Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2—THE BULLETIN, December 24, 1960
Franciscans
Centenary
In Former
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
JERUSALEM, Jordan—The
Franciscan Friars of the Holy
Land are celebrating the 400th
anniversary of their present
headquarters in Jerusalem, St.
Saviour’s Monastery.
Christians throughout the
Holy Land are celebrating
with them, for the brown-
robed Friars kept Christianity
alive in the Holy Land during
the centuries that followed the
fall of the Crusaders’ kingdom.
And for almost 250 years St.
Saviour’s was the seat and
symbol of the Church’s autho
rity in a Moslem-ruled land.
Local tradition also points
to St. Saviour’s as the place
where schismatic monks gave
refuge to St. Ignatius Loyola
from the fury of a Moslem
mob. It is said that Ignatius
tried to preach the Christian
religion to a gathering of Mos
lem pilgrims before the
Mosque of Omar.
To this day an eight-by-five
cell in the monastery is known
as “The Prison of St. Ignatius.”
It is held that the Georgian
(Armenian) monks who then
lived in St. Saviour’s kept him
in hiding there for three
months.
St. Francis himself sent the
Friars to the Holy Land in
1219. From shortly after the
disappearance of the Catholic
Hierarchy in that same centu
ry until the middle of the last
century, the Franciscan pro
vincial superior of the Holy
Land was the supreme autho
rity for Catholics there. He
was known as the “Custos” or
Custodian of the Holy Land,
and he had episcopal jurisdic
tion, but not orders. The Turk
ish government granted him
many privileges as civil head
of the “Latin nation” in Pal
estine.
Since the re-establishment
of the Latin Patriarchat in
Jerusalem in 1847, the Custos
has returned to his original
office as provincial but has
been entitled to the use of
ceremonies appropriate to a
bishop. His residence is St.
Saviour’s.
All Franciscan friaries in
Syria and Palestine were de
stroyed by the Saracens in
1291, and many of the friars
were slaughtered. The Custody
of the Holy Land was revived
in 1333. The custodian used to
reside at a friary on Mount
Sion until 1560 when he estab
lished residence at St. Sav
iour’s.
The Franciscans on Mount
Sion were guardians of the
Cenacle, which King Robert
of Sicily purchased from the
Sultan and gave to the Holy
See. They guarded it as the
site of the Last Supper, of the
manifestation of Our Lord af
ter the Resurrection, and of
the descent of the Holy Ghost.
But shortly after its acquisi
tion, rumors spread that under
the lower room was the tomb
of King David, whom the Mos
lems regard as a great prophet.
By the middle of the 16th
century, the Holy Land’s Mos
lem rulers took these reports
so seriously that they took
measures to evict the Francis
cans from the sanctuary and
their monastery on Mount
Sion. The Franciscans took
shelter in an abandoned stone
building outside the wall of
the Old City, but constant at
tacks from mauraders and
even wild beasts soon forced
them to seek protection inside
the city.
The friars began negotiating
with the Georgian monks at
St. Saviour’s for the use of
their monastery. After the ex
change of a large sum of mon
ey and the approval of civil
authorities in Constantinople,
the friars began restoring the
ancient building.
On the morning of Decem
ber 9, 1560, the flag of the
Crusaders fluttered atop the
monastery of St. Saviour as it
had 400 years before from the
Observe Fourth
Of Headquarters
Orthodox Monastery
fortresses of the Crusaders.
That flag — a large red cross
on a white field with a small
cross within each angle of the
large cross — is even today
the international flag of the
Holy Land. It flies from atop
the churches and monasteries,
hospices and schools of the
“Little Brothers of the Cord,”
and the Franciscans are affec
tionately known among their
Moslem, Jewish and Christian
friends.
St. Saviour’s has developed
from the small Georgian struc
ture into a gigantic compound,
As the seat of the Father Cus
tos of the Holy Land and his
advisory council (one Italian,
two Frenchmen, two Span
iards, one American, one Ger
man and one Arab), it is the
nerve center of the vast Fran
ciscan mission in Jordan, Is
rael,. Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus,
Turkey and Egypt.
For centuries the Custody of
the Holy Land has maintained
over 400 homes for the poor,
met rental obligations for over
387 families, aided financially
the clergy of the Coptic rite
in Cairo by establishing a cen
ter for the study of Oriental
languages, and set up a Bibli
cal Institute in Jerusalem. It
has opened and maintained
seven colleges for young men
and two for women; 25 free
grade schools for boys and
girls, regardless of race, color,
or creed, with a registration of
15,000 (1959-60); 5 colleges and
seminaries, an agricultural
school in Egypt; a home for
the aged in Cyprus; five phar
macies and several dispensa
ries; and three hospices for
pilgrims with a tourist infor
mation bureau in Jerusalem.
The activities of the Custody
extend into the field of publi
cations. A monthly La Terra
Sancta, is published in four
languages: Arabic, French,
Italian and Spanish. Liber An
nus is edited by the Biblical
Institute in Jerusalem; Collec
tanea is issued and printed by
the School for Oriental lang
uages in Cairo; Pax et Bonum,
a weekly newspaper in Arabic,
is published and printed in
Nazareth, Israel.
