrival of caravans of pilgrims, to escort them and to offer them such hospitality as was possible, all this was their ministry in its primary outlook. Not that the Franciscans confined themselves to this. Besides their duties as chaplains they began a very fruitful apostolate which often proved perilous and opened the way to martyrdom. They visited the Christian prisoners who languished in the Moslem prison-houses, heard their confessions, gave them Holy Communion, and, if their efforts to free them failed, they at least left them comforted. They sought out Christians whom the fear of torture had driven to apostacy, visited them, reasoned with them and often succeeded in persuading them to retract openly their renegation of the Faith. In addition to this there was continuous traffic between the commercial cities of the East, and the merchants who came from Venice, Genoa and Barcelona to Egypt and the Levant were not always models of Christian virtue and probity. To sum up there was an enormous field open for the activity of the Friars, and the Popes issued bulls giving them very wide powers in order that they might exercise their apostolate more fruitfully. Noble as was the ministry that they carried on, it did not always satisfy their zealous impulses. From time to time the desire for martyrdom would influence one of the missionaries, and, forgetful of the fact that the ambassadors had only obtained certain concessions on condition that the Friars would abstain from preaching to the Moslems, he would go and defy the Mohammedan priests openly in the mosque at the very hour of prayer. A procedure LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 15 rather daring than prudent: without any restraint the preacher attacked at its very centre the imposture of Mahomet and gathered the palm of martyrdom which he had sought. Amongst the many who acted thus were Blessed Nicholas of Tavileis and his three companions. As to the schismatics of all shades of opinion, what was the good of entering into controversy with them? No doubt isolated conversions would have followed, but it seemed better to wait for their return to the Church in a body. The Friars were not unconscious of the zeal of the Popes for the reunion of the Churches and hoped for good results from the councils which were in preparation and from the schismatics who were invited to them. They knew so well how many Papal Legates were being sent ceaselessly to the heterodox patriarchs, the more so from the fact that these ambassadors of the Papal court were very often chosen from amongst their brethren. They were all the more willing also to let these questions of reunion be treated by the higher grades of the hierarchy because they, who were on the spot, felt the enmity of the Orientals, who had not forgiven their intrusion into the Holy Places, weigh heavily upon them.! For the time being, then, they kept to the path which had been traced out for them; to hold on to what they possessed,

1 The peace existing between the Franciscans and the Orientals was a very precarious one. Ludolph of Sudheim speaks of the hatred entertained by the Greeks for the official representatives of the Latin Church: Greci soli taunos l!%ecralltur. (See Baldi, l.c., p. 17.) We must not, however, put this hatred down to the Eastern Schism. Even though this was completed by July 16th, 1054, at Constantinople, it did not have its full repercussions at Jerusalem, where it did not triumph until the return of the Byzantine Greeks under the Ottomans in 1520. THE FRANCISCANS IN THE / and to obtain possession of what remained to be acquired. The petition which had been addressed to the Sultan by Robert and Sancia in I333 and the concessions granted by him implicitly contained the right of the sons of S. Francis to establish themselves in the other Holy Places. It was certainly thus that the Franciscans interpreted them, nor did they delay in establishing themselves elsewhere. Fr. James of Verona, an Augustinian. who travelled through the Holy Land in I335. found them in possession of the Grotto of the Nativity at Bethlehem, and testified that in the valley of Josaphat they had the chief rights over the Basilica of the Assumption, which had been rebuilt by the Crusaders in honour of the empty tomb of Mary. It was quite natural that this valley. so rich in precious memories, should have attracted them. Two popes, Innocent VI in I36I and Urban V in I362, authorised them to build a convent there, close by the sanctuary, and hence quite close to the Grotto of the Agony. European courts, also, for their part used their influence with the Sultan Schaban-Aschraf: they were the Doge of Venice, Lorenzo Celsi, Peter IV of Aragon and, above all, Queen Joan I, a niece of Robert and Sancia. The latter, as if simply renewing the agreements that had already been made between Melek and her uncle, in the year 1363 petitioned on behalf of the Franciscans for the'possession of the Grotto of the Agony, free entry to the Tomb of our Lady, the right to light lamps therein as they did at Bethlehem, the right to build a friary and freedom from taxation. Alas, what the diplomacy of one court had built up, the folly of another destroyed almost immediately. In I365 the King of Cyprus, Peter I, II1ad~ LAND OF OUR REDEMPTIOl'f 17 a useless raid on Alexandria. He called himself a crusader, but was nothing more than a pirate. He took Alexandria by surprise, allowed it to be sacked by his troops, and then, when he had achieved this piratical exploit, returned to Cyprus. Schaban- Aschraf took reprisals: he imprisoned the guardians of the Holy Places at Damascus, where, one after the other, they died of hardship and ill-treatrnent.! Five years later, after wearisome negotiations, peace was signed. The Franciscans, however, had not waited till then to take the place of their imprisoned brethren. In 1369 they re-established their guardianship at Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Beirut. 2 These few residences represented for the time being in Palestine and Syria the Province of the Holy Land, which had shown such signs of promise in I217. And.if the convents were few in number, the same may be said of the religious. The sixteen sons of the Holy Land who were conducted to the deadly prisons of Damascus, as a result of the exploit of the King of Cyprus, were the only Franciscans in Palestine. The actual needs of the time did not necessitate a larger number. All the same there was no intention of keeping to this number, just as there was no intention of resting satisfied with the acquisition of the great basilicas of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The processionals in use in the second half of the fourteenth century show us that' the Franciscans

1 Throughout the whole course of history the Franciscans were the hostages in the hands of their Moslem masters. They not only felt the reaction after their defeats but suffered reprisals after every exploit of Christian pirates. On the crusade of Peter I, see Golubovich, l.c., V. p. 113 ss. a G. Golubovich, Lc., V. p. 143. 18 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE went also to the sanctuary of S. James the Less,! to the Church of the Nativity of our Lady, to a spot near to that where Christ was received by Simeon on the day of the Presentation, 2 to the Garden where our Lord was arrested, to the site of the Ascension,3to the place where the Apostles composed the Creed, to the placewhere Christ taught the Our Father, to the tomb of Lazarus at Bethany, to the mountain of the Forty Days' Fast, to the part of the Jordan where Christ was baptised. There was scarcely any place to which they had not gained the right to enter and officiate. Not far from Jerusalem, in the mountains of Judea, there is a charming little village-Ain-Karem- which perpetuates the remembrance of the Visita- tion and the birth of S. John the Baptist. A pilgrim who went there about the year 1400, the Archi- mandrite Grethenios, found the Church of the Nativity of S. John the Baptist deserted and the site of the Visitation in the hands of the' thrice cursed Armenians.' The same witness informs us that the Patriarch went there each year on the feast of the Saint and celebrated Mass. The Franciscans, also, were accustomed to make pilgrimages there and on each occasion their desire to establish themselves there grew stronger. Was it not there that the two most beautiful hymns that have ever sprung from the human soul had reverberated: the M agniflcat and the Benedictus. Towards the middle of the fourteenth century the Franciscans bought the venerated grotto

