N° XXXIX JULY 2015 info.oessh.va Let us pray with our brothers The Order in Union with the Universal Church A LAND THAT CONTINUES TO BEAR FRUITS of the East OF HOLINESS FOR ALL OF ITS INHABITANTS III THE POPE WITH THE CARMELITES OF THE MIDDLE EAST “Lord our God, AND THE CONGREGATION OF THE ROSARY SISTERS V You chose the East to send Your only EXPOSITION OF THE HOLY SHROUD OF TURIN VI Son and fulfil the plan of salvation. It is a young woman of the East, the The Order in Union with the universal Church Virgin Mary, you chose to carry and give A LETTER FROM THE POPE TO THE GRAND MASTER VII birth to Your only Son. THE SPRING MEETING OF THE GRAND MAGISTERIUM IX It is in the East that He grew up, worked, and chose His apostles and THE CARDINAL GRAND MASTER’S VISITS XI disciples. ANNUAL MEETING OF THE EUROPEAN LIEUTENANTS XI It is in the East where He conveyed PARTNERSHIP WITH “VATICAN INSIDER” XIII Your will and Your teachings, where He performed miracles and wonders. The Order and the Holy Land It is in the East where He gave Himself SEARCHING FOR NORMAL DAILY LIFE: up. THE CHALLENGE OF REFUGEES IN JORDAN XIV It is in the East where He accepted FIRST MASS CELEBRATED FOR THE FEAST OF OUR suffering and death, and rose again. LADY WOMAN OF VALOR IN TEL AVIV XV It is from the East that He ascended into SCHOOL SUBSIDIES AND WALLS NOT TO BE BUILT: heaven to sit at Your right hand. THE CHALLENGE CATHOLIC COMMUNITIES FACE We ask You to give the necessary IN THE HOLY LAND XV strength to Your children in the East so that they may be fortified in the faith and The life of the Lieutenancies hope of Your holy apostles. THE CONTRIBUTION OF LAITY AND FAMILIES Amen.” TO THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH XVIII Saint Ephrem the Syrian* CONFERENCE HELD IN TRIESTE ON JOHN PAUL II AND THE HOLY LAND A YEAR AFTER HIS CANONIZATION XIX * Saint Ephrem the Syrian, born in Nisibis (now Turkey) around 306, is venerated in the Eastern Churches, and also in the West. He was GRAND MAGISTERIUM proclaimed Doctor of the Church by Pope OF THE EQUESTRIAN ORDER Benedict XV in 1920. A Deacon, this great OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE theologian is one of the greatest Syriac-speaking OF JERUSALEM 00120 VATICAN CITY poets. He died on 9 June 373 in Edessa, where E-mail: [email protected] he had lived for ten years, after contracting the plague while attending the sick. II N° XXXIX - JULY 2015 REFLECTIONS OF THE GRAND MASTER s the pages of our “new and and Patrick D. improved” Newsletter will indicate, Powers, and to our Arecent Spring weeks have included wise and very several important meetings: our Grand experienced Assessor, Magisterium and European Lieutenants, Archbishop Antonio both in Rome and more recently, our North Franco. Hopefully, American Lieutenants in Quebec. their intense efforts to While these sessions offer welcomed encourage open moments for social interaction, they are so communication on all crucial for bringing us all up to date on the sides will encourage events, opinions and suggestions of our far- our lieutenants to flung members. Important as well, is the expend every effort, in turn, to deliver chance for us at “Headquarters” to relate our information accurately to their every single activities and plans, and explain member. developments that have taken place in Above all, we must be united in a fervent recent months. intention to keep the Gospel of Jesus Christ Interesting it is, that no participants at alive in His Holy Land. Success in reaching these meetings receive a salary from the our goal might be measured by words Order at any level...all volunteer! recently offered to our accomplished Holy Participants are invariably spirited and Land Commission by our Apostolic Nuncio candid in their exchanges, and I suspect as to Israel, Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto: much is accomplished during informal “There is no other Agency, Society or conversations as during the often lengthy Order in the Catholic Church that has done formal sessions. more for the Holy Land than the Equestrian In this effort, special credit is due to Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem”. Professor Agostino, our incredibly hard For which we offer thanks to Our Lord, working and dedicated Governor General, to and to our every single and generous our competent and insightful Vice member. Governors General Giorgio Moroni Stampa The Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre with the Lieutenants from North America in Quebec, in June 2015 (a report on this meeting will be included in our next Newsletter). III N° XXXIX - JULY 2015 The Order in Union with the Universal Church A land that continues to bear fruits of holiness