C. U. Rector
M.l.T. Speaker
WASHINGTON, (NC) —
Msgr. William J. McDonald,
rector of the Catholic Univer
sity of America, is giving the
opening address at a govern
ment-sponsored scientific-cul
tural conference (Dec. 16-17) at
the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
Msgr. McDonald, only rep
resentative of a Catholic insti
tution at the two-day national
meeting, is speaking on “The
Impact of Science and Tech
nology on the Western Cul
ture Tradition.”
General theme of the con
ference is “Science in Inter
national Education and Cul
tural Affairs.” It is sponsored
jointly by the State Depart
ment and the National Science
Foundation.
REMEMBERED GIFT
It is curious how Christmas
gets in the blood. A man may
be as poor as a church mouse,
he may live in a gloomy de-
he may live in gloomy de
pressing surroundings, and yet
at this time of the year, a
cheery word or a gay gesture
may put him in such a happy
mood that this particular sea
son will live forever in his
memory.
Years ago, when Hamlin
Garland was a boy and a part
of a struggling farm family
in a little Wisconsin commun
ity, he knew nothing of all the
lavish luxuries that are now
associated with gift-giving at
Christmas time. But he receiv
ed a present that he remem
bered as long as he lived.
mqA
UNUSUAL/ CAN DIE
Committee Has
Aided More Than
4,000 Children
WASHINGTON (NC) — The
Catholic Committee for Refu
gees — National Catholic Wel
fare Conference has since 1946
assisted in the resettlement of
3,877 children, exclusive of
Hungarian refugees.
Hungarian refugee youths
in whose resettlement the com
mittee assisted totaled 441 be
tween 1956 and 1958.
These figures were disclosed
by the agency in its report to
the annual meeting of the
U. S. Bishops.
In the past year the com
mittee assisted 334 children —
221 from Italy, 62 from Ger
many, 21 from Korea, 18 from.
Hong Kong, 9 from Poland, 7
from Malta, 2 from the Philip
pines, 2 from Portugal, and 2
from Yugoslavia.
Of the children who have
come to the country since
1946, 1,932 have been adopted,
the report said. It stated that
current reports on their ad
justment “indicate that the
children . . . are doing well
and have the capacity to be
assimilated quickly into their
new families.”
The report predicted that re
ferrals of children from Italy
will remain high and that the
number will increase from
Germany. It said referrals
from Hong Kong and Korea
“continue at a good rate” and
while many children from
these areas have already been
placed, “the need remains
great in obtaining sponsors.”
In the period covered by the
report the committee dealt
with 645 new cases and 10 re
opened cases. It closed 1,006
cases.
7 Belmont
Students In
“Who’s Who”
BELMONT — Seven mem
bers of the senior class at
Belmont Abbey College, Bel
mont, N. C., were elected to
appear in the 1960-61 edition
of Who’s Who in American
Universities and Colleges.”
The seven students are also
candidates for degrees in June
of this year.
The list of students who
were elected is as follows:
Chee K. Chan of Hong Kong,
majoring in Chemistery and
a member of Delta Epsilon
Sigma national honor society;
Richard W. Dondero of River
Edge, New Jersey, majoring in
Sociology and a member of
Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity;
James R. Giermanski of Grosse
Point Woods, Michigan, major
ing in English, president of
the Student Government and
a member of Tau Kappa Ep
silon Fraternity; Kenneth G.
Quick of Charlotte, N. C., ma
joring in Business Manage
ment; Carl T. Leffler of Brook
lyn, New York, majoring in
Chemistry, member of Phi
Kappa Theta Fraternity and
the Crusaders Basketball
Team; Miss Meurice R, Mathis
of Gastonia, N. C., ma-joring
in History and a member of
Delta Epsilon Sigma national
honor society; and James A.
Mullen of Brooklyn, New
York, majoring in History and
a member of Delta Epsilon
Sigma national honor frater
nity, Tau Kappa Epsilon Fra
ternity, and the Crusaders
Basketball Team.
Election to this honor is
made on the basis of a stu
dent’s excellence and sincerity
in scholarship; his leadership
and participation in extra
curricular and academic activ
ities; his campus citizenship
and service to the college; all
of which will reflect his fu
ture promise of leadership in
society and business.
To be selected for this hon
or and to be elected by the
National Committee is one of
the highest honors to be earn
ed in American colleges.
CHINESE MADONNA
The universality of the Church
is nowhere better illustrated
than in religious art. Our Lord
and Our Lady are nearly always
depicted with the facial charac
teristics and costume of the
artist’s country. This Chinese
Madonna is no exception.
garden city
BOWL, INC.
1241 Gordon Highway Augusta, Georgia
Phone: PA. 4-9871
Leagues Stopped for Holidays — Open Bowling
Until After January 1, 1961
AND COME OUT AND HAVE FUN!
BRING YOUR DATE OR FAMILY
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