The Commissariats for the Holy Land

The historical origins

The origin of the Commissariats of the Holy Land is very ancient and is motivated by the enormous difficulties of the Custody to fulfil its tasks in a very complex political and religious situation.
Having observed that neither the lives of the friars nor preserving the Holy Places was possible without alms from the Christian princes, the first Statutes of the Custody (1377) established that the Custos appoint one or two laymen to administrate the alms. Half a century later, the figure of the Commissary of the Holy Land was officially established with the Bull,His quae by Pope Martin V (14th February 1421). In more recent times, Pope Paul VI declared that the activity of the Commissaries, “as meritorious as in the past, is still valid and functional" (Paul VI, Nobis in animo).