1 At present in the hands of the Armenians. a S. Anne of Jerusalem, given to France by Turkey in 1861. France entrusted it to the White Fathers, who conduct a seminary there for Uniate Greeks. a Mosque of the Ascension on the summit of the Mount of Olives. LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 19 where the Precursor had been born and where Zachary, recovering his power of speech, had recalled the inspired accents of the ancient poets of Israel. Their tenure was short-lived, for soon they were expelled and it was only after many efforts that they succeeded in re-establishing themselves there in r674.1 In their re-conquest of the Holy Places, the Fran- ciscans could hardly overlook the smiling region of Galilee. Their thoughts could not but turn to Nazareth, where the grotto of the Annunciation and the House of the Holy Family lay buried under a mass of ruins. Before the fall of S. Jean d' Acre in 1291, they had had several residences in the different places sanctified by the ministry of Jesus in Galilee. One by one they had been destroyed by the redoubt- able Bibars, and each one had its glorious martyr- ology. The blood of their brethren made this land doubly precious in the eyes of the Franciscans. Since their return to Palestine the Friars had let slip no chance of visiting Galilee. They used to lead the pilgrims, who were under their protection, to visit it, but it was not until the seventeenth century that they finally installed themselves there. They were helped in this by Fakhraddin II (r572-r635), the powerful Emir of Lebanon, who knew how to extend his authority over all the Arabs between Aleppo and Jerusalem and who did not attempt to disguise his sympathies for the Christians. He allowed the Franciscans to settle at Nazareth, Thabor and Cana.> From then onwards and without

1 Antonio Cirelli, Gli A nnaU di Terra Sallta, editi a P. Saturn- ifU) Mem;lIerini, O.F.M., p. 49, under the year 1621, Quaracchi, 1918. I On this Emir, dear to the inhabitants of Lebanon. (See Petite Hisloir« de Syrie 81 du Liban, Beirut, 1924, p. 845S.) 20 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE being hindered by the presence of the Schismatics, they celebrated the greatest mystery of love, the Incarnation, on the very spot where it had taken place. There, where the angel proclaimed Mary to be full of grace and where the Word was made flesh, they sang the glories of the Word and His Mother. At Thabor, likewise, the Franciscans found nothing but a heap of ruins. The fearful Bibars had demolished completely the ancient Benedictine monastery and the church of the Transfiguration. For more than two centuries the new guardians had to content themselves with a temporary chapel on the holy mountain, where, in the company of their glorified Master, the three chosen Apostles had experienced such joy. In 1858 excavations were begun but difficulties of various kinds prevented their continuance until 1875. It was not till then that our religious had the joy of bringing to light the altar of the primitive church of the fourth century and the foundations of the choir. On October 2ISt, 1919, the first stone of the basilica was laid; its severe beauty and luminous mosaics awaken the wonder of pilgrims. Negotiations for Tiberias, which is reflected in the blue waters of the lake so often rippled by the boat of the young prophet of Nazareth, and for Caphar- naum, the township of Jesus, were more difficult. Tiberias, which was taken possession of in the middle of the seventeenth century, could not be restored until 1847. It was only in 1894 that the Friars were established at Capharnaum, where very soon the intelligent labours of the late lamented Father Orfali resulted in the discovery and partial rebuilding of LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 21 the sumptuous synagogue, in which Jesus pro- nounced the discourse in which he promised the Eucharist. Thus, leaving out detail and restricting ourselves to the great sanctuaries, we see how the conquests of the Franciscans little by little extended to the whole of Palestine.

When we glance over the impressive list of places where the Franciscans are in residence and where they uphold the rights of the Latin Church, we must not be disturbed by the fact that all this has involved a momentary deviation from the ideal of S. Francis. That the conquest of sou1sgave place for a time to the conquest of the Holy Places will not blind anyone for long. We could never bring ourselves to accept the idea that all these places which perpetuate the mysteries of the life of Jesus are the exclusive property of the Schismatics. For the pilgrim in search of the least traces of the Master it would be a poignant grief to be unable to assist at a Latin Mass in the grotto where the Word began to live amongst us in the womb of Mary; to be refused Holy Com- munion nearby the cradle of Bethlehem, to be prevented from praying and weeping at the Tomb of Christ and at Calvary. No, the conquest of the Holy Places was absolutely necessary. It is an undying glory of the Franciscan Order that it carried this conquest to a successfu1 conclusion after the Crusaders had obtained but a passing victory. And the Saint of Assisi,from his height in heaven, he who dreamt of the conquest of the Saracens, far from being offended with his children, blesses them and rejoices over their victories. CHAPTER IV

VICISSITUDES

ON reading the two preceding chapters it might occur to one that the conquest of the Holy Places wasan easytask, for the Franciscanshad the support of European powers, who influenced the Sultans, more than one of whom showed himself compara- tively sympathetic to Christianity. Without doubt the sons of S. Francis were assisted in this matter and many names of kings and princes still evoke prayers of gratitude from their lips. Nevertheless, there is no story woven throughout with more vicissitudes,fleetingjoys,perpetual alarms and bitter vexations. How often did the order to quit the sanctuaries overwhelmthe Grey Friars I How often did they watch, heartbroken, the Schismatics insolently seize places they had acquired at such great cost lIt is no part of this book to paint a lurid picture of the attacks at one time fraudulent, at another murderous to whichthe Franciscans were exposed. Even if a bulky volume were written on this subject it would not be final, for such conflicts continue to the present day.! But these disputes

1 There is no one who does not deplore the fact that, in the very places where Jesus illustrated the precept of charity by his example, his disciples live in perpetual conflict. But before casting a stone at the Franciscans it will be well to consider that the Popes of every age have commissioned them to uphold the rights of the Latin Church. THE FRANCISCANS 23 have given rise to a real Question. 0/ the Holy Places, and it will be worth while to give a general idea of its import.

