N° 43 JULY 2016 www.oessh.va REFLECTIONS OF THE GRAND MASTER ll of us are quite familiar with the – newsletter medi- opening foundational statement in tations. AArticle 2 of our Statutes declaring the This would principal purpose of membership in the Order imply three steps of the Holy Sepulchre: for each “....to strengthen in its members the Lieutenant and practice of Christian life, in absolute fidelity to Staff: the Supreme Pontiff and according to the 1. Having familiari- teachings of the Church....” ty with each According to our records 7.3% of our priest member membership are ecclesiastics – that is, and specific overwhelming, priests. (Individual knowledge both lieutenancies vary significantly in their of his willing- percentage of priest members.) ness to assist It is my solid impression that our priests and in which of could be more effectively employed in the above areas Pastores Dabo Vobis, fulfilling our members’ goal to achieve he might be of Cardinal Edwin O’Brien’s personal holiness and I would ask our service; motto, recalls God’s 2. Making it clear promise as recounted by Lieutenants and Priors to help bring this the prophet Jeremiah: “I will about. Indeed, we might stress our clergy to each incoming give you shepherds after serving more as chaplains than as “knights”. ecclesiastical my own heart” (Jer 3:15). I’ve no doubt that the great majority of our member that in priests would take to the pastoral challenge of joining the Order serving members at every level and in every he is assuming important spiritual and pas- area of our lieutenancies in spiritual support: toral responsibilities to the extent he is able; – liturgical planning and advise; 3. Informing members of the resources our – individual spiritual direction; “Knight Chaplains” offer them. – availability for Reconciliation in connection As I mentioned during our Spring meeting with liturgies; of European and North American Lieutenants, – conferences for members and for prospec- there is vast potential here for the spiritual tive members/members in formation; strengthening throughout our Order. – assistance in identifying worthy new mem- To ecclesiastics already so engaged: Thank bers; you! – organized outreach to “inactive” members; To those not yet so engaged: Help Wanted! II N° 43 - JULY 2016 c o n t e n t s The Order in Union with ANNUAL MEETING OF EUROPEAN LIEUTENANTS IN ROME IX the Universal Church ECHOES OF THE GRAND MASTER’S VISITS XI THE JUBILEE OF MERCY CONTEMPLATING THE FIVE WOUNDS OF CHRIST II The Order and the Holy Land JUBILEE INDULGENCES IV STARTING ANEW WITH THE RISEN CHRIST XII A NEW CUSTOS OF THE HOLY LAND XIV Proceedings of the Grand Magisterium THE ORDER OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE COLLABORATING IN ROACO PROJECTS XV WELCOME TO AMBASSADOR ALFREDO BASTIANELLI, SPRING 2016 IN THE HOLY LAND XVI NEW CHANCELLOR OF THE ORDER V THE ORDER OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE BIDS FINAL The Life of the Lieutenancies FAREWELL TO HONORARY ASSESSOR MSGR. GIUSEPPE DE ANDREA VI TESTIMONY OF THE CHANCELLOR FROM A NEW WEBSITE WITH A UNIVERSAL DIMENSION: THE SWISS LIEUTENANCY XVIII www.oehss.va VII THE MEDAL OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE IN NORTH AMERICAN LIEUTENANTS ANNUAL MACARENA COTELO, SPAIN XX MEETING IN BALTIMORE VIII WHERE ARE THE RELICS OF ST. HELENA? XXII IMPRESSUM GRAND MAGISTERIUM OF THE EQUESTRIAN ORDER OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE OF JERUSALEM 00120 VATICAN CITY – E-mail: [email protected] The Order in Union with the Universal Church The Jubilee of Mercy contemplating the five wounds of Christ he Jubilee of Mercy, which closes “Lord, In memory of the five wounds that November 20, the feast of Christ the we carry on our insignia, we pray to You...,” TKing, has already seen about 10 reads the famous prayer of Knights and million pilgrims flock to Rome, despite the Dames. “We can find the definitive icon fact that this “decentralized” Holy Year can of the vessel of mercy in the wounds of be fully experienced in every diocese in the the risen Lord. Those wounds remind us world. During a recent Jubilee event the that the traces of our sins, forgiven by God, Pope spoke in particular of the five wounds never completely heal or disappear; they of Christ and we would like to propose his remain as scars. Scars, we know, are words to readers in this newsletter as they sensitive; they do not hurt, yet they remind perfectly illustrate the message transmitted us of our old wounds. God’s mercy is in by the Order of the Holy Sepulchre insignia. those scars, our scars,” Pope Francis III N° 43 - JULY 2016 The Cross of Jerusalem, symbol