Custody of the Holy land

 

June 6, 2021

The Custody of the Holy Land Latin Custodia Terræ Sanctæ) is a custodian priory of the Order of Friars Minor in Jerusalem founded as the Province of the Holy Land in 1217 by Saint Francis of Assisi, who had also founded the Franciscan Order in 1209. In 1342, the Franciscans were declared by two papal bulls as the official custodians of the Holy Places in the name of the Catholic Church. The Custody headquarters are located in the Monastery of Saint Savouir a 16th-century Franciscan monastery near the New Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. The office can bestow— only to those entering its office—the Jerusalem Pilgrim’s Cross upon deserving Catholic visitors to the city The Franciscans trace their presence in the Holy Land to 1217. By 1229, the friars had a small house near the fifth station of the Via Dolorosa and in 1272 were permitted to settle in the Cenacle on Mount Zion. In 1309, they also settled in Bethlehem and the Holy Sepulcher along with the Cannons Regular. After the final fall of the second Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1291, the title of Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem was vested in the Custody ex officio in Rome, while resuming its activities in the Holy Land, including surveilling the accolades of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher 1342–1489 until its Grand Ministry was vested in the papacy. Following the restoration of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem as residential episcopal see in 1847, the Patriarch henceforth additionally assumed the position of the order's ecclesiastical superior, eventually supplanting the Custody of the Holy land as Grand Prior of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher. The Custody of the Holy Land has repeatedly expressed concern about the survival of the Christians in the Holy Land, including the strained situation for Christians in the rest of the Middle East. Between 2004 and 2016, the Custodial Curia was led by Custos Fr. Pier Battista Pizzaballa. Since 2016, the chief custodian has been Francesco Patton. The mission of the Custody of the Holy Land is to guard "the grace of the Holy Places" of the Holy Land and the rest of the Middle East, "sanctified by the presence of Jesus” as well as pilgrims visiting them, on behalf of the Catholic Church.

CHL Oldest known portrait in existence of the saint who founded the Order of Friars Minor and its Custody of the Holy Land, dating back to Saint Francis' retreat to Subiaco (1223–1224); depicted without the stigmata.

 An online history, The Franciscan Presence in the Holy Land, has been prepared by the Custodian Emeritus (later Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem), Pier Battista Pizzaballa, OFM. The Franciscan presence in the Holy Land started in 1217, when the province of Syria was established, with Frater (Brother) Elias of Cortona as Minister. By 1229, the friars had a small house near the fifth station of the Via Dolorosa. In 1272, the Sultan Baibars of Egypt permitted the Franciscans to settle in the Cenacle (also called the Upper Room) on Mount Sion. Later on, in 1309, they also settled in Bethlehem and in the Holy Sepulcher, along with the Canons Regular.

Saint Francis before Sultan Al-Kamil of Egypt, witnessing the trial by fire (wall fresco, Giotto) In 1333, Robert d'Anjou, King of Naples, and his wife, Sancia of Majorca, bought the Cenacle from the Sultan of Egypt and gave it to the Franciscans. In 1342, Pope Clement VI, by the Papal bulls Gratiam agimus and Nuper charissimae declared the Franciscans as the official custodians of the Holy Places in the name of the Catholic Church A portion reads:

A short time ago, good news from the king and queen reached our Apostolic See, relating that, at great cost and following difficult negotiations, they had obtained a concession from the Sultan of Babylon [that is, Cairo]. Who, to the intense shame of Christians, occupies the Holy Sepulcher of the Lord and the other Holy Places. Beyond the sea that were sanctified by the blood of this same Redeemer. To wit that friars of your Order, may reside continuously in the church known as the Sepulcher. To celebrate their Solemn Sung Masses and the Divine Office in the manner of the several friars of this Order who are already present in this place. Moreover, this same Sultan has also conceded to the King and Queen, the Cenacle of the Lord. The chapel where the Holy Spirit was manifested to the Apostles and the other chapel in which Christ appeared to the Apostles after his resurrection, in the presence of Blessed Thomas. The news of how the Queen built a convent on Mount Zion where, as is known, the Cenacle and the said chapels are located. Where for some time she has had the intention of supporting twelve friars of your Order to assure the Divine Liturgy in the church of the Holy Sepulcher, along with three laymen charged with serving the friars and seeing to their needs. 