When Saladin conquered Palestine in u87 the fate of the holy basilicas depended on the whims of the council of Mussulman ministers, ' Let us destroy them,' said the guileless, ' by so doing we shall take away any pretext for the crusades.' But a more astute counsellor, after quoting the example of Omar who had destroyed nothing, opened the eyes of his colleagues to such attractive prospects that he obtained a majority of votes: 'Let us beware of destroying the sanctuaries,' he said. ' To visit them and to celebrate their mysteries in them Christians of all rites and all countries will spend fortunes.'! The basilicas thus became state property: this very fact gave promise of a fruitful traffic in public buildings. By concessions which were only obtained by gold and declared by firmans the use of the various altars and chapels was granted to the different Christian confessions, who had presented themselves at the pay-box and had handed over the required sum of money. This detailed allocation of the sanctuaries, whilst increasing the exchequer, also attracted all the Christians; native Greeks, Georgians, Jacobites, Syrians, Abyssinians, and Copts by this. means gained entrance to the sanctuaries. :I From 1333 onwards the Franciscans in their

1 See Baldi. l.c., p. 12. II The Latin Rite was also represented, at least from II92 onwards, thanks to an agreement between Saladin and Riehard the Lion-hearted. (P. Baldi, Lc., p. 12.) 24 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE torn gained admittance by the assistance of the diplomacy and generosity of European courts, and at once obtained preponderating rights over the sanctuaries. Sometimes the liturgical calendar regulating the liturgy of the various rites was celebrated in common.! Perfect peace was not always pre- served but a certain recognised modus agendi was gradually evolved which prevented any crying injustices. Up to the sixteenth century the custody of the Holy Places did not occasion any bloodshed among the Franciscans, apart from some attacks made on them by the Georgians. Certainly the others bore a grudge against them for having to some extent disturbed them by their entrance into the sanctuaries ; they tolerated them reluctantly but they did not make war on them. In the sixteenth century the storm broke suddenly. The Ottoman Turks, led by Selim I, took possessionof Syria and Egypt in 1517. By that fact the domination of the Mamluk Sultans of Cairo, with whom life was possible, ended: Palestine depended on other masters, and it was Constantinople that ruled. But what was more disquieting still was the fact that the new legislator brought with him turbulent guests, the Byzantine Greeks. Cast out of Palestine with the Byzantine troops, who had been repulsedby the CaliphOmar in 638, the Byzantine Greeks had taken care not to re-enter the country. They realized that they were not wanted and that they would be treated as

1 The reform of the Calendar was the work of Gregory xm {15821. The Orientals continue to use the Julian Calendar and are therefore fifteen days behind the Latins. LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 25 conquered enemies. Under the new masters, the Ottomans, they had nothing to fear. Thus it was _ that these Greeks arrived in triumph at the rear of the victorious armies of Selim. It was they who little more than fifty yeats before had cried out:

I Rather Turks than Papists.' The Custody had now a rival and an enemy: the Byzantine league of the Holy Sepulchre. From the year 1520 onwards a Greek-Byzantine Patriarch, the monk Germanos, a native of Pelo- ponnesia, dwelt in Jerusalem. With him the feud and attacks against the Latins began. In the course of the sixteenth century there was no important victory of the Greeks to record. The Patriarchs, it would seem, simply encouraged murderous attacks on the Latins. In the seventeenth century the offensive became more frequent and formidable. The Greeks realised more and more their advantage. They were subjects of the Ottomans and did not this title make them acceptable to the Sublime Porte? They had co-religionists in the employ of the most influential ministers and in the Council of the Grand Seignior, and they defended their cause very adroitly. Besides the Sultana herself had at one time been a Greek and consequently was quite won over to their interests. Finally their wealth enabled them to slip into the hands of the Pashas and ministers much better replenished purses than those which the Franciscans filled with the alms they received from the West. Whilst everything went in favour of the Greeks, the times were very unfavourable to the Latins, who had already against them the fact that they were looked upon as foreigners. c 26 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE Of what advantage was the protection 01 Christian princes to the Franciscans in the seventeenth century? For twenty-five years (r645-1669) Venice warred against Turkey and, with the loss of the island of Candia, forfeited her prestige. Austria and Poland were engaged in almost continual hostilities against the Ottoman Empire, and the presence of French volunteers in the ranks of their armies did not help the French ambassador to achieve diplo- matic successes in favour of the Friars. Besides, he was bitterly reproached for the destruction caused by Provencal pirates on the coasts of the Levantine seas.! Under such conditions victory often favoured the Greeks. Happily it was never absolute: the Franciscans, many times dispos- sessed of their rights, always ended by recovering them. In the following century the Greeks returned to the assault. It mattered little to them that the Turks had often declared, after enquiries forced on them by the governments of the West, that the officialorders which the Schismatics flourished were apocryphal documents issued from the office of a forger: it made no difference to them that the Sublime Porte had declared the rights of the Fran- ciscans to be unassailable. Certain of the sympathy of their masters, and strengthened by the support of their intermediaries and their money, they renewed their impious attacks with an ever-increasing boldness, and at last, in I757, they brought the most hateful of their schemes to a successful con-

1 The witticism of the Grand Vizier to the Marquis of Nointel is well known: •The French are our old friends, yet we find them everywhere with our enemies.' LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 27 elusion. In that year, a year of mourning for the Custody, they definitely expelled the Franciscans from the Basilica of the Assumption in the Valley of Josaphat and from the Basilica of the Nativity at Bethlehem, and gained a right of entry to the Tomb of Christ with the same rights as the Latins. This news caused indescribable astonishment in Europe. Without delay Clement XIII appealed to all Catholic princes, asking their aid. We know what answer the Grand Vizier gave to the protests of the French ambassador, Ie Comte de Vergennes : 'These places belong to the Sultan, my Lord; he gives them to whom he chooses. It is quite possible that they have always been in the hands of the Franks; but now it is the wish of His Highness that they should belong to the Greeks.' Every diplo- matic step came to grief on this arbitrary assumption of authority. The hostile fanaticism of the Greeks only spurred them on to bolder things. Very soon, too, they were to :find an ambitious and powerful ally-the Russian court. Already in 1774 Cathe- rine II of Russia had introduced into her treaty of peace with Turkey a clause in which she claimed a right of protectorate over all Orthodox subjects in the Ottoman Empire." Following her example all the Tsars claimed the same right. Their motive was clear; Constantinople, the Dardanelles and, further south, Egypt and Suez aroused their cupidity. To meddle in the affairs of Palestine would be a first step forward in view of future political realisations. Russian intrusion into these

1 See Alphonse d'Alonzo, La Russie en Palestine, Paris, Boyer, I\)Or, p. 67. 28 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE matters made itself felt in a most infamous way in 1852. When the Franco-Turkish commission, which had undertaken an examination of the rights of the various rival religious bodies, was nearing the end of its task, Nicholas of Russia sent an autograph letter to the Sultan, in which he charged him to maintain strictly the Status quo, under a threat of breaking offdiplomatic relations. The Sultan, Abdul Megid, took fright; despite the protests of France, he dissolved the commission and had the Status qu.o, as imposed by Russia proclaimed in Jerusalem. It was the officialapprobation of the encroachments of 1757, since it was in order to remedy them that France had taken action. This Status quo, instable! as it was unjust, survived the defeat of Russia in the Crimean War and continued to regulate all differences and disputes till the World War of 1914. After the Great War the Franciscans momentarily fostered the hope that the Peace Conference at Paris in I919 would re-establish their rights, in so far as they had been violated. Such a hope seemed justified, considering that the Turks had been driven from the country and that the descendants of the Crusaders could now act as masters. The Custody of the Holy Land drew up an historical memoir and

1 The Greeks always strongly opposed a codification of the Status q1l0: • They understood very well how profitable it was to their interests to have the regime of the Status quo, cleverly combined as it was with a lack of legal definition of the real position of the rights of ownership and free use belonging to the dif£erent communities. A well-defined situation would hardly be desired by anyone wishing to fish in troubled waters.' (Giannini, quoted by P. Baldi, l.c., p. 87.) LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 29 presented it to the Conference. In it the extent and value of her claims were established, with proofs in support of them. What she asked for was as clear as it was just and moderate: , The Custody of the Holy Land, in addressing the supreme tribunal of the nations, a tribunal assembled in solemn sessions to re-establish justice in the world, asks for nothing more than sheer justice. What she asks is that all the controversies that have taken place throughout the centuries between the different Christian communities which have the right to officiate in the Holy Places should be examined once and for all, that the value of the historical documents produced by each one of them should be tested, and that each one of them should be put in undisputed possession of that which is its right. What she asks is exactly what the Catholic Powers required from Turkey towards the middle of the last century, that is, the return of the Holy Places to the Status quo in existence at the time of the usurpati.ons committed by the Greek Orthodox in 1757,that is to say, the return to the Status quo which was lawfully established in the course of the fourteenth century, after the final fall of the Latin Kingdom of Jeru- salem.'! The plenipotentiaries of the Peace Conference took cognizance of this memoir, which once again placed the question of the Holy Places before the tribunal of public opinion, but they reserved their solution. The Treaty of Sevres (Aug. loth, 1920), which regulated the peace with Turkey, brought the first

1 See Les Lieu« Saints a fa Co"fbe1Ic~ de la Paix. Mlmoire. Jerusalem, Imprimerie des Peres Franciscains, p. 3. 30 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE ray of hope. It seemed as if Article 95 anticipated the formation of a Commission on the Holy Places. This stipulation of the Treaty of Sevres, which was not put into force, passed into Article 14 of the British Mandate for Palestine. 'The Mandatory Power,' it said, 'undertakes to name as soon as possible a special Commission, for the purpose of studying and regulating all questions and appeals concerning the different religious communities. In the composition of this commission account will be taken of the opposing religious interests. The president of the commission shall be appointed by the Council of the League of Nations.' To create an assembly of representatives of all the opposing interests meant the failure of the scheme. The Holy See hastened to point this out to the Council of the League of Nations by a letter of May ryth, 1922. How much wiser was the suggestion of the Sovereign Pontiff! The commission which he suggested would have included the consuls in the Holy Land of the powers which formed part of the Council of the League of Nations, leaving to those powers which had no official representative on the spot the right to nominate a delegate to take part in the deliberations. Such an assembly would have given a complete guarantee of calm discussion and impartiality. Without completely entering into the proposals of the Pope, the British Cabinet adopted a new formula on July rst, 1922. They declared themselves willing to appeal to persons of universally recognised reputation, chosen in such a way that the Com- mission would have a strictly international character. LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 31 To these arbiters, chosen from among the great powers having interests in Palestine, there would be added delegates of the three religions, Christian, Moslem and Jewish. Remodelled in this way Article 14 came before the Council of the League of Nations on July 24th, 1922. It was issued by the Council in the following vague form: 'A special Commission shall be nominated by the Mandatory Power for the purpose of studying and regulating all rights and appeals concerning the Holy Places, as well as the different religious Communities in Palestine. The method of nominating the members of the Commission, its composition and its duties will be sub- mitted to the approbation of the Council of the League, and the Commission will not be nominated ana will not begin its work before this approbation.' The first suggestion of the Mandatory Power was set aside, the matter was adjourned sine die and so it remains to-day. An Order of the Council,issued on July 25th, 1924, simply stipulated that all disputes which may arise concerning the Holy Places are outside the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts of Palestine. This new jurisprudence can hardly be said to satisfy the requirements of justice because it prolongs the application of the iniquitous Status Q1-l0 of 1852, Moslem and Jewish questions have with good reason been separated from the Christian problems and have received various solutions. Very definite decisions have been taken regarding the Wailing Wall, but the Franciscans are still waiting to have their credentials examined. Furthermore, they are constantly provoked by the Greeks, who 32 THE FRANCISCANS feel that they are backed by the sympathy of a non- Catholic Power.! Will the day of justice never dawn ?

1 The last circular letter of the Most Rev. Nazzareno Jacopozzi, Custos of the Holy Land, tells us, in thinly veiled words, in what a strange way England interprets the Slat lIS quo. , When it was thought with good reason that a new era had arrived, when the Franciscans, guardians of the sanctuaries, would be able, i£ not to rest on their laurels, at least to breathe more freely, Providence permitted their martyrdom to take a new and perhaps more cruel form still. For those who have followed the development of life in our sanctuaries in Palestine during the last ten or lifteen years this remark will not seem mysterious. The vexations, violent acts, childish disputes, attempts against tbe rights of the Catholics arc now considered, by those who ought to be the last to do so, under so favourable a light and with scarcely veiled sympathy, that now they are allowed to increase automatically. And, what is worse still. the situation is being aggravated in consequence of tendentious hindrances, thereby studiously transforming the Status quo beyond recognition and in favour of course of others to the exclusion of ourselves and to our utter prejudice.' (Ltttr" C'1'Cfllai,.t, Imprimerie des PP. Franciscains, Jerusalem, 1932.) CHAPTER V

THE VOICE OF ROME

ONE of the most memorable dates in the history of Catholic apostolate is January 6th, 1622, for it was on this day that Pope Gregory XV signed the decree of erection of the Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith. We know that the Church had not waited until the Epiphany of 1622 in order to carry the good news to the Gentiles. Nevertheless she organised for the future a great general centre, which would more wisely direct the evangelising of the world. This event only interests us in the present book in so far as it exercised an influence on the Custody of the Holy Land. With the birth of the new Congregation set up by Gregory XV, a new life began for the Custody, what one might call a strictly missionary phase. We have already sufficiently shown that the apostolate was not neglected, even from the beginning, and the long report which the Custos, Francis Manerba, sent to Pope Clement VIII in 1604 gives us new proof of the fact.! This relation not only enlightens His Holiness regarding the insults suffered by the Franciscans