of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, evokes the five wounds of Christ, source of inner purification and spiritual renewal for pilgrims who, like us, are on the path to the Kingdom of God. summed up perfectly speaking to the priests, Wednesday, June 22, “Lord, if You are who came to the eternal city for the Jubilee willing, You can make me clean!” inspired in June, 2016. “In the scars of the risen by the Leper’s plea to Jesus (Luke 5, 12). Christ, the marks of the wounds in his The Pope added that every night he says five hands and feet but also in his pierced heart, Our Fathers, “one for every one of we find the true meaning of sin and grace,” Christ’s wounds, because Jesus cleanses he continued, stating that in contemplating us with his wounds”. Could we too not the wounded heart of the Lord, we see pray invoking the mercy of the Heavenly ourselves reflected in him, as in a mirror, Father through the five wounds of Christ, “His heart, and our own, are similar: both which in becoming scars, are a testament to are wounded and risen. But we know that his victorious love? In the words of Peter’s his heart was pure love and was wounded successor, may every member of the Order, because it willed to be so; our heart, on called to witness to the power of the the other hand, was pure wound, which Resurrection, renew their awareness during was healed because it allowed itself to this Holy Year that: “The real vessel of be loved”. Another example of the spiritual mercy, then, is the mercy which each of us logic with which the Holy Father encourages received and which created in us a new us to move forward is the prayer he recites heart. This is the “new wineskin” to which before going to bed, which he mentioned to Jesus referred (cf. Luke 5:37), the “healed pilgrims during the general audience on sore”. Jubilee Calendar up to the feast of Christ the King here are still a few months left to receive the grace and spiritual renewal of the Jubilee Year. TThe great events scheduled to take place in the Eternal City include the Jubilee of Operators and volunteers of Mercy, September 2 to 4, the Jubilee of Catechists, September 23 to 25, the Marian Jubilee, October 23 to 25 and the Jubilee of Prisoners on November 6, prior to the closing of the Holy door at St. Peter’s in Rome on November 20, the feast of Christ the King. IV N° 43 - JULY 2016 Jubilee Indulgences Many readers have asked for further information on the indulgence granted in the Jubilee of Mercy. This is a special grace that frees us from the consequences of sin, a sin from which the soul must be purified in the afterlife, even when it has already been forgiven. In this the communion of saints – namely solidarity in prayer and acts of charity, including those for the dead – is of great help for sinners on their journey, as we all are. We would point readers to Pope Francis’ words in the Bull of Indiction for the Holy Year, Misericordiae Vultus, No. 22: hough we feel the transforming power of us to the saints and blessed ones whose Tgrace, we also feel the effects of sin number is beyond counting (cf. Rev 7:4). typical of our fallen state. Despite being Their holiness comes to the aid of our forgiven, the conflicting consequences of our weakness in a way that enables the Church, sins remain. In the Sacrament of with her maternal prayers and her way of Reconciliation, God forgives our sins, which life, to fortify the weakness of some with the he truly blots out; and yet sin leaves a strength of others. Hence, to live the negative effect on the way we think and act. indulgence of the Holy Year means to But the mercy of God is stronger even than approach the Father’s mercy with the this. It becomes indulgence on the part of the certainty that his forgiveness extends to the Father who, through the Bride of Christ, his entire life of the believer. To gain an Church, reaches the pardoned sinner and indulgence is to experience the holiness of frees him from every residue left by the the Church, who bestows upon all the fruits consequences of sin, enabling him to act of Christ’s redemption, so that God’s love with charity, to grow in love rather than to and forgiveness may extend everywhere. Let fall back into sin. The Church lives within us live this Jubilee intensely, begging the the communion of the saints. In the Father to forgive our sins and to bathe us in Eucharist, this communion, which is a gift his merciful “indulgence.” from God, becomes a spiritual union binding rossing the Holy Door constitutes one Cof the conditions for obtaining a Jubilee indulgence, in addition to receiving the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Holy Eucharist and actively praying for the Holy Father’s intentions.