CHL Church of the Holy Sepulchre (1885). Other than some restoration work, its appearance has essentially not changed since 1854. The Immovable Ladder, the small ladder below the top-right window, is also visible in recent photographs; this has remained in the same position since 1754 over a disagreement to remove it.

 The Custodian was described as the "Guardian of Mount Zion in Jerusalem". Between 1342 and 1489, the Custodian was the head of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and held the ex officio title of Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. From 1374, he was based at the Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura in Rome.In 1489, Pope Innocent VIII suppressed the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and ruled that it was to be merged with the Knights Hospitaller. In 1496, Pope Alexander VI, restored the Order of Holy Sepulchre to independent status, but the Custodian ceased to be the head of the Order. Instead, a Grand Master of the Order was created, and the office vested in the papacy. The Custodian continued to act as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem ex officio until 1830, and by being appointed to both offices until 1905. The office of Grand Master remained vested in the papacy until 1949.[10] On 29 August 2011, Archbishop Edwin Frederick O'Brien was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI Grand Master to succeed Cardinal John Patrick Foley, who resigned the office on 24 February 2011 due to ill health. The Order is a member of many international bodies and has observer status at others (such as the United Nations). The Grand Master is a papal viceroy who assists Vatican diplomacy with procedural support for making motions, proposing amendments and requiring votes in the sphere of international diplomacy. Franciscan friars cared for the Cenacle, restoring also the building with Gothic vaults, until 1552 when the Turks captured Jerusalem and banished all Christians. After the Franciscan friars' eviction, the Cenacle was transformed into a mosque. Christians were not allowed to use the room for prayer until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.In 1623, the Latin Province of the Holy Land was split into a number of smaller entities, called Custodies – creating Custodies of Cyprus, Syria, and the Holy Land proper. The Custody of the Holy Land included the monasteries of Saint-Jeand'Acre, Antioch, Sidon, Tyre, Jerusalem and Jaffa.In 1847, a resident Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem was restored in the Holy Land, together with the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem became the ecclesiastical superior of the Order, and eventually assumed the title Grand Prior, supplanting the Custodian. The office of Grand Master still remained vested in the papacy.In 1937, Alberto Gori was appointed Custodian of the Holy Land, an office he would occupy until 1949, when he was appointed Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, an office he held until 1970. In Gori's reports to the Vatican in the 1940s, he was critical of Jewish and later Israeli forces, whom he accused of destruction of holy places Despite repeated Israeli assurances that Israel will guarantee freedom of religion and safeguard the Holy Places of all religions, Pope Pius XII issued several encyclicals expressing concerns about the holy places as well as access. In 1949, at the time of appointing Gori to the office of Latin Patriarch, Pius XII also relinquished the title of Grand Master

CHL Franciscan monks during the procession on the Calvary in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre(2006)

 On 15 May 2004, Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa was appointed Custodian of the Holy Land succeeding Giovanni Battistelli, who held the office for six years On Friday, 28 June 2013, Pope Francis confirmed that he would continue as Custodian for at least a further three years. Pierbattista Pizzaballa was born in Cologno al Serio, Italy, on 21 April 1965. He was ordained a priest in September 1990. Since 2016, the chief custodian has been Francesco Patton. The Custodian of the Holy Land, also called the International Custodian of the Holy Land, is appointed by the General Definitorium of the Order of Friars Minor (OFM) of the Franciscans and approved by the Pope and the Holy See. The Custodian has the role of Minister Provincial (i.e. major superior) of the Franciscans living in Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, parts of Egypt, Cyprus and Rhodes. The Custody has about 300 friars and about 100 sisters in these countries. The Franciscans serve the principal Christian shrines, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth During the later Middle Ages and early modern times the Custody was official provider of hospitality for Latin pilgrims to the Holy Land, i.e. Westerners be they Catholic or Protestant. Such facilities existed primarily at Jaffa and in Jerusalem

