CV NEWS FEED // In a historic celebration this week, the Franciscan community of Jerusalem commemorated the 100th anniversary of its famous Biblical institute.
The Franciscan community marked the centenary of its Studium Biblicum Franciscanum on May 13 at the Auditorium of the Our Lady of Immaculate Conception at St Saviour’s Convent in Jerusalem.
According to a news release from the Holy Land Custody, Fra Rosario Pierri, Dean of the Studium Biblicum Franciscunam stated in his opening remarks that “There could not have been a happier date on which to celebrate this anniversary than the day of Our Lady of Fatima.”
“We are here today to complete the celebrations for the centenary of the Foundation of the Studium Biblicum, because after the meeting with the Pope in the Vatican and after the Conference in Rome at the Antonianum University,” he continued, “there had to be this meeting here as well, in the Holy City, to share the joy of the commemoration with those who were unable to go to Rome.”
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa also spoke at the event, in which he described “the grace of having lived his first ten years in the Holy Land at the Studium Biblicum.” This period of time, he shared, “was decisive for my story”:
From the love that shone out from those lecturers, most of whom have left us now, I learned to rest my head on these stones and love the Scriptures, because love is always infectious.
He continued:
At a time when modern science was critically arguing about the Holy Places and questioned the historical-theological base on which the Church was founded, the Studium Biblicum gradually and patiently scientifically proved what the Church has always believed: i.e. that the places where the Word became flesh were not the work of “sophisticated devotionalism” but the result of a coherent, serious and solid tradition.
With the instruments of modern science, the SBF has linked the Christian faith to a place, to a land and to a story, once and for all.
At the end of the conference, Fra Pierri presented a commemorative medal with the logo of the Centenary to the authorities, designed by the Custody’s archeologist, Fra Amedeo Ricco.
The post Franciscans celebrate 100 years of its famous Biblical School in Jerusalem appeared first on CatholicVote org.