1 It is well known that, as a prelude to the institution. of the Congregation of Propaganda, Clement VIII, on August roth, 1599. had founded a college of nine Cardinals, whom he summoned frequently to confer with him on the means to be taken to organise and direct Catholic missionary activities. 33 34 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE and the state of the Holy Places: it speaks also of the missionaries sent to carryon the sacred ministry at Alexandria, Cairo, Damascus, Aleppo, Tripoli and Alexandretta ; it enlarges on relations with the IIlaronites and rejoices over the abjuration of heresy by many Nestorians. The Pope could rest assured that the Franciscans were not neglecting the care of souls and religious propaganda. Nevertheless the new Papal institute was to give a more intense impulse to missionary work. Henceforth the Custos became the official representative of the Congregation for the whole territory of the Province of the Holy Land. In these countries he exercised a jurisdiction similar to that of a bishop. Even religious of other orders, who laboured in Syria and Egypt, could not begin their ministrations until they had shown him their document of authorisation, and their apostolate was carried on under his control, Accordingly the Congregation watched very carefully over the nomination of its Apostolic Commissary, and desired that he should be in every way worthy of the confidence placed in him. Under the direction of the Custos the Fran- ciscans were the official parish priests of the places where they were established. Every three years the Custos, on relinquishing his office,had to give an account of his stewardship and to report on the movement of conversions. But, on account of the very troubled state of Palestine after the arrival of the Ottomans and the Byzantine Greeks, there was a constant interchange of letters between the Custody and the Congregation. The latter was interested in everything, desired abundant information regarding the disposal of alms, on the LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 3S state of the Holy Places, the errors of the Schismatics, statistics of conversions, abuses to be abolished. Time after time it asked for information, gave advice, stimulated to further efforts and con- gratulated the Custody on its successes.' One of the first acts of the Congregation was to encourage a serious study of native languages. It was necessary for the missionary to know them thoroughly in order to preach with good results. Already on April 25th, r622, it was decided that the actual guardian of Jerusalem should leave his post and take up his residence in Rome in order to teach Arabic to future missionaries. Very soon this one college was insufficient and other centres of study were set up at Malta and in the mission itself at Damascus, Aleppo and Bethlehem. Whilst some learned Arabic, others studied Greek, which was the principal language in Cyprus. others again studied Armenian, others Turkish, the language of the conqueror. Many publications, dictionaries, gram- mars and other books were the fruit of this study of languages. The first Arabic Grammar, edited by the Franciscan Missionaries, was published at the expense of the Congregation itself. 2

1 As an example of the understanding and universal interest of the Congregation we may instance the detailed questionnaire (68 questions) addressed to the Custos In 1760 and which evoked a report which, of itself, would make a thick volume, crammed with information. 2 A,abictlJ LingutlJ noval et methodic.:. instUutio1leS tlon ad oulgnris dumtaxnl Tdiomatis, sed etiam ad grammatica docirinalis intelligentiam, per Annotationes m Capitum Appendiaiblls sliffjlfas accom oda tal. (Romea, Typis S. Congr. de Prop. Fide Anno Iubileei, 1650.) The author of this Grammar was Fr. Antony de Aquila, former guardian of Aleppo and professor in the missionary college at Rome. 36 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE At the very outset of its work the Congregation hoped to bting about, in a way ever dear to the Church, a return of the Schismatics in a body. On September 4th, 1623,it entrusted to two Franciscans of Alexandria the task of bringing back to unity the dissenting patriarchs of the city of S. Mark. On December 3rd of the following year two Franciscans of the Holy Land were deputed for the same end to the Greek Patriarch and the Armenian Archbishop of Jerusalem. Bring the Greek Patriarch back to unity with the Church? The latter provisionally humoured the scheme. A sworn enemy of the Fran- ciscans, he looked upon it as his mission in life to expel them from the Holy Places; perhaps, thought he, by simulating a return to unity with Rome, he might possibly persuade the Pope to recall the Latin Friars. The Congregation detected the lack of sincerity on the part of the Patriarch and there was no further question for a long time of bringing back the Greek flock to the fold by previously leading the Pastors thither. The only possible apostolate was to make conversions among the laity. The beginnings of this work were so very successful that the Patriarchs took alarm at the defections of their subjects. They immediately opened a cruel and often too efficacious campaign to put an end to it. Their tactics were twofold: to silence the preachers and to terrorise the newly converted. The only way to silence the Franciscan missionaries was to embroil them with the Pashas. It was for that purpose that they started a campaign of calumny, the absurdities of which the Moslems feigned not to notice: for instance, the wood and materials that the Fran- LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 37 ciscans were bringing ostensibly to renovate the sanctuaries, would serve for the construction of military works; they repaired the highway from Jaffa to Jerusalem in order that the transports of the Crusaders might have a speedier passage: they received a percentage on the booty taken by Christian pirates, etc. They used still more inhuman methods towards the converts. They persecuted them as traitors, confiscated their goods, cast them into prison and threatened them with death and exile. • The Moslem religion,' they said, •is a thousand times better than the Roman.' In order to reclaim the deserters more surely they petitioned the Grand Seigoior to order them to be forcibly wrested from the religion oj the F1'a1~ks. ' These Greek converts to Catholicism have embraced the law of the Christian princes of the West,' they declared to the Sultan. ' They will be the subjects of strangers rather than loyal children of the Porte.' Such assertions, backed up by gifts, proved irresistible. Constantinople decided that each one was to follow the law of his nation. Life was made so difficult for the newly converted that, in certain lists sent to the Congregation, the statistics of those of the faithful who confessed and com- municated secretly for fear of reprisals appeared alongside the lists of known Catholics. The activity of the missionaries was considerably hampered in the centres where the Greeks were organised. The greatest prudence was necessary, and it was even at the risk of one's life that one crossed the threshold of a Greek. Nevertheless, good work continued to be done in the midst of these persecutions. It was more 38 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE consoling in Syria than in Palestine, but everywhere groups of Catholics were formed, parishes were set up, developed and increased in numbers. The Congregation was satisfied and already in 1679 praised the success achieved by the Franciscans. Not only were they doing excellent parish work, but the statistics sent to Rome by them made an impres- sion. Many heretics and Schismatics were brought back to the faith, many Christians released from prison and restored to Europe. In the Holy Land and in all countries subject to their jurisdiction the Franciscans were seen to be assiduous in the care of the sick; by their distribution of alms they prevented the necessitous from being driven by poverty to apostatise: their charity towards pilgrims merited the highest praise and they busied themselves in providing dowries for young women in order to encourage Christian marriages. The Franciscans understood that the most fruitful and most Christian form of apostolate, in this country where misery is so visible and prevalent, was that of charity. Whatever sicknesses were abroad and whatever the danger, whether it was a question of plague or cholera, the Franciscans were at the bedsides of the sick, speaking to them of heavenly things: standing by till the hour of death and burying them. The admiration they aroused thereby made their apostolate more fruitful. The plague of 1672, to quote one out of a hundred examples, carried off twelve of our missionaries. They gave generous alms and helped the poor in all their needs. They knew too well that misery is a bad counsellor and that, if the unfortunate were LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 39 turned away with empty hands, they would go and knock at other doors where they would obtain food at the cost of their souls. But there was one work of great importance which the Congregation omitted to signalise ; the parochial schools of which the reports make mention from the year 1661, and of which they do not speak as of newly founded institutions. The apostolate by teaching, which was at the same time a work of mercy. for the masters provided their pupils with clothing, was absolutely indispensable. It was necessary to separate the little Catholic children from the Schismatics and Moslems. By instructing them assiduously in their holy religion, they made them Catholics well equipped against persecution. Finally, the intellectual and moral superiority acquired by these children would be a useful advertisement for the missionaries themselves. About the same time the reports speak of vocational schools, where the children, whose ordinary education was completed, came to learn a trade which was to assure them a living. In short, from the seventeenth century onwards the essential characteristics of the mission were fixed: what was then delineated has to-day reached its full expansion.'

