Chapter Seven
Introduction
Valerga is a brilliant figure in the Christian East. It was he who established the Latin Catholic Patriarchal entity in modern history, through reliance on the cooperation of the Franciscans. This cooperation had undergone difficult phases, which almost reached a deadlock. Nonetheless, the good results of the presence of the Friars Minor could not be denied. The friars were granted rights and privileges which Ottoman policy consecrated as it did for other denominations.
Here we have a patriarch coming from a faraway land, but he is an expert on the East. He wanted to run the Church in a new way. Therefore, he did not overlook the traditional role of the Holy Places. Nonetheless, he devoted his attention to the Christian villagers who were distant from the impact of these Holy Places, from the Patriarchate and friars. He addressed the Christians and all the citizens in a language they could understand. Christianity became the faith of the villager in his field and the bedouin in his wilderness. His language was manifest in the schools, parishes and priests who could feel the pains of the people and understand their hopes and aspirations. He was supplied with two rare qualities in the Ottoman era, namely, knowledge and openness.
We can see today the fruits of the enormous good for which the Patriarch Valerga laid down seeds, not only for the Christians of the East, but for others of their brethren in the country. The new patriarchal entity was established under harsh material and moral circumstances, which might stun the reader, particularly the circumstances of work, the moods of the persons and institutions and the justifications given to achieve the ends. Nevertheless, we should not forget that we are tackling a historical question in the Ottoman age with all that age means in terms of sectarian, denominational and legal complications, in light of the growth of the systems of millets and capitulation, at a place in time when the borders between nationalism and religion have disappeared and the interests of the Great Powers on the eastern question were becoming contradictory.
The darkness of the Ottoman rule fell on Palestine in the early sixteenth century. However, Rome acted in the mid-nineteenth century, as circumstances were becoming opportune for the religious and humanitarian good of the East. Rome found in Monsignor Valerga the right person who re-organized the Catholic presence and defined its landmarks. He made the Jerusalem Church a local flourishing one. He also made it an international Church by forging relations with the other Churches and by its mixed clergy of Arabs and foreigners, secular and regular. Its Holy Places became places for meditation and prayers, to which pilgrims came from the various parts of the world.
Around Valerga were Arab and foreign priests serving a local Church in an Arab country. Thus the role of the Arab elements in the patriarchal clergy was growing day after day in his age and the age of his successors. The Jerusalem Patriarchate has in fact become one of eastern roots and international features similar to the Jerusalem Church at the early ages of Christianity.
Giuseppe Valerga was born on 9 April 1813 in Loano near Genoa. He was the seventh of 18 children. His father worked in the construction business. Giuseppe received his elementary education at Finalborgo College. The expenses of his education were a contribution from a generous lady, because his family was poor. He then joined the Albenga Seminary. He continued his graduate studies at the Sapienza University in Rome and was granted two doctorate degrees one in theology and one in law. He studied French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Arabic at the university and learned Chaldean, Turkish and Kurdish later on.
Valerga was ordained priest on 17 December 1836, after which he worked at Propaganda Fide where he supervised the section of the documents issued in Latin, Greek and Arabic. In June 1842, he was appointed secretary of the Apostolic Delegate in Lebanon and the Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo, Monsignor Vilardell. From 1842 to 1847, he joined Monsignor Trioch, Apostolic Delegate of Mesopotamia and Persia. In his new post Valerga cooperated with the local Chaldean Church and the Dominicans in Mosul.
