The tables occupy the churchyard of Bethany, the city a few miles from Jerusalem where Lazarus, Martha and Mary lived. Everything is ready to begin, for the second consecutive year at the Iftar, the dinner that interrupts the daily fast that Muslims perform during the month of Ramadan, to which, for the occasion, the Franciscans […]
Specialitaly Palestina is the name of the inclusive development project for the tourism sector in Beit Sahour and Bethlehem. Head of the project is the Municipality of Comacchio which proposes to develop innovative hospitality and catering activities involving 27 public and private entities from five Italian regions (Emilia Romagna, Veneto, Puglia, Basilicata and Sicily) including […]
Instead of studying and playing, learning art and music, Syrian children have lost all means for normal and dignified growth due to the war. Instead of having fun and playing, they have to shut themselves up in their homes for fear of going out because death or mutilation awaits them both outside and inside the […]
The village of Ein Karem is located a few kilometers from Jerusalem. In this wooded and quiet area according to Christian tradition the Virgin Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth, and according to the story of the evangelist Luke “was kept hidden for five months” meditating on the miracle of late pregnancy granted by […]
The Arabic term Iftar indicates the moment in which the Muslim faithful start drinking and eating again after having spent the day in complete fast from dawn to sunset. Fasting is a religious practice of Islam that lasts the entire month of Ramadan, the month in which the revelation of the Qur’an to Muhammad is remembered. […]
On the occasion of the eighth centenary of the meeting between St. Francis of Assisi and the Sultan of Egypt Al-Malik Al Kamil which took place in Damietta in 1219, the Custody of the Holy Land together with the Faculty of Biblical and Archaeological Sciences in collaboration with the Pontificals From March to November 2019, […]
“Bombs have been falling for days a few kilometers from here, we are fine, but the situation gets worse every day. The Valley of the Orontes river is almost deserted, thousands of people are fleeing from the bombing and many come every day to ask us for food and water, they sleep under olive trees […]
The General Assembly of the Association pro Terra Sancta met in Jerusalem on May 1st to update the members on the strong development of the Association in the past year and to illustrate further proposals for the future. On the agenda: the approval of the Annual Report 2018 and the related presentation of the sources and […]
May is a smiling 15-year-old girl who lives with her family in Bethlehem. Since she was a child she has always suffered from a severe form of squint. “We noticed vision problems when she was just three years old,” her mother Nour tells us. “From that moment on, she always had to wear glasses. Then […]
HIC, Latin word for “here“, is a recurring word in the Franciscan liturgies for Easter. The Latin adverb is strongly connected to the places that mark the moments of the Passion of Christ: here at Mount Zion Jesus celebrated the Easter dinner with his disciples , here in Gethsemane Jesus prayed to the Father before he […]
In occasion of this Holy Easter we want to share with you the Easter message of Fr. Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land and President of the Association pro Terra Sancta. We are in the Cenacle, on Mount Zion, in the place where Jesus ate the Last Supper with His disciples, and there gave […]
Pro Terra Sancta UK hosted its launch event yesterday to raise funds to complete the new Terra Sancta museum in the old city of Jerusalem. The museum aims to “Build a bridge of peace” . London, United Kingdom – 5th April 2019 – Pro Terra Sancta UK, a new UK charity set up to support […]
Aleppo. The general winter delivers the last blows to a city that desperately needs spring. This year too many died from the cold. The queues at the petrol stations promise nothing good, and confirm the sad intuition with which we arrived from Damascus. Another city on its knees, without fuel, without electricity. At night the […]
“Absolutely no! War has not come to an end yet, it has just begun. ” Perhaps the enemies are no longer called Daesh or Al Qaeda, but hunger and poverty, tand these are enemies that are equally scary. They are the enemies that international politics can arm in a more silent and sneaky way, without […]
“The place is magnificent: the rooms are beautiful and the service is excellent!” It is just one of the many reviews on the guesthouse “Dar al Majus” (in Arabic House of the three Kings), the structure run by th Association pro Terra Sancta in partnership with the Mosaic Centre in Bethlehem. Located around ten meters […]
The Guesthouse in the city center returns under the management of the Mosaic Center and ATS pro Terra Sancta Looking at an old photograph of Sebastia from the beginning of the 20th century it is hard to believe that, among the houses of this small village, an archaeological heritage of inestimable value is hidden. In […]
If you ever had the opportunity to spend some time in the Holy Land, you were probably a little disappointed when you found practically all the shops and restaurants run by Jews, closed on Saturday. Or you might have wanted to sleep an extra hour on Sunday, but you probably had to give up on […]
“The crisis in Syria is not over yet; let’s say that it has just begun ”. Father Ibrahim Alsabagh, pastor of the church of St. Francis in Aleppo, said this a few days ago and we, while the country is entering its ninth year of war, we can only repeat it with force: the crisis […]
Knowledge, flavors and … soaps! with these three words we could symbolically summarize the many projects of ATS pro Terra Sancta that strictly involve the Palestinian women; know how all the actions of the association are developed starting from a deep research and attention of the Palestinian traditions: research and sharing of knowledge, to develop […]