QUARANTENA, MONTE della.
- Mountain (Arabic
Gebel Qurantal)
west of
Gerico, to which is at-
tached the memory of the fasting and temptations of Our Lord (Lk. 4:1-8; Mt. 4:1-4). The tradition, traceable as far back as the 4th Egeria (v.) summarized by St. Valerio (7th century), eventually localized the fasting and the first temptation, that of the loaves, in a cave situated on a steep slope halfway up the mountain, as a refuge at night from dampness and by day from the scorching sun and also from wild beasts; the third, that of adoration, on the summit of the mountain, from which there is a vast panorama.
In all probability, the summit contained the Maccabean fortress of Doch (I Mach. 16:14-16; Flavio Giuseppe, Antiq. Iud., XIII, 8, 1 and Bell. Iud., I, 2, 3), of which the rampart and architectural remains may still be seen today. From the fortress the laura established by St. Caritone in the 4th century took the name Duca; it flourished during the Byzantine period and was subsequently much reduced, down to the present day. The cave commemorating the first temptation was already painted in medieval times, but today, still adapted for worship, it has been entirely renovated. As for the church on the summit, work on rebuilding it began in 1914, but it has remained unfinished since the outbreak of the First World War.
The mountain, wholly barren and dry, conveys well the idea of the Lord’s fasting.