In 1847, Monsignor Trioch sent Father Valerga to Rome to discuss some of the affairs of the Apostolic Delegation of Mesopotamia and Persia, with Propaganda Fide. Meanwhile, Pope Pius IX intended to summon him for a new mission. In Istanbul, while on the way to Rome, he received an urgent letter from Cardinal Franzoni, perfect of Propaganda Fide, summoning him to Rome for important matters. So he moved quickly and arrived in Rome in late June 1847. He did not know the reason for his summoning to Rome or the meaning of the message. The pope decided to re-establish the Latin Patriarchal See in Jerusalem and Valerga was chosen for this assignment on 16 May 1847. But he did not know this from the ambiguous message of the cardinal. Valerga was then 34 years old. His Holiness ordained him bishop on 10 October 1847.[1]
1 – The Patriarch of the Holy City:
A- To the Holy City:
In January 1848, the travel arrangements to Palestine were completed. Patriarch Valerga headed to Jaffa aboard a French vessel.[2] His secretary, Father Battista Gavazzi, and his servant Sante Venturini accompanied him. He took with him a few necessary belongings and 10,000 Francs to cover the expenses of the stay in Palestine. The vessel arrived in Jaffa on 15 January 1848. Jaffa had no port at that time. When the people waiting to receive the patriarch sighted the vessel carrying him, a boat took off to the ship carrying 15 Franciscan friars who came to the new patriarch to convey the greetings of the Custos of the Holy Land, Bernardino di Monte Franco, and the council of the Custody.
On the beach, a band of the Ottoman honor guard greeted the incoming patriarch and accompanied him to the Convent of the Franciscan Fathers, where representatives of the Christian denominations received him. Following a short rest, the convoy of the patriarch headed to Jerusalem passing by al-Ramla and Abu Ghosh were the patriarch was received by the Vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land, Father Sebastian Vehil, who accompanied him until the village of Ain Karem, six kilometers from Jerusalem. In Ain Karem, the Vicar granted the patriarch the medal of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. This was the last medal the Custody bestowed because this right, the bestowal of the Equestrian Order medals, then became the right of the next patriarch.
On the morning of 17 January 1848, the Custos of the Holy Land, a number of Franciscans, representatives of the Christian denominations, consuls, dignitaries of the city and a huge crowd arrived in Ain Karem. Describing his reception in Jerusalem, the French Consul in Palestine Hellouis Jorelle wrote the following to the French Foreign Ministry:
“The Catholic Patriarch, Monsignor Valerga, arrived in Jerusalem yesterday and entered the city amid signs of enthusiasm. The appropriate arrangements were made in coordination with the Franciscan convent to make the reception as impressive as possible because this was necessary in this country, which pays attention to appearances. The patriarch was received in the best possible manner. We went out on a two-hour walking distance from the city to receive His Grandeur, wearing our official vesture, together with the employees of our consulate. The Custos of the Holy Land and some members of his discreets (council) as well as the Consul of Sardinia were with us. Some 600 persons from the various denominations were with us to receive the patriarch.”[3]
The government also participated in the reception. The Governor of Jerusalem, Zarif Mustafa Pasha, sent a band of soldiers headed by al-Qawas (honor guard) to accompany the patriarch to Jerusalem and offered him a horse to ride. When the patriarch entered the walls of Jerusalem, the Ottoman soldiers fired shots from their guns to welcome his arrival.[4] The celebration was concluded at the Church of St. Saviour in Jerusalem where the patriarch made a speech in Arabic to the faithful and the well-wishers.
The patriarch, who had a perfect command of Arabic, prepared his first pastoral message in Arabic and Latin and printed it in Rome on 31 October 1847. The following is the beginning of the message: “A pastoral message to the clerics and all the faithful residing in the diocese of the Jerusalem Patriarchate. Giuseppe Valerga, with the grace of God and the mercy of the Holy See, Patriarch of Jerusalem. To all those who are in the city and the diocese, those who are beloved by God, the respectable brothers, priests and lay faithful. Peace and holy blessing.”[5]
B- As guest of the Franciscan Fathers:
The Holy See had announced the establishment of the Jerusalem Latin Patriarchate a few months prior by the decisions and instructions of Propaganda Fide. These decisions and instructions were like an architectural sketch that was drawn up on paper. The patriarch had to implement it on site in Jerusalem. The difficult task of the patriarch had already begun. He had only a few resources for work and implementation at his disposal. He had no private home, church, clergy or services to help him in implementation. Naturally, the patriarch asked for the help and cooperation of the Franciscans as was stipulated by the instructions of the Holy See. The friars gave the patriarch a home in their convent. The patriarch appointed the Custos of the Holy Land as his vicar and the council of the Custody as his advisory board. All the priests of the Patriarchate parishes were Franciscan Fathers with the exception of the Carmelite priest of Haifa. Patriarch Valerga appointed the Franciscan Father Paolo Brunoni as his vicar in Cyprus.
C- The three patriarchs:
The ecumenical movement calling for unity and constructive dialogue among the Christian Churches was not at its peak in the mid-nineteenth century, as is the case today. The friction and conflict over the Holy Places among the various Christian denominations created an atmosphere of caution and alertness in the relations among the heads of these denominations, particularly between the Custos of the Holy Land and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. On the evening of the arrival of Monsignor Valerga to Jerusalem, the Orthodox Patriarch Kyrillos II sent one of his bishops to the Ottoman Governor of Jerusalem to ask him: “Has the new patriarch obtained a special permit from the Ottoman government to enter Jerusalem in such grandeur?”[6] As for Monsignor Valerga, he expressed his intention to visit the heads of the Christian denominations in the city as well as the civilian officials. However, he postponed his visit in anticipation of the arrival of the persons coming to offer well wishes so as “not to create a precedent that could lead to curbing the freedom of his successors.”[7]
The three patriarchs of Jerusalem – the Latin, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox – met at the office of the governor of Jerusalem, after receiving an official letter from the the Sublime Porte saying: “There was no difference between the new patriarch and the two other Greek and Armenian Patriarchs.”[8] The governor pointed out that the relationship of friendship should prevail among the patriarchs. He noted that the “current difficulties on the Holy Places should be tackled and resolved through official means and with amity and understanding.”[9] The governor called on the patriarchs to meet at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and in the presence of a huge crowd he made a speech urging the heads of the three denominations to work for unity and cooperation. He called on them to shake hands in public as an indication that they had reached an understanding. After this meeting, the Greek and Armenian Patriarchs made an official visit to the Latin Patriarch.
D- The diocese of Patriarch Valerga:
Patriarch Valerga began to inspect his diocese and visit its subjects to get acquainted with their conditions. He paid special attention to the churches and schools. In each parish run by the Franciscan Fathers, there was a school for boys. However, the teachers were not qualified, particularly the language teachers. “Monsignor Valerga demanded a better performance in the teaching of languages. He suggested that new priests and friars be sent to Harissa in Lebanon to learn Arabic and others to Nicosia to learn Greek.”[10] There were a few schools for girls. Therefore, Monsignor Valerga immediately coordinated with the Franciscans for the arrival of St. Joseph Sisters, who had a convent in Larnaca. “The Latin Patriarchate was not a Church which Monsignor Valerga came to rule and manage, but to revive once again.”[11]
Despite their good qualities, the parishioners whom the patriarch dealt with were not easy to handle. Their religious beliefs were not deeply entrenched. They were indifferent and inconsistent in their faith. Often they threatened the parishes’ priests and the custos that they would abandon Catholicism. Monsignor Valerga attributed the deterioration of the spiritual and religious conditions of the Christians to the fact that the people depended in their material and livelihood conditions on the Custody convents. Moreover, there was a weak Christian education and culture in the absence of national clergy who can understand the mentality of the country and speak its language.[12] The number of the Latin faithful then totaled 4,141 persons, according to a report prepared by Monsignor Valerga and sent to Propaganda Fide on 18 June 1848.[13]
E- Patriarchal – Franciscan cooperation:
Monsignor Valerga resorted to the Franciscan Fathers to reform the prevailing conditions. Material and human resources, including the missionaries and institutions were available at the Custody of the Holy Land. Valerga had the ambition of building a model diocese. “Jerusalem should be the nucleus of the religious movement in the East.”[14] This desired cooperation was not easily achieved. Patriarchal authority was absent from Jerusalem for nearly six centuries in the aftermath of the collapse of Akre, the last bastion of the Crusaders, in the thirteenth century. During this period, it was the Franciscans who ran the affairs of the Palestinian Church, and the Custos of the Holy Land became the head of mission. Now the patriarch is residing in Jerusalem and he is enjoying his full powers after six centuries during which the West named the titular patriarchs of Jerusalem. However, the patriarch had no bureaucracy enabling him to function in accordance with the powers vested in him at least for the early years. The old bureaucracy, which earlier assumed responsibility and was accountable to the Holy See, still existed. It was natural that difficulties would arise between the patriarch and the Custody, now that the honeymoon of the patriarch’s warm reception upon arrival in Jerusalem was over. This is a natural phase in every institution where roles and responsibilities are redistributed. In this case, there should be a turbulent phase before reaching coexistence and stability.
