BEATITUDINI, MONTE delle. — Place where Jesus pronounced the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5–7) and elected the Twelve to the apostolate. According to the Gospel accounts, it was well known (τὸ ἑδρῶς), situated in the vicinity of Capernaum and characterized by plateaus (Mt. 3:13; 5:1; 8:5; Mk. 3:20; Lk. 6:13, 17; 7:1; Jn. 6:17).
It was sought on the Mount of Olives, on Tabor (s. Girolamo), and more commonly at Hattin, a volcanic hill (316 m above sea level and 524 m above the Lake of Tiberias), 15 km southwest of Capernaum and 10 km from Tiberias. Among modern scholars, B. Meistermann prefers Segerát el-Mubārakāt (2.7 km northwest of the Lake of Tiberias).
Most identify it with the modest plateau extending southwest of the hill (150 m) of et-Tabgāh (seven springs), 2.7 km south of Capernaum, called «mount of the b.», on whose left stand the hospice of the National Association for Assisting Italian Missionaries and the new basilica of the b. In 1935, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land brought to light a chapel (11.90 × 4.40 m) with mosaics from the fourth to the sixth century, built over the grotto in which (according to Etheria) Jesus pronounced the beatitudes.