1 The materials {or this chapter have been taken from Leonard Lemmens, O.F.M., A~t(J S. COltgYegatiol.$is d6 Propa- ..anda Fide pro Terra Sat"Ia, two volumes, Quaracchi, 19U-1922 CHAPTER VI

TO-DAY

THEcustody of the Holy Places and the salvation of souls are still the two-fold activity of the Franciscans in Palestine. As in the past so to-day they are the official representatives of the Catholic Church, the unarmed but tenacious sentinels of Western Christen- dom in the venerable sanctuaries of J udsea and Galilee. It is by dint of their patient determination that they have won them, it is at the price of their blood that they have kept them; is it not right that they should remain to serve them ? As for their apostolate, even though some conditions have changed, as we shall soon see, yet they are still the most numerous and most active missionaries in the country of Our Redemption and continue to be worthy of all the praise and sympathy bestowed on them.

I. THE SANCTUARIES If a religious order had as its only end to celebrate in a fitting way the Holy Mysteries in the venerable Basilicas of the Holy Land, that of itself would suffice to make it highly esteemed. For it is but right to venerate with special devotion those places which have been sanctified by the ingoings and outgoings of Jesus. THE FRANCISCANS The following is a list of the sanctuaries possessed and served by the sons of S. Francis.

IN JUD2BA-AT JERUSALEM Let us begin with the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. There are certainly cathedrals more grandiose than this church, but there is none more holy. For this reliquary made of stones encloses; within its walls the most hallowed places in the world: the Tomb of Jesus, Calvary and the place where the Holy Cross was found. Within the basilica some places are the exclusive property of the Franciscans whilst others are shared by them with the Schismatics. The former are: The Chapel oj the Appariti(m oj Jesus to His Mother after the Resurrection. This oratory serves as a choir for the Franciscans sheltered in the ancient basilica. There they recite the Divine Office. The Altar oj S. Mary Magdalen, on the spot where, according to tradition, Jesus met that holy woman. The Chapel of the Finding oj the Holy Cross. The Altars oj the Crucifixion and our Lady oj Sorrows, which stand side by side in the penumbra of the Chapel of Calvary. The Chapel oj the Franks, an ancient porch which led directly from the square in front of the basilica to Calvary. Since the spoliation of I757 the Franciscans share with the Schismatics the use of the Tomb oj Christ. Owing to their care the bed of stone on which Christ lay whilst awaiting the hours of His Resurrection is used night and morning as an altar stone, and every day their liturgy recalls to mind that great and glorious mystery. D 42 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE

IN THE CITY Besides the beautiful parish Church of our Saviour, to which the Popes have attached the indulgences of the Cenacle, which was stolen from the Latins in 1551, the Custody owns many sanctuaries from which the Schismatics are totally excluded. The Church of the Flagellation and the Chapel of the Condemnation and Laying of the Cross on the shoulders of Jesus " these oratories, according to an ancient tradition, stand on the site of the Pretoriuni of Pilate. A large convent and Franciscan Biblical School, formerly established at S. Saviour's, are now attached to these sanctuaries. On the Sorrowful Way two oratories: that of the Meeting with the Cyrenean (Vth station), and that of the Second Fall (VIIth station). In the vicinity of Jerusalem the Franciscans have: The Garden of Gethsemane with its venerable olive trees, without doubt shoots from the trees under whose shade Christ suffered His Agony and Broody Sweat. Near the basilica of the Assumption the Grotto of the Agony, sanctified by the nights spent there by Jesus in prayer. The Basilica of the Agony, recently rebuilt by the Franciscans. On the slope of the Mount of Olives, facing the town, the Chapel of Dominus Fleoit, which recalls the compassionate tears of Jesus over the town , that killeth the prophets.' On the other side of the Mount of Olives the little Church of Bethphage on the place where the triumphant procession formed to accompany Jesus, LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 43 to the singing of hymns and the waving of olive branches.

BETHLEHEM The Franciscans, who were deprived of their rights over the Basilica of the Nativity, have had to build nearby the Church. of S. Catherine, to which is attached a parish served by our missionaries. They still possess, however, the right of access to the grotto of the Nativity, where they own the Star of Silver which marks the place where Christ was born and the Altar of the Crib, near the stone manger in which Mary laid on the straw her new-born Child. The other grottoes, the dedal of which runs under the choir of the basilica, are likewise in the hands of the Franciscans: and they preserve the memory of the Holy Innocents, of S. Jerome, of SS. Paula and Eustochium, spiritual daughters of the Doctor of Bethlehem, and of S. Eusebius of Cremona. We may add the Chapel of the Grotto of the Milk, venerated even by the Mussulmans, and a church, called by local tradition the House of S. Joseph.

AIN-KAREM Grouped around a fresh-water spring, called the fountain of the Virgin, this village is the traditional site of the Visitation and of the Birth of S. John the Baptist. The Franciscans are established at the Sanctuary of the Magnificat and that of the Bene- dictus, and, in the neighbourhood, at the Grotto of the Precursor. J; 1,,-, ~ EMMAUS The Franciscan church here perpetuates the memory .of the Appearance of Jesus to the two 44 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE disciples and of the breaking of bread which opened their eyes to the truth. A halting-place on the high road from the Mediter- ranean to Jerusalem, the Church at Ramleh recalls S. Nicodemus. IN GALILEE The sanctuaries served by the Franciscans in Galilee are not less numerous nor less precious and, above all, they are under the care of the Friars alone.

