![]() ![]() Īt the outbreak of World War I, the French nuns of the convent were deported from the Ottoman Empire, the two countries being parts of opposing alliances. There is now a small museum on the grounds of the monastery to accommodate interested pilgrims, housing some of the artifacts from his time at the convent. It was during this period in Nazareth that De Foucauld studied for the priesthood and produced most of his spiritual writings. ![]() Hearing of "a servant who dressed like a tramp, spoke and wrote as a man of learning, and prayed like a saint", Elizabeth of Calvary-now the abbess of the Jerusalem convent -had him visit in 1888 and thereafter he divided his time between the two communities before returning to France in 1900. St Charles de Foucauld worked at the convent from 1897, living in a small wooden lean-to separate from the nuns' dormitory and previously used only for spare lumber storage. Its first abbess was Elizabeth of Calvary ( French: Élisabeth du Calvaire, Italian: Elisabetta del Calvario). The Nazarene convent of the Order of Saint Clare was first established by a group of 16 nuns from the Clarissan community at Paray-le-Monial, France, in 1884, four years before its sister convent in Jerusalem. During this period, the French Empire frequently supported related Catholic institutions abroad as a way of expanding its local influence. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem was reestablished in 1847, and French involvement in support of the Ottoman Empire in the Crimean War in the 1850s further improved relations. History Ī sketch of the original convent-now the Holy Family School-by St Charles de Foucauld, showing the empty grounds used for the present-day convent and the ruined chapel of Our Lady of the Fright atop Tremor Hill behind itĬatholic holdings in Ottoman Palestine had been limited from 1551 until their establishment as a millet in 1831. 13th century sources differ, though, as to whether it was run by the Greeks or Armenians. The accounts of his service in the New Testament are usually placed at Herod's Temple in Jerusalem but a Byzantine chapel on or near Tremor Hill claimed that he had performed his office in a synagogue at Nazareth and exhibited an altar supposed to be the place where he had been visited by the archangel Gabriel. Elizabeth's husband Zechariah was a priest. The Visitation of Elizabeth by Mary is usually associated with locations closer to Jerusalem such as Ein Karem and Hebron but were sometimes placed on this same hill during the Middle Ages. The site was thereafter known as Tremor Hill. This rock was exhibited to pilgrims during the Crusader period. In local folklore related to the story, the mob was said to have returned to Nazareth from the mountain and passed near the terrified Mary, who was miraculously sheltered from their view by a rock which took her shape. After he expounded on Isaiah, the Jews of Nazareth supposedly took him to the steep cliff to throw him off when he disappeared from within their midst. If this all sounds very political, you’re right, it was…and it is.The Madonna and Child statue at the conventĬhristian legend considered the nearby Mount Qedumim ("Mount Precipice") to have been the site of one of Jesus's rejections by the Jewish community of his time. Much less could Caesar Augustus have imagined that within a few centuries millions of people throughout the Roman Empire would pledge their allegiance to the crucified Jesus of Nazareth, calling him the risen King of all kings. Sitting in his palace on Palatine Hill, Augustus could never have imagined that in less than forty years these titles would be re-appropriated for a Galilean peasant who had suffered a state sponsored execution under the jurisdiction of a Roman governor. The coinage of the Roman economy bore the image of the “august” Caesar with imperial titles like, Son of God, Savior of the World, King of Kings, Prince of Peace. And so the Holy Family became refugees seeking asylum in a foreign country in order to escape a violent regime in their homeland.Īll this was happening while Augustus Caesar was the Roman Emperor. Not long after that the death squads were breaking down doors and killing baby boys in Bethlehem.Īn angel got Mary and Joseph and the baby king out of town in the nick of time. And so the magi came from the Orient bearing their gifts and accidentally got tangled up with the current King of the Jews - a debauched and murderous megalomaniac named Herod who decades earlier had been made an imperial client king by the Roman Senate. Pagan astrologers read it in the stars - a new king of the Jews had been born. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |