CUSTODY OF THE HOLY LAND. - An international body composed of Franciscans chosen from all parts of the world, which, by the will of the Supreme Pontiffs, presides over the worship and veneration of the Holy Places of Palestine. It arose with the end of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem when the Holy Land was reoccupied by the Muslims and all Christian shrines remained in their hands. The Minor Friars then returned to the country where they had already been during the Crusader period, and little by little, with the favor of the sultans of Egypt and with the help of the Catholic powers of Europe, they were entrusted with the custody of the principal Holy Places.
In the first half of the 14th century, through the intervention of the kings of Naples, they obtained possession of the Cenacle; then, through the intercession of the kings of Aragon, the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and, first the Grotta and then the basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Pope Clement VI, with his two bulls Gratias agimus and Nuper carissime of 21 November 1342, confirmed the happy results obtained, ensuring the Franciscans the custody of those places. The crumbling basilicas were soon restored, and then possession and worship were extended to the shrines of St. John the Baptist at 'Ayn Kārim, of St. Peter at Jaffa, of the Annunciation at Nazareth, and of St. Peter at Tiberias.
The Franciscans also took care of the Catholic faithful residing in the major centers of the Near East. As early as the 16th century, they opened convents in Acre (Palestine), Sidon, Beirut, Tripoli in Lebanon, Damascus, Aleppo, Alexandretta in Syria, Larnaca and Nicosia on the island of Cyprus, Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, Constantinople, and elsewhere. Meanwhile, however, the Custody of the Holy Land lost its principal convent because in 1551, by order of Sultan Soliman, it was deprived of possession of the Holy Cenacle, which it had held for more than two hundred years, and had to move to the new convent of the Holy Saviour in Jerusalem. But further spoliations and abuses were to be suffered in the future.
In 1365, as a result of a naval raid carried out by Peter of Lusignan in the port of Alexandria in Egypt, the religious of Jerusalem were massacred. In 1422, when the Catalans seized the sultan’s ships, the Franciscans were deported to the prisons of Damascus, while the doors of the Holy Sepulchre, the Cenacle, and Bethlehem were walled up. In 1510, after the Knights of Rhodes had defeated the Muslim fleet off the coast of Jaffa, the friars were deported to the prisons of Cairo and their convents were plundered by the mob. The same happened after the battles of Tunis (1534), Lepanto (1571), and others, when the Franciscans were killed, their houses and works attacked, and the shrines profaned.
The Supreme Pontiffs, with more than 300 bulls, increasingly confirmed their trust in the sons of St. Francis, conferring upon them those spiritual and ecclesiastical powers necessary for the governance of the Catholic communities of the East. The Custodian of the Holy Land, in fact, throughout those centuries and until 1848, held ordinary power, as apostolic vicar and commissioner, over the Latins of the Levantine countries; and as the representative of the Church and of the Catholic powers, he enjoyed great credit at the sultan’s courts, first in Cairo and then in Constantinople, and among all the peoples—Christian, Jewish, and Muslim—of the Islamic empire. The Custody, representing the Latin world, flew its flag of five crosses on a white field, which it had inherited from the fallen Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and which was sought as an honor by Latin ships sailing in the Mediterranean, as it protected them from frequent pirate raids. It was, in short, like a Christian state at the heart of the Islamic East.
The European powers, among which were the Republic of Venice, the kings of France and Aragon, Spain, and others, vied with one another in supporting the Custody of the Holy Places with diplomacy and offerings, enabling it to face the difficulties and expenses imposed by the Muslim governments.
The life of the Franciscans, in fact, in the first three centuries was almost entirely spent within the shrines in the celebration of Christian worship and mysteries. They always took special care of the pilgrims who flocked from every part to visit those places and whom they welcomed and guided in their visits to the shrines, protecting them from the frequent abuses of the inhabitants.
From the beginning of the 16th century, they began to open large schools within the precincts of their convents and to found new ones near religious houses, thus providing Christian and literary instruction to young boys. At all times, they also devoted themselves to the evangelization of Muslims, though with meagre results and at the risk of their lives, since Islamic law was hostile to any conversion. More successful, however, were the results of their apostolic work among the ecclesiastical authorities and the faithful of the various Christian rites, to bring them into the unity of the Catholic Church, both in Lebanon and in Syria and even in Palestine.
With the beginning of Turkish rule, the famous dispute over the ownership and worship of the Holy Places arose and developed further in the following century. In 1633, the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, along with all the annexed sanctuaries, and that of the Nativity in Bethlehem were assigned by a decree from Constantinople to the dissident Greeks. Subsequently, for more than a century, these sanctuaries frequently passed from the hands of the Franciscans to those of the Eastern Christians, until 1757 when they were arbitrarily divided between the two parties; this division was formalized in 1852. During this period of conflict and defense, the Franciscans employed all their efforts, both at the court of Constantinople and with the European powers, to preserve intact the sacred heritage entrusted to them. Nevertheless, the Custody of the Holy Land managed to acquire between the 17th and 18th centuries Mount Tabor, Cana, Tiberias, Jaffa, the Visitation, and the localities of Harissa in Lebanon and Suez in Egypt. These acquisitions became even more numerous when the Ottoman Empire, influenced by the West, granted greater freedom and allowed Christian works to flourish within its borders. The Franciscans thus came into possession of the sanctuaries of the Flagellation, Capernaum, Naim, the Mount of Olives near Nazareth, Bethphage, Sepphoris, and Emmaus-Qubeibeh, as well as the stations at Caiphas, Tyre, Tripoli (Maritima), Latakia, Mugeida, and five locations in Armenia. The missions in Egypt also saw significant growth during this time, with the establishment of new churches and convents in Alexandria, Cairo, their suburbs, and along the Suez Canal.
In addition to its missionary work, the Custody of the Holy Land has, from its earliest days, established procuracies in Italy, then throughout Europe, and later in the Americas and the Far East, to safeguard its interests and collect offerings from the faithful for the preservation of the Holy Places, the promotion of the Catholic faith, and the advancement of Christian civilization in the countries of the Levant.
After more than six centuries of existence, the Custody today oversees 36 sanctuaries, owns more than 50 religious houses in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Transjordan, and the island of Cyprus, with a total of 450 religious; it maintains 36 parish churches and 11 subsidiary churches, serving a community of 85,000 faithful. It is surrounded by a flourishing array of educational and charitable institutions, including 40 elementary schools, three orphanages, three boarding high schools, four vocational schools; it provides eight *Casenove* for the accommodation of pilgrims; for candidates to the Order, it has a Seraphic college, a novitiate, and two seminaries for philosophy and theology; it continues to operate its workshops and laboratories at full capacity; it maintains a biblical school for advanced Scripture studies, a large archaeological museum, and two richly stocked libraries; it promotes archaeological excavations in Palestine, Transjordan, and Syria; it publishes journals and scholarly works on the Orient; it directs youth organizations for education and sports, maritime hostels for oriental studies, and carries out many other religious and social activities throughout the East.
— See pl. LXXIII.