They have arrived from all corners of the world to live together for a week of encounters, updates, decisions, common prayer and visits to a number of places, here in the Holy Land. They are the more than eighty Commissaries of the Holy Land, gathered together during these days in Jerusalem for their 3rd International […]

From Monday 30 January to Saturday 4 February the 3rd International Congress of the Commissaries of the Holy Land will take place in Jerusalem. The Commissaries, who are the representatives of the Custody of the Holy Land in the various Franciscan Provinces throughout the world, are invaluable figures working constantly in support of the Custody […]

The new project in the area “Memory and Culture” is called Books, Bridges of Peace. It is a project that aims to enhance the cultural heritage represented by the Franciscan libraries in Jerusalem (the library in St. Saviour’s monastery and that of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum) and of the other centers of the Custody of […]

iBreviary TS “Pro Terra Sancta” is the free Catholic application that brings the traditional prayer of the Breviary and all of the texts of the Liturgy to your Windows Phone 7 device! iBreviary “Pro Terra Sancta” seeks to contribute, through a partnership with the Custody of the Holy Land and in collaboration with ATS pro […]

Concentrating on his tablet, Mohammd patiently places a small mosaic tile alongside another, seeking to achieve an appropriate balance of lines and colors. He is just over twenty years old, lives in Sabastiya and has worked for several months as a mosaicist at the village Information Center, also being used as a workshop, which was […]

The activities of the Magnificat music Institute are continuing: in several days there will be a new opportunity to listen to talented musicians from all over the Holy Land. On Sunday 29 January, at 18.00 in the Auditorium of St. Saviour’s Monastery in Jerusalem, the 13th edition of the “St. Nikolaus De La Flüe” piano […]

Some time ago ATS pro Terra Sancta launched a new project to support the small Christian community in Jericho, which is centered around the Good Shepherd Parish. For three months, Rosalie – a volunteer working with ATS pro Terra Sancta – has been in Jericho helping out with the needs of the community through the […]

This month’s Messenger of St. Anthony (January 2012) contains an article recounting in great detail the activities that ATS pro Terra Sancta is carrying out in the Gaza Strip with the support of – among others – St. Anthony’s Charities. Here is an extract: The [Holy Family] Parish is following with particular attention the plight […]

For a number of years the Custody of the Holy Land, with the support of ATS pro Terra Sancta and countless donors large and small, has pursued the objective of maintaining alive the Christian presence in the Holy City. The project “Jerusalem, Stones of Memory” was designed to improve the housing conditions of disadvantaged families […]

The feast commemorating the baptism of Jesus took place on Sunday 8 January on the banks of the Jordan River. Now that the site has at last been reopened, the Custody of the Holy Land is again able to celebrate in the place of the liturgical feast. This is how the events of the day […]

Bethlehem is returning to normality, after the Christmas festivities which brought joy, lights and colors to this town, along with numerous pilgrims who came great distances in order to participate in the feast of the birth of Jesus in the very place in which it took place. Children have now returned to school, the town […]

The workers in the village of Sabastiya are not stopping work. The site is more than ever active, and even the most casual visitor will have no difficulty imagining what the historical center will look like once the works are completed. Sabastiya will soon be able to boast of a guest house that is even […]

The words of Pope Benedict XVI on Christmas Eve take us back to Bethlehem, to that cave in which the infant Jesus was born, and also remind us of the importance that the feast of Christmas held for St. Francis of Assisi. It was he in fact who established the tradition of the crèche, in […]

Dear Brothers and Sisters! The reading from Saint Paul’s Letter to Titus that we have just heard begins solemnly with the word “apparuit”, which then comes back again in the reading at the Dawn Mass: apparuit – “there has appeared”. This is a programmatic word, by which the Church seeks to express synthetically the essence of Christmas. […]

Amazement, curiosity, enthusiasm: here below are the writings by the children who participated to the creative workshops to understand the art of mosaics, during the exhibition “Holy Land Mosaics”, held inMilanfrom December 6 to December 16. “We went to the mosaic exhibition and I liked having Rasmi teaching us how to create mosaics. Alessandra, our […]

At the end of the year, a special thought and thanks go to all the volunteers and friends of theHoly Landwho have supported our activities in 2011. During this year, a lot of people devoted part of their time and energies to support the activities of ATS pro Terra Sancta, out of love  for this […]

The opening ceremony of the Exhibition “Nativities from around the world – Let’s contemplate the Mystery with St. Francis” took place on Christmas Eve at the Friars Minor Convent in Cermenate (Co), in Via Montebello. The initiative, at its IV edition, is presented  with 15 photo panels telling the story of the Nativity of Greccio. […]

During the Holy Night, adults and children can look at Bethlehem, at that cave where the history of Christianity began. How? Thanks to the Nativities, the beautiful tradition started with St. Francis which spread all over the world through the Franciscans. Each culture, each nation has created in time its own version of the Nativity, […]

Almost every day ATS pro Terra Sancta receives – either by mail or in other forms – messages from friends, volunteers, pilgrims, supporters of the Custody of the Holy Land and of ATS pro Terra Sancta. They all want to express the link and the passion connecting the visitors  to the Holy Sites and the […]

The activity of the Archaeological Museum of the Studium Biblicum Francescanum of Jerusalem continues with unchanged spirit, thanks to the efforts of the Franciscan fathers of the Custody of the Holy Land, supported by volunteers and benefactors. The cataloguing activity of all the Museum items is still on-going. The long work, already in an advanced […]