The conflict between the patriarch and the friars was no secret. This was evident from the reports, which the patriarch dispatched. The most important was the report[15], which he wrote two years after his residence in Jerusalem. Monsignor Valerga wrote this 160-page report, because of the unease he had felt. The truth of the matter was that he learned through Propaganda Fide that the Franciscans made several complaints to Rome against him. This prompted him to publicly disclose that he was not pleased.[16] Monsignor Valerga received a letter from Cardinal Franzoni in the spring of 1849 urging him to be cautious and alert. He realized that there was a “real conspiracy being concocted”[17] against him in Rome. Moreover, a friend of the patriarch warned him against the conspiracy in a private letter on 4 August 1848. “On 4 August last, a bishop in Rome wrote me the following: I learned in an indirect way that the Fathers of the Holy Land (Franciscans) were concocting a conspiracy against you. I am disclosing this to you in view of the friendship that links us so that you would be careful.”[18] Because of the unease Monsignor Valerga[19] felt, he wrote this report of his and submitted it to Propaganda Fide. He left by sea for Italy on 1 September 1849. The Valerga report is viewed as a good study of the conditions of Palestine in his age because it casts light on the Patriarchate’s relationship with the Custody of the Holy Land and the conditions of the Christians at the diocese. The following as the most important points of the report:
1- Subservience of clergy to two authorities (Interlocking of power):
“The Franciscans had to secure on a temporary basis every thing for the 34-year old patriarch who arrived in Jerusalem alone: the con-cathedral of the patriarch was the Franciscan parochial church of St. Saviour, his general vicar was the Custos of the Holy Land, his advisory board was the council of the Custody, and his clerics were the Franciscans parish priests.”[20] Thus the interlocking of powers was inevitable at least before the formation of the Patriarchate’s bureaucracy and the creation of a clergy who would be directly attached to the patriarch. Rome will try to head off the situation through its instructions and recommendations, so as to help the patriarch and the Custody to normalize their relations and to reach a settlement that is satisfactory to the two sides. However, because the two powers were bypassed and interlocked, “relations were difficult”[21] between the friars and the patriarch. “The friars who depended on the patriarch in running their affairs became suspect persons whom their own order excluded as much as possible from assuming certain responsibilities and ecclesiastical posts, and this had impeded confidence between the parishes’ priests and the patriarch.”[22]
It is natural that the authority of the local bishop be recognized as the legitimate authority in the Church. Meanwhile, the Custody of the Holy Land enjoys the privilege of supervising and managing the Holy Places. This has caused the obstruction of cooperation and forestalled the rise of mature relations between the two authorities. The local bishop in canon law is the head of the diocese. But in Palestine, he is dealing with the Custody, which gained throughout the years rights and privileges that were recognized on the international level.
