From the 17th April, “The Custody of the Holy Land. An 800-year-long history”, a book resulting from the long research work of Br. (Stanisław) Narcyz Klimas, OFM that reconstructs the history of the Franciscan presence in the Middle East.
The Custody of the Holy Land is a Franciscan institution of great importance in the life of the Order and of the entire Church. Its roots date back to the dawn of the Minorite epic, when Francis of Assisi - in the middle of the Fifth Crusade - sent the first friars “overseas” to proclaim the Gospel in the places of Jesus’ life. In 1219, he himself would make the long journey, marked by the meeting with the sultan al-Malik al-Kāmil.
This book, the result of a long research work, reconstructs the history of the Franciscan presence in the Middle East: from Francis’ first “mission” to the conferral in 1342 of the task of “guarding” the Holy Places on behalf of the Church; from the progressive acquisition of the main sanctuaries, after complex and exhausting negotiations with the Islamic authorities, to the painful expulsion from highly symbolic sites such as the Last Supper; from the many stories of martyrdom and persecution, to the consolidation of a presence that has also become social and cultural.
Today, in fact, the Custody plays a significant role not only in the religious sphere: the friars are also dedicated to welcoming pilgrims and educating young people, they are active in interreligious dialogue and engaged in humanitarian projects, and through prestigious institutions they are also a point of reference in the field of biblical-archaeological research. After 800 years, despite great challenges, they continue to support the special mission that the Church has entrusted to them.
Br. (Stanisław) Narcyz Klimas, OFM, PhD in Church History at the Pontifical Gregorian University (1997) with a specialization in Ancient History, in 1996 he received his Diploma from the Vatican Institute of Palaeography, Diplomacy and Archival Studies. Since 1998 he has been a professor at the seminary of the Custody of the Holy Land. In 2019 he was appointed full professor at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem. From 1998 to 2013 he was director of the Historical Archives of the Custody of the Holy Land, of which he is currently deputy director: from this long tenure the volume History of the Historical Archives of the Custody of the Holy Land (TS Edizioni, 2013) was born.
The Custody of the Holy Land. An 800-year-long history
Br. Narcyz Stanislaw Klimas, OFM
Edizioni Terra Santa
https://www.tsedizioni.it/shop/la-custodia-di-terra-santa/