NAZARETH The Sanctuary of the Annunciation, with the holy grotto where the Angel saluted Mary and obtained her Fiat: it is used as a parish church. Near the basilica the new church of the Workshop of S. Joseph, which through its crypt gives access to the framework of Christ's hidden life. The sanctuary of the Mensa Christi commemorates the meal which Christ took with His disciples in the open fields, whilst that of the Spasm reminds us of the fear which seized our Lady when she saw Her Son rushed to his death from the Mount of the Precipice. In the neighbourhood of Nazareth: Besides the Sanctuary of Naim, which tells of the power of a mother's tears on the compassionate heart of Jesus, and that of Cana, commemorative of the first miracle of Christ and the mediation of Mary, there is above all the magnificent Basilica of the Transfiguration in the impressive solitude of Thabor. Finally, near the enchanting lake of Genesareth, in the centre of Christ's Galilean ministry, stands the Church of Capharnaztm, where the pro-mise of the LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 45 Eucharist, made by Jesus in the neighbouring synagogues, was uttered. There is also the Parish Church of Tiberias, recalling the profession of faith made by S. Peter, the Apostle.

IN SYRIA At Damascus the Franciscans possess the House of Ananias, where Saul, the persecutor, struck to the ground by grace, went to learn the programme of his new life. II. APOSTOLATE The Custos of the Holy Land, on whom the heavy burden of the care of the Sanctuaries already lay, for nearly two centuries was alone in carrying on a mission which comprised Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Lower Armenia and the Island of Cyprus. The ever-increasing number of parishes and other works made the necessity of a division of labour more and more necessary. Furthermore the influx of religious of other Orders, at first into Syria and Egypt and then. in the nineteenth century, into Palestine, emphasised the necessity of a change of jurisdiction. Be it said to the glory of the Custody that it willingly recognised the need of reform and itself proposed it to the Sovereign Pontiff. Already in r760 the Custody of the Holy Land. in a very detailed report on its vast mission, begged tile Pope to nominate a Vicar Apostolic for Aleppo.! The suggestion was approved at Rome and the Vicariate Apostolic of Aleppo was constituted two years later. After a fleeting existence it vanished but was definitely re-established by Pius VII on August 8th, r8r8. This new area of jurisdiction created by the Pope 1 See Lemmens, Lc., Tome II, P: 216. 46 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE skirted the territory of the Custody and extended to all Latins in Syria as far as the Euphrates and Anatolia, as well as to those who dwelt in Arabia, Egypt and Cyprus, The nineteenth century saw the beginning of salutary divisions. In 1839 Gregory XVI reduced the jurisdiction of the Vicariate of Aleppo by found- ing the Vicariate Apostolic of Egypt and Arabia.' Even after the first division the Vicariate of Aleppo was succumbing under the weight of its responsi- bilities, with the result that in 1847 Pius IX removed from it Palestine, Transjordania and Cyprus and put them under the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who had been appointed for this very reason. Since then, the members of the Custody, who are assigned to the ministerial work, in their capacity of missionaries, belong to one of these three juris- dictions, according to the convent to which they are attached, and they labour 'without ceasing at religious propaganda. From Lower Egypt to Anatolia, including Palestine and Syria, the Fran- ciscans continue to direct their former parishes and to form new ones according to new needs and possibilities. At the present time there are a little more than forty such parishes, of which a summary, made according to the statistics of the Custody, follows. 2

1 Up to 1921 the Vicars Apostolic, who were more than once chosen from among the former Custodes of the Holy Land, had at the same time the title of Apostolic Delegate. At the present time Egypt has a Delegate and an Apostolic Vicar. I See Status DesoriptiVt~s AlmOJ SerapllicOJ Provincia set~ CustodiOJ et Missionis Terra Sancta: anno Domilli MCMXXIII ... digestt4s. Hierosolymis Ex typographia. PP. Francis- calium, 1924. LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 47 In Egypt, the two principal centres of Franciscan influence are Alexandria, with its five parishes and 35,227 faithful, and Cairo with three parishes and I6,.)00 souls. Less consoling in their numbers but equally well beloved are the parishes of Rosetta, Damanhour, Damietta, Kafr El-Zaiat and Man- sourath.! In the Island of Cyprus, which is subject to the jurisdiction of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, all the parishes of the Latin Rite are served by missionaries of the Custody: they have their centres at Larnaka, Nicosia and Limassol. In J udea, besides the parishes of Jerusalem (3500 faithful), of Bethlehem (5300) and of Jaffa (1670), there are those of Ramleh and of S. John in Montana (Ain-Karem). In Galilee: Nazareth (1330 souls) and its sub- division Sephoris, and, in addition, Mugeidel, Cana, Tiberias and Ptolemais. In Phenicia: Beirut, Tyre, Sidon, Tripoli, Lattakia and Harissa. In Syria: in addition to Damascus, with its chapel of ease in the Salahia quarter, there is the flourishing parish of Aleppo, with its two other stations at El-Kettab and Sulemanieh, and Knaia, which has four chapels of ease: Jakubia, Geser, Kassab and Bagh-Giaghaz. In Lower Armenia: little remains but the ruins of

1 The parishes of Sues, Port-Tewfik, Ismailia and Port Said were taken from the Custody and entrusted to the French Franciscans when the Vicariate Apostolic of the Suez Canal was recently established. On the work of the Egyptian parishes see Le Vicarial aposloliqtlB d'Egypte III ses amvres, published under the direction of Mgr. Igino Nutt], O.F.M., Titular Bishop of Papias, Vicar Apostolic of Egypt. Milan, 1924. / 48 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE our six parishes, which were very flourishing { Marachs, Ain-tab, Jenige-Kale, Mugiuk-Derezi, Dorl.- Kale and Kars-Pazar. Those of our mission

