MIL OSI Translation. Region: Italy –
Source: The Holy See in Italian
Rome (Agenzia Fides) – “After 800 years we bring St. Francis back to the Holy Land to try to be, like him, capable of crossing borders in a wounded place, just as eight centuries ago the Poverello went on a pilgrimage to the holy places in an equally difficult time, because marked by the crusades, with the desire to build bridges and not walls”. Thus, Brother Matteo Brena, Commissioner of the Holy Land of the Friars Minor of Tuscany and coordinator of the Committee for the eight hundredth anniversary of the stigmata of Saint Francis, announces that from September 30 to October 5, together with 10 other people, including friars and lay people, he will bring the relic of the blood of Saint Francis of Assisi to the Holy Land, while war rages and while the people in these troubled territories are suffering, fear, mourning, precarious. “We leave – continues Brother Matteo – with a great desire in our hearts: to be that ‘small remnant’ that can be the bearer, in this new dramatic moment for the Middle East, of a sign of consolation and a word of hope. ‘From the wounds, new life’ was the motto of the eighth centenary of the stigmata of Saint Francis; and we, bringing to Jerusalem and Bethlehem the relic of his blood, which flowed from the signs of the passion on his body, try to tell those brothers and sisters that it is possible to inhabit the wounds with hope and with a desire for the future”. The delegation, composed of four friars and six lay people, including representatives of the Franciscan Youth and the Secular Franciscan Order, will travel between Jerusalem and Bethlehem to bring the relic to the Christian communities of the area, meeting the local people and also visiting some places that are symbols of the commitment that Christians carry out to bring peace to the land where Jesus lived. October 2 will be one of the central moments of the trip: in fact, the twinning between the Basilica of Gethsemane, a place that preserves the memory of the dramatic hours of Christ’s passion, and the Sanctuary of La Verna will be established. The twinning will also establish the bond between the two hermitages. The ceremony will be attended by Fra’ Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land, and Fra’ Livio Crisci, Provincial Minister of the Friars Minor of Tuscany. “This year – adds Fra’ Brena – the Basilica of Gethsemane celebrates a century since it was built, in 1924, together with the Basilica of the Transfiguration, by the Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi, who died in 1960 in Rome in the convent of the Delegation of the Holy Land. We will therefore also include ourselves in the initiatives of this centenary.” “United in prayer, we accompany these brothers of ours on the pilgrimage between Jerusalem and Bethlehem,” affirm the Franciscan fraternities from all over Italy. Eight hundred years ago, in September 1224, Francis of Assisi received the Sacred Stigmata on Mount Verna, in the Arezzo area. On that occasion the friar was conformed to Christ Crucified and a part of his habit, soaked in the blood of the side, became an important relic, as a perpetual testimony of that event, guarded by the Friars Minor. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 28/9/2024) Share:
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.