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 honor 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 the Christian sanctuaries remained in their hands. The Friars Minor then returned to the country where they had already been during the crusading period, and little by little, with the favor of the sultans of Egypt and with the help of the Catholic powers of Europe, they obtained 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, of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and, first the Grotto and then the basilica of the Nativity at Bethlehem. Pope Clement VI, with his two bulls Gratias agimus and Nuper carissime of 21 Nov. 1342, confirmed the happy results obtained, assuring the Franciscans the custody of those places. The crumbling basilicas were at once restored, then possession and worship were extended to the sanctuaries of St. John the Baptist at 'Ajn Kârim, of St. Peter at Jaffa, of the Annunciation at Nazareth, of St. Peter at Tiberias.
The Franciscans also took care of the Catholic faithful residing in the major centers of the entire Near East. From the 16th century onward they opened convents at Acre (Palestine), at Saidâ, 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 C. of T. S. lost its principal convent, because in 1551, by order of the sultan Suleiman, it was deprived of the possession of the Holy Cenacle, held for more than two hundred years, and had to move to the new convent of St. Savior in Jerusalem. But it was to suffer other spoliations and abuses also afterward.
In 1565, because of a naval raid carried out by Peter of Lusignan in the port of Alexandria in Egypt, the religious of Jerusalem were slaughtered. In 1422, the Catalans having appropriated the sultan's ships, the Franciscans were deported to the prisons of Damascus, while the doors of the Holy Sepulchre, of the Cenacle and of Bethlehem were walled up. In 1510, the Knights of Rhodes having defeated the Muslim fleet in the waters of Jaffa, the friars were deported to the prisons of Cairo and the convents plundered by the mob. The same happened after the battles of Tunis (1534), of Lepanto (1571) and others, when the Franciscans were killed, their houses and their works attacked and the sanctuaries profaned.
The supreme pontiffs, with more than 300 bulls, increasingly confirmed their trust in the sons of St. Francis, conferring on them those spiritual and ecclesiastical powers that were necessary for the government of the Catholic communities of the East. The Custos of the Holy Land, in fact, in all those centuries and until 1848 had ordinary power, as vicar and apostolic commissioner, over the Latins of the countries of the Levant; and as representative of the Church and of the Catholic powers, he was held in great credit at the sultan's courts, first at Cairo and then at Constantinople, and among all the peoples, Christian, Jewish and Muslim, of the Islamic empire. The C., representing the Latin world, raised its flag with five crosses on a white field, which it had inherited from the fallen crusader kingdom of Jerusalem and which was requested as an honor by the Latin ships sailing the Mediterranean, because it preserved them from the frequent incursions of pirates. It was, in short, like a Christian State in the heart of the Islamic East.
The European powers, among which the Republic of Venice, the kings of France and of Aragon, Spain and others, vied with one another in supporting with diplomacy and offerings the C. of the Holy Places, which was thus able to face difficulties and expenses caused by the Muslim governments.
The life of the Franciscans, in fact, in the first three centuries was spent almost entirely within the sanctuaries in the celebrations of worship and of the Christian mysteries. They always took special care for the pilgrims who flocked from every side to visit those places and whom they welcomed and guided in the visits to the sanctuaries, protecting them from the frequent vexations of the inhabitants.
With the beginning of the 16th century they began to open free schools within their convents and to found new ones near the religious houses, thus imparting Christian and literary instruction to the young. They also attended, at all times, to the evangelization of the Muslims, though with scant results and at the peril of their lives, the Islamic laws being hostile to every conversion. More fortunate, on the other hand, were the results they obtained in the apostolic work among the ecclesiastical authorities and the faithful of the various Christian rites to lead them to the unity of the Catholic Church, both in Lebanon and in Syria and also in Palestine.
With the beginning of Turkish domination, the famous question concerning the ownership and the worship of the Holy Places began and then developed in the following century. In 1633 the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre with all the sanctuaries annexed to it and that of the Nativity at Bethlehem were assigned by a decree of Constantinople to the dissident Greeks. Afterward, for more than a century, those sanctuaries often passed from the hands of the Franciscans to those of the Easterners, until 1757 when they were arbitrarily divided between the two parties, a division that was fixed in 1852. During this period of struggle and defense the Franciscans employed all their action, both at the court of Constantinople and with the European powers, to keep intact the sacred patrimony entrusted to them. Nevertheless the C. of T. S. succeeded in acquiring between the 17th and 18th centuries Mount Thabor, Cana, Tiberias, Jaffa, the Visitation and the localities of Harissa in Lebanon and of Suez in Egypt. These conquests became even more numerous when Ottoman Turkey, under the influence of the West, allowed greater freedom and developed the Christian works established in its Empire. The Franciscans thus came into possession of the sanctuaries of the Flagellation, of Capernaum, of Naim, of the Tremor near Nazareth, of Bethphage, of Sephoris and of Emmaus-Qubejbeh, of the stations of Haifa, of Tyre, of Tripoli marina, of Lattakié, of Mugeida and of five localities of Armenia. Great development was also taken in this time by the missions of Egypt, with the creation of new churches and convents at Alexandria, at Cairo and in their suburbs, as well as along the Suez Canal. Besides what is its missionary work, the C. of T. S. has opened from the earliest times, first in Italy, then throughout Europe, and finally in the Americas and the Far East, commissariats for the protection of its own interests and for the collection of the offerings of the faithful destined for the protection of the Holy Places, for the increase of the Catholic faith and for the development of Christian civilization in the countries of the Levant. After more than six centuries of life it today has under its protection 36 sanctuaries, possesses more than 50 religious houses in Turkey, in Syria, in Lebanon, in Palestine, in Egypt, in Transjordan and on the island of Cyprus, with a total of 450 religious; it counts 36 parish churches and 11 branches and a total of 85,000 faithful; it is surrounded by a flourishing crown of educational and charitable works, which include 40 elementary schools, three orphanages, three lyceums-withvitti, four vocational schools; for the lodging of pilgrims it has 8 "Case-nove"; for aspirants to the Order it has a seraphic college, a novitiate, two seminaries for philosophy and theology; it keeps its workshops and laboratories always in full operation; it has a biblical school for advanced studies in Sacred Scripture with a vast archaeological museum and two very rich libraries; it promotes archaeological excavations in Palestine, Transjordan and Syria; it publishes journals and scholarly works on the East; it directs youth educational and sports organizations, excursions for Orientalist studies, seaside hospices, and carries out many other religious and social activities throughout the East. - See plate LXXIII.