1 The propaganda of English and American Protestants is most to be feared. Reports of the Custody mention the activity of distributors of the Bible 3.!1 early as 1731. Soon after they denounced the action of Methodists in Egypt and Cyprus. In r840 a Protestant bJshop was appointed for Jerusalem. Protes- tant activities increased: orphanages. schools, hospitals. Immediately after the Great War, Protestant propaganda threw of! all restraint, the relief funds, gathered in every country to help the poor of Palestine, were distributed wit.h a revolting proselyt- ism in view. The Issues of the L'(Euvl" a'Orlme of this period are fun of protests against this ' marketing of consciences: LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 49 girls, the counterparts of our works of Catholic Action: a benevolent society for relieving distress, equivalent to our Conferences of S. Vincent de Paul; Children of Mary, Christian Mothers; Catholic Literature, Catholic Clubs, Dramatic and Choral Societies, good Cinemas: Catechetical Societies of young men and women; Leagues for bringing about baptisms and the legitimisation of marriages; a clothing depot for poor children, S. Antony's bread, holiday camps, workshops, seaside holidays for delicate children. The work of teaching, needless to say, takes pride of place, for it is necessary to gain over the children and young people first of all. More than fifty-two parochial schools depend entirely on the Custody. As no State subsidy of any kind is given, the Custody has to build these schools and maintain them, and to pay the ISO masters and mistresses who, under our direction, give a totally free education to more than 5000 pupils. For our girls' schools, where we only undertake the teaching of the catechism and spiritual direction, we find excellent helpers in different places amongst the Franciscan Missionaries of Egypt, the Sisters of S. Joseph of the Apparition, the Poor Clares and the Franciscan Sisters of Gemona. In addition to these already costly schools there are the still more expensive orphanages for boys and girls. For these it is a question not only of teachers and books, but of food day in day out for tremendous appetites, clothing, housing and sleeping accommodation. Since the Armenian massacres the inmates of our orphanages have increased inan alarm- ing proportion considering the slender resources ofthe Custody. But what should we not do to help these 50 THE FRANCISCANS IN THE poor children, saved from the Bolshevist and Khemalist inferno, to forget the horrors of mass deportations, and the panics caused by the rifle fire, which mowed down their fathers and mothers along the blood-stained roads? What should we not devise to banish fear from their hearts and to bring back joy to their souls, song to their lips and frolic to their games? If we do not adopt them, others will be eager to welcome them and sever them from the true fold. Besides primary education, secondary education is carried on, witness our colleges at Jerusalem and Aleppo. In the latter, for example, a dozen religious, assisted by lay masters, prepare three hundred pupils for every kind of situation. Besides the study of ancient and modern languages there are literary and science courses and a higher commercial school. The task of recruiting priestly and religious vocations has not been neglected by our missionaries. Christ should certainly have his chosen ones from the place where he instituted the priesthood. Boys who are attracted to the altar and the cloister find at the Seraphic College at Emmaus that atmosphere of prayer and study which is necessary for them to foster and develop their vocations. All do not persevere, but some attain their goal and become missionaries all the more sure of being listened to because they come from the places whither they return as apostles. Those who feel they have no vocation or who are not attracted by higher studies can complete their education by a technical course. For the young girls there are needlework centres and workshops where LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION 5I they are instructed in every kind of needlework, the weaving of carpets and embroidery. For the young boys there are schools of art and trades and workshops. There they can, according to their prefer- ences and capacity, learn printing, book-binding, cabinet-making, iron-work, baking, pastry-making, painting, tailoring and cobbling, all under the direction of skilled religious. Our workshops at Jerusalem employ more than ISO apprentices: the purpose we have in view is to make them qualified artisans and essentially Christian workmen. They leave our schools with a training which will enable them to earn their living, and, whilst waiting, they receive a living wage each day. Add to this the works of pure charity: distribu ... tion of medicines, of bread and of clothes. More than II,OOO poor file past the doors of our convents each week in order to receive their daily bread and clothing. More than 500 houses, maintained by the Custody, offer a completely free shelter to those without a roof over their heads. This apostolate by charity is extremely expensive, but the missionaries must prove by their deeds that they are not the false prophets of a religion which unjustly calls itself a religion of love. CHAPTER VII

THE POPES ALMONERS FOR PALESTINE

THE statistics of parishes and schools, of pupils and orphans, of the poor and sick are quickly written down, yet it is no easy task to grasp the magnitude of the budget that such a development of the Catholic apostolate represents. The number of sanctuaries cared for by the Franciscans is impressive, and whilst rejoicing at the fact that so many places dear to Christian devotion are the patrimony of the Church, one is inclined to forget that these basilicas, of such great antiquity, need to be kept in repair. At all times the Popes have recognised the enormous needs 'Of the Franciscan mission of the Holy Land and have made themselves its protectors. • Palestine,' they declared, I is the most beautiful of the missions of the Church and the one that should be dearest to every Christian heart. For has it not as its goal to establish anew Christianity in the very cradle of Christendom? This mission is, at the same time, the poorest, for it toils in a country which is the classic land of misery.' Thus, taking up the appeals for charity which S. Paul addressed to the well-to-do folk on behalf of their brethren at Jerusalem, the Popes have never ceased to solicit alms for the country of our Redemption. And, at the same time that they made themselves almoners 52 THE FRANCISCANS 53 for the Holy Land mission, they opened the treasury of the Church to its benefactors. Pius VI, among others, in his bull Inter cetera of July 31st, 1778, in order to encourage more surely the charity of all for the Franciscan works of the Custody, details at length the privileges granted to pious benefactors. , God has made us,' he says, ' the dispensers of the inexhaustible treasury of the Church. We intend to use this power in a very special way, speciali quo possumus modo, in favour of the faithful who are willing to give a part of the temporal goods with which Providence has provided them, to this pious work of Christian charity. We declare them partici- pators in all the spiritual fruits, masses and prayers, fastings and penances, labours, pilgrimages and other religious works, which are accomplished, not only by the members of this Order but also by the faithful who dwell in the Holy Places and by those who go thither to venerate them. They will thus pay the penalties due for their faults and shall receive an everlasting reward.' Far from withdrawing these generous concessions, all the Popes have confirmed them. Nearer our time the last great Popes, who have made the Church illustrious, continue the age-long traditions of the Holy See and remind the faithful of the needs of this gem of Catholic missions. The missionaries also show their gratitude by praying for their benefactors and by celebrating 20,000 Holy Masses each year in the venerable sanctuaries of Palestine for those who have helped them. In order to come to the aid of the missionaries in Palestine and to allow all the faithful to participate 54 THE FRANCISCANS in the re-christianizing of Christ's country, Com- missariats of the Holy Land have been established in every land. They receive with gratitude all the alms and gifts in kind which are destined for the missions of the Holy Land. APPENDIX

THE NEW CRUSADE OF THE HOLY LAND

THE moving story of The Franciscans in the Land of Our Redemption has been told in the preceding pages and must have impressed the reader. Well, it will interest him or her to know that there is at hand a means of co-operating with them, namely, The New Crusade of the Holy Land, an Association duly approved by the Holy See. The yearly subscription is IS., for which Certificate, Medal and copy of the ' Crusaders' Almanac' are given. Perpetual Membership is £2 lOS. (which can be paid in instalments) , for which Diploma and Souvenirs of the Holy Land are received. Family or Community Perpetual Membership (which includes deceased members of Family or Community) is £20, for which Diploma and Souvenirs of the Holy Land are received. Full particulars will be sent by applying to : REv. FR. ANDREW EGAN, O.F.M., Commissary of The Holy Land, The Friary, Forest Gate, London, E.7.

55 Th_ Ma.yflower Pre s«, Plymoltth. William Breodon & Sou, Ltd. ~IAPe: 1:"1 f.REAT Rill fAlX