Palestinian Christian scouts on Christmas Eve in front of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem (2006

 The Franciscan order owns a great deal of property in the Holy Land, second only to the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem. In addition to the major shrines of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem, which the Franciscans own and administer in common with the Jerusalem Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox patriarchates, the Custodian also cares for 74 shrines and sanctuaries throughout the Holy Land, including properties in Syria and Jordan. In 1909, in the territory of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, re-instituted in 1847, the Franciscans had 24 convents and 15 parishes, including numerous schools. The Custodian's offices are at the Monastery of St Saviour, a 16th-century Franciscan monastery near New Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem.Schools founded by the Franciscan friars include Terra Santa College in Nicosia, Cyprus and Magnificat Institute in Jerusalem.

List of Custodians of the Holy Land

Century	Custodians	Century	Custodians
13th	1217 – Elia da Cortona	14th	1333 – Rogero Guarini
	1219 – San Francesco d’Assisi		1337 – Giovanni di Stefano
	1247 – Giacomo (Narciso?)		1337 – Giacomo Normanno
	1266 – Giacomo da Puy		? – Nicola di Giovanni
	? – Vincentius de Burgundia		1363 – Bernardino da Padova
	1270? – Giovannino da Parma		1372 – Antonio di Giacomo
	1286 – Geleberto		1376 – Nicolò da Creta (o Candia)
	1306 – Guido		1382 – Giovanni
	1310 – Rogero Guarini		1384 – Nicolò da Venezia
	1328 – Nicolò da San Martino		1388 – Gerardo Calvetti
	1330 – Giovanni Fedanzola
15th	1400 – Nicolò Coronario	16th	1501 – Mauro da San Bernardino
	1405 – Nicolò di Pietro		1504 – Luigi da Napoli
	1421 – Giacomo di Antonio		1507 – Bernardino del Vecchio
	1424 – Giovanni Belloro		1512 – Francesco Suriano
	1430 – Luigi da Bologna		1514 – Nicolò da Tossignano
	1434 – Giacomo Delfino		1517 – Zenobio da Firenze
	1438 – Gandolfo da Sicilia		1518 – Gabriele ?
	1446 – Baldassare da Santa Maria		1519 – Angelo da Ferrara
	1455 – Antonio da Mugnano		1528 – Giovanni
	1462 – Gabriele Mezzavacca		1532 – Mario da Messina
	1464 – Paolo d’Albenga		1532 – Battista da Macerata
	1467 – Francesco da Piacenza		1535 – Tomaso da Norcia
	1472 – Andrea da Parma		1541 – Dionisio da Sarcognano
	1475 – Giacomo d’Alessandria		1544 – Giorgio Bosnese
	1478 – Giovanni de Thomacellis		1545 – Felice da Venezia
	1481 – Paolo da Canneto		1547 – Bonaventura Corsetti
	1484 – Bernardino da Parma		1551 – Bonifacio Stefani
	1487 – Francesco da Perugia		1559 – Antonio da Bergamo
	1487 – Bernardino Caimo		1560 – Aurelio da Griano
	1489 – Bartolomeo da Piacenza		1564 – Bonifacio Stefani
	1493 – Francesco Suriano		1565 – Bernardino da Collestate