for all of its inhabitants Coverage of the canonizations of the first two modern Palestinian saints: Mariam Baouardy and Marie Alphonsine Danil Ghattas. t. Peter’s Square was filled with many languages and colors on Sunday May S17, including the colors of the Palestinian flag. The joy of the crowd, and in particular of the 3,000 pilgrims who came directly from the Holy Land, was tangible. Four saints were canonized, two of whom were Mariam Baouardy and Marie Alphonsine Danil Ghattas, daughters of the Holy Land and the first two modern Palestinian saints. Respectively founders of the Carmel of Bethlehem and of the A delegation of Palestinian Christians in Rome Congregation of the Rosary Sisters, the two was overjoyed during the celebration on May 17, 2015, paying tribute to the testimony of their saints lived their call to holiness from the canonized compatriots: Saint Mariam and Saint th second half of the 19 century (Mariam Marie-Alphonsine. Baouardy died while she was very young in 1878) until the beginning of the 20th century (Marie Alphonsine Danil Ghattas died in Spirit”, which “made her a means of 1927). encounter and fellowship with the Muslim Also present in the square was President world”. He went on to highlight how Marie Mahmoud Abbas, who had met with Pope Alphonsine Danil Ghattas “understood Francis the previous day. During their clearly what it means to radiate the love of meeting, as reported by an official, “great satisfaction was expressed regarding the agreement reached with regard to the text * The global agreement between the Holy See for a comprehensive Agreement between the and Palestine, concluded on May 13, was signed on Friday June 26. It clearly recognizes the “State of Parties, about certain essential aspects of the Palestine”. Negotiated over the past fifteen years, life and activities of the Catholic Church in this bilateral agreement mainly concerns the Palestine. The Agreement will be signed in activity of the Catholic Church and its legal the near future*.” recognition in the Palestinian Territories, and reaffirms the desire for a resolution of this issue During his homily, Pope Francis recalled and also of the conflict between Israelis and Mariam Baouardy’s “docility to the Holy Palestinians in the context of a two-state solution. Knights and Dames of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in Saint Peter’s Square during the canonization of the two Palestinian saints. God in the apostolate, and to be a witness to their example, were saying to us, ‘Yes, the meekness and unity. She shows us the Holy Land can be fruitful, and it can bear importance of becoming responsible for one fruits of holiness’.” His Beatitude continued another, of living lives of service one to speaking about the message left by these another.” new saints: “It is a message of hope and love, a message of encouragement to “The Holy Land is fruitful holiness through humility and simplicity.” and brings forth fruits of holiness!” (To read the full interview that Msgr. Fouad Twal released to us go to our official website What does it mean today, therefore, to be http://info.oessh.va as well as to our partner children of the Holy Land, and what website Vatican Insider spiritual fruits can this happy event bring http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/inquiries- forth to Palestinian Christians and the whole and-interviews/detail/articolo/oessh-40924/). Christian community? The Patriarch’s words were echoed at the His Beatitude Fouad Twal, the Latin festive celebration held on Saturday, May Patriarch of Jerusalem, sees this event as a 16, at the Basilica of St. Sabina in Rome, spiritually significant moment for his land: where a delegation from the Holy Land was “In the midst of all our difficulties, Mariam gathered, along with many devotees of the and Marie Alphonsine are a light on our new saints, including members of Order of path, an invitation not to be discouraged and the Holy Sepulchre from various countries. to keep our eyes fixed on our goal and our Archbishop Maroun Lahham, Patriarchal shared vocation as Christians: holiness. If Vicar to Jordan of the Latin Patriarchate of today the Holy Land, so torn by violence Jerusalem, before entering the prayer vigil, and divisions, sometimes seems disfigured, said in all earnestness: “These two saints our two saints come to restore its sanctity. It teach us that the last word is never is as if Mariam and Marie Alphonsine, by suffering, it is never abandonment, it is not V N° XXXIX - JULY 2015 the cross but instead the glory, the resurrection and the light. Calvary is not the last word but the gateway to a better life.” In the midst of the crowd were those who distributed flags and liturgy booklets.