In his report, Monsignor Valerga explained this situation from the pastoral ecclesiastical standpoint by stating that three axes of power crystallized at the re-establishment of the Patriarchate – the Holy See, the Custody and the Patriarchate.[23] The last two understood the distribution of power in a different fashion. From the standpoint of the Custody, the friars represented the Holy See and the patriarch should obey the orders of the Holy See through them, as the Custody is an Apostolic Delegation or a Nunciature. But the patriarch’s view and attitude were that the friars depended for their existence on the Holy See, which was represented by the patriarch, who ran the diocese, and the patriarch represented the Holy See in the diocese.[24]
The patriarch meanwhile, tried to back up his views by explaining the attitude of the Franciscans in the following words: “the friars held an exaggerated idea about their privileges. They believed that they had extraordinary rights that superceded the rights of the local bishop.”[25] The Franciscan privilege in the Holy Land and the entity of the diocese assumed new dimensions when the Franciscans “turned the privilege into power and the exception into a rule and power became a slave of privilege.”[26] The patriarch appealed to the concerned sides to return to the legal ecclesiastical principles and to cleanse their understanding of things. This of course, would not happen unless the Holy See intervenes and “urges the respect of the power that he had bestowed.”[27] According to Monsignor Valerga, the authority of the Holy See created the patriarchal entity, therefore, the patriarch wishes that Propaganda Fide and His Holiness the Pope discuss the relations between the patriarch and the friars and that the limits of their privileges be defined.[28]
2- Finances and payment of charity to the faithful and religious education:
“Until the re-establishment of the Patriarchate, charitable organizations supported the spiritual work of the Church and became in fact, the church’s main supporter. These organizations extended a helping hand to the people, whether they were rich or poor.”[29] We should not judge this method of work because it might have its own justification in age in which poverty and deprivation prevailed. The old charitable organizations are still active particularly in Jerusalem until this day of ours. Monsignor Valerga comments on the work of these organizations by saying: “They have become the main instrument, if not the only instrument, to preserve Catholicism in this part of the Church.”[30] Withholding charity from people who deserved it had frequently led to their apostasy and their going back on the Catholic faith. When the Patriarchate was re-established, the people who were raised on the tradition of receiving charity were spiritually affiliated with the patriarch. However, the responsibility for charity and the financial system remained in the hands of the friars. Therefore, the people followed them from the financial and economic standpoints.[31] The patriarch, who held spiritual power in his hands, lacked the only means of action, which was monopolized by the friars. In all his projects and movements, the patriarch had to refer to the Franciscans with whom he was financially linked. “The friars could veto any of his projects or place obstacles to obstruct the implementation of this or that project.”[32] The power of the patriarch is then ineffective, but is linked with the friars, and the people were aware of this fact.[33]
Monsignor Valerga’s report moves on from this hopeless financial situation to the field of education. Italian was the language of instruction of religious education in his age. But Italian was understood by very few people. As for the Sunday Mass preaching, it was in colloquial Arabic and was restricted to the explanation of the Gospel. There were a few low-level schools, and publications were rare.[34] The patriarch demanded basic solutions leading to the creation of a Catholic generation, which does not depend in its faith on charitable organizations.[35] Therefore, he called for raising the standards of schools and the formation of clergy. “A Patriarchate without national clergy is a mockery and is something like a ghost.”[36]
We go back again to the economic question where Monsignor Valerga submits a number of proposals, such as the allocation to the Custody of the charity which the friars collect from Christian countries, while the charity collected by the diocesan priests be allocated to the Patriarchate; or that the patriarch is given one fourth, or one fifth, or even one sixth of the total charity; or that he might not be given any of the foregoing and in his case, he would call for “public charity” [37] (publica carità), and this last solution would raise questions and harm the Friars Minor.