	1495 – Angelo da Foligno		1566 – Girolamo da Fossato
	1496 – Bartolomeo da Piacenza		1568 – Angelo da Portomaurizio
	1499 – Antonio Gozze de Regnis		1568 – Gian Francesco d’Arsignano
			1571 – Antonio da Sant’Angelo
17th	1600 – Francesco Manerba	18th	1704 – Bonaventura da Majori
	1603 – Cesario da Trino		1704 – Benedetto da Bari
	1608 – Gaudenzio Saibanti		1705 – Costantino Ultorchi
	1612 – Angelo da Messina		1706 – Gaetano Potestà
	1616 – Basilio Basili		1710 – Lorenzo Cozza
	1619 – Francesco Dulcedo		1716 – Giuseppe Maria da Perugia
	1620 – Tommaso Obicini		1720 – Gian Filippo da Milano
	1621 – Ambrogio Pantoliano		1722 – Giacomo da Lucca
	1622 – Francesco Spinelli		1730 – Andrea da Montoro
	1625 – Sante da Messina		1735 – Angelico da Gazolo
	1628 – Diego Campanile		1740 – Paolo da Laurino
	1632 – Paolo da Lodi		1743 – Giacomo da Lucca
	1634 – Francesco da Cattaro		1744 – Desiderio da Casabasciana
	1637 – Andrea d’Arco		1751 – Prospero Zinelli
	1642 – Pietro Verniero		1754 – Pio da Mentone
	1645 – Francesco Merisi		1756 – Domenico da Venezia
	1648 – Antonio da Gaeta		1762 – Paolo da Piacenza
	1651 – Ambrogio Pantoliano		1767 – Luigi da Bastia
	1652 – Mariano Morone		1773 – Valeriano Bellandi
	1659 – Eusebio Valles		1773 – Gian Domenico da Levigliano
	1664 – Francesco M. Rhini		1795 – Placido da Roma
	1669 – Teofilo Testa		1798 – Ladislao da Viterbo
	1673 – Claudio Gavazzi
	1675 – Tomaso da Caltagirone	19th	1801 – Zenobio Puccini
	1675 – Giovanni Bonsignori		1805 – Bonaventura da Nola
	1678 – Pier Marino Sormani		1808 – Giuseppe M. Pierallini
	1683 – Pier Antonio Grassi		1815 – Girolamo da Osimo
	1686 – Angelico da Milano		1817 – Salvatore Antonio da Malta
	1689 – Gregorio da Parghelia		1820 – Ugolino Cesarini
	1691 – Gian Battista d’Atina		1822 – Gian Antonio da Rogliano
	1695 – Baldassare Caldera		1825 – Tomaso da Montasola
	1697 – Francesco da Santo Floro		1831 – Francesco di S. Lorenzo alle Grotte
			1835 – Francesco Saverio da Malta
			1838 – Perpetuo Guasco
			1841 – Cherubino Maria da Cori
			1843 – Cherubino da Civezza
			1847 – Bernardino Trionfetti
			1857 – Bonaventura Robotti
			1863 – Serafino Milani
			1874 – Gaudenzio Bonfigli
			1880 – Guido Corbelli
			1886 – Aurelio Briante
			1888 – Giacomo Ghezzi
			1894 – Aurelio Briante
20th	1900 – Frediano Giannini	21st	2004 – Pier Battista Pizzaballa
	1906 – Roberto Razzoli		2016 – Francesco Patton
	1914 – Onorato Carcaterra
	1915 – Serafino Cimino
	1918 – Ferdinando Diotallevi
	1925 – Aurelio Marotta
	1931 – Nazzareno Jacopozzi
	1937 – Alberto Gori
	1950 – Giacinto Maria Faccio
	1955 – Angelico Lazzeri
	1957 – Alfredo Polidori
	1962 – Vincenzo Cappiello
	1968 – Alfonso Calabrese
	1969 – Erminio Roncari
	1974 – Maurilio Sacchi
	1980 – Ignazio Mancini
	1986 – Carlo Cecchitelli
	1992 – Giuseppe Nazzaro
	1998 – Giovanni Battistelli