It’s written in big letters on a sign at the base of a stairway: “Enclosure. Private. No Entry.” Nevertheless, the sign is passed and the stairs climbed several times a day by the laypeople who work at Saint Saviour’s, by guests of the Custos or his Vicar, by pilgrims who get lost on the way to a reception room. The reason? The Custody of the Holy Land’s offices are located smack in the middle of the friar’s enclosure.
Even though enclosure in a Franciscan monastery is less strict than that of monks, this is still their living space. Many friars’ rooms are located quite near the offices; the activity disturbs their prayerful recollection, is indiscrete and impinges on the privacy to which they have a right.
This is why the Father Custos Pierbattista Pizzaballa and the Discretorium voted a few months ago to build a home for the Custody’s Curia that would be independent of the friars’ quarters, yet still inside the Saint Saviour’s compound. Work began in July, the building near the New Gate entrance to the compound that housed the boys’ orphanage, which closed in 2004, providing the necessary space for a functional Curia.
Four Franciscans are particularly attached to the administration of the Custody, which is independent of life in the monastery. They are the Custos, the Vicar, the Treasurer and the Custodial Secretary. Their offices, except that of the Treasurer, will be built on the first floor of the building, along with those of the laypeople who help in the Secretariat. The second floor will include three meeting rooms, which are desperately needed, and an oratory at the heart of this space for the Custody Fathers, who will live there while continuing to take their meals with the rest of the Community of Saint Saviour’s Monastery. The Treasurer’s section, which is also in the heart of the monastery though in another wing, will later be added to the new installations for the same reasons: to give the enclosure back its privacy and to work in better conditions. It will be located on the ground floor of the old orphanage, where the printing press is presently located.
The renovations should be completed around June 2007. We haven’t yet seen the end of tractors coming and going at Saint Saviour’s.
MAB
What is the Custody’s Curia?
The Curia, headed by the Custos, includes all the collateral and administrative services of the Custody of the Holy Land that permit it – wherever it is present – to pursue its vocation of welcoming pilgrims, serving the poor, carrying out a pastoral apostolate, protecting and breathing life into the Holy Places. It represents the friars as a group in the life of the local Church, whether among the Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land or in ecumenical relations and inter-religious dialogue. It centralizes financial services and communications (six periodicals and one Internet site), as well as all the administrative services regarding the friars, their formation, appointments in the apostolate and, along the way, obtaining visas. It maintains the relationship with the Franciscan General Curia, but also and above all among the 53 Holy Land presences throughout the Middle East, as well as the seven monasteries elsewhere in the world that are under its direct jurisdiction, as well as with the 69 Holy Land commissariats around the world. Although religious and official ceremonies give the Curia a solemn air, in everyday life it is very tuned in to the realities of the Holy Land and to welcoming pilgrims. Between July 2005 and June 2006, the Father Custos Pierbattista Pizzaballa and the Custodial Vicar Artemio Vitores alone welcomed more than 12,000 pilgrims to Saint Saviour’s.
Even though enclosure in a Franciscan monastery is less strict than that of monks, this is still their living space. Many friars’ rooms are located quite near the offices; the activity disturbs their prayerful recollection, is indiscrete and impinges on the privacy to which they have a right.
This is why the Father Custos Pierbattista Pizzaballa and the Discretorium voted a few months ago to build a home for the Custody’s Curia that would be independent of the friars’ quarters, yet still inside the Saint Saviour’s compound. Work began in July, the building near the New Gate entrance to the compound that housed the boys’ orphanage, which closed in 2004, providing the necessary space for a functional Curia.
Four Franciscans are particularly attached to the administration of the Custody, which is independent of life in the monastery. They are the Custos, the Vicar, the Treasurer and the Custodial Secretary. Their offices, except that of the Treasurer, will be built on the first floor of the building, along with those of the laypeople who help in the Secretariat. The second floor will include three meeting rooms, which are desperately needed, and an oratory at the heart of this space for the Custody Fathers, who will live there while continuing to take their meals with the rest of the Community of Saint Saviour’s Monastery. The Treasurer’s section, which is also in the heart of the monastery though in another wing, will later be added to the new installations for the same reasons: to give the enclosure back its privacy and to work in better conditions. It will be located on the ground floor of the old orphanage, where the printing press is presently located.
The renovations should be completed around June 2007. We haven’t yet seen the end of tractors coming and going at Saint Saviour’s.
MAB
What is the Custody’s Curia?
The Curia, headed by the Custos, includes all the collateral and administrative services of the Custody of the Holy Land that permit it – wherever it is present – to pursue its vocation of welcoming pilgrims, serving the poor, carrying out a pastoral apostolate, protecting and breathing life into the Holy Places. It represents the friars as a group in the life of the local Church, whether among the Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land or in ecumenical relations and inter-religious dialogue. It centralizes financial services and communications (six periodicals and one Internet site), as well as all the administrative services regarding the friars, their formation, appointments in the apostolate and, along the way, obtaining visas. It maintains the relationship with the Franciscan General Curia, but also and above all among the 53 Holy Land presences throughout the Middle East, as well as the seven monasteries elsewhere in the world that are under its direct jurisdiction, as well as with the 69 Holy Land commissariats around the world. Although religious and official ceremonies give the Curia a solemn air, in everyday life it is very tuned in to the realities of the Holy Land and to welcoming pilgrims. Between July 2005 and June 2006, the Father Custos Pierbattista Pizzaballa and the Custodial Vicar Artemio Vitores alone welcomed more than 12,000 pilgrims to Saint Saviour’s.