3- Monsignor Valerga submits his resignation to the Holy See:
The difference between the patriarch and the Custody was not restricted to a number of conflicting principles, which the two sides believed in, such as the functions of the diocese, i.e. charity, education, privileges, and distribution of power. Differences also arose on the day-to-day living matters: the visit of parishes, liturgical legislation, the issues of the Holy Places, and the transfer of all the registers of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher from the Custody to the Patriarchate.[38]
All these points and clashes which frequently cropped up prompted the patriarch, perhaps in moments of despair and frustration, to offer his resignation or to hint at it in his report and correspondence with Propaganda Fide. He said that he felt pain and sorrow that he was not in his normal place, but in an inappropriate place. “I wrote to Propaganda Fide more than once explaining my conditions and I must admit that I was about to leave the diocese after I arrived there.”[39] “I believe it is much better at present to return to the past situation and cancel the Patriarchate or that the patriarchal authority be vested in the custos.”[40]
Monsignor Valerga addressed a letter to Propaganda Fide on 28 March 1849 stating: “I cannot conceal from your Excellency that I am sad… You can feel sorry for me… A friend in Rome wrote to me cautioning against conspiracies that are concocted against me… I am tired.... Perhaps Rome made a mistake when it decided to re-establish the Patriarchate... etc.”[41]
F- Monsignor Valerga leaves for Rome and Paris:
Monsignor Valerga decided to leave for the Holy See to argue his case by himself and to determine his assets and liabilities. He was sure of the position of the Holy See toward him, because he served the Holy See faithfully in Lebanon, Mosul and Palestine. He left Jaffa by sea on 1 September 1849. He arrived at the Italian coast at the end of the month. He waited for 14 days for permission to enter Naples where the Pope resided in the city of Gaete, because of the political circumstances, which forestalled the residence of His Holiness in Rome as usual.
Upon his arrival in Italy, Monsignor Valerga met with his close friend, Monsignor Barnabo, secretary of Propaganda Fide, who briefed him fully on the file of the Patriarchate, including the reports submitted by Monsignor Valerga and the other reports written against him. Barnabo requested Valerga to prepare a comprehensive report to be submitted to Propaganda Fide, which is the report we are talking about. As for Cardinal Franzoni, he advised him to be patient and gave him encouragement.
However, this did not stop the patriarch from stating the following: “I agree. However, I cannot go back to Jerusalem without strong and official guarantees.”[42] A few days later, the patriarch met with the Sovereign Pontiff Pius IX in an exclusive encounter in which the patriarch offered to resign from his post. He told the pope: “I submit this burden (Patriarchate) at your feet and I beg you in modesty to release me from this burden.”[43] However, Pope Pius encouraged him to go ahead in shouldering the responsibility, saying: “you cannot throw the cross away when you have the grace to live in Jerusalem.”[44]
The patriarch asked the Pope to give him two recommendations to the Papal Nuncio in France and to the President of the French Republic to discuss with them the question of the Holy Places. In 1847, the Silver Star disappeared from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where Jesus Christ was born. This star proves the rights of the Latins in the Church of the Nativity. His Holiness agreed to grant him his first request but expressed reservations over the second request. The Pope referred the patriarch to the competent authorities to provide him with the letter of recommendation to the Papal Nuncio in Paris.
On his way to Paris, Monsignor Valerga visited his family in Loano. In France, he conferred with the officials of the Association de la propagation de la foi, which was a charitable society that undertook to help the missions. The patriarch explained to the officials of the association the conditions of his diocese and the projects, which he sought to carry out. He also conferred with the Papal Nuncio in Paris and the French Consul in Jerusalem, Paul Emile Botta. The patriarch has been a friend of Botta in Mosul, but Botta was later transferred to Jerusalem.
The patriarch made a full explanation to the French Foreign Minister and president of the French Republic on the Holy Land and the developments that occurred after the disappearance of the Silver Star from the Church of the Nativity. The French government wanted on this occasion to display its goodwill toward the patriarch, the same man whose appointment as patriarch the same government had earlier rejected. The French government gave him 20,000 francs as a support for his projects. However, the question of the disappearance of the Silver Star from the Church of the Nativity was not discussed. The patriarch returned to Jerusalem carrying the necessary guarantees for performing his duties.
G- Instructions by Propaganda Fide on the ecclesiastical system in the Jerusalem diocese (Decretum Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide a Sanctissimo Domino Nostro Pio Papa IX.):[45]
These instructions followed in the aftermath of the differences, which emerged, between Patriarch Valerga and the Franciscans, and Valerga’s visit to Rome. The most important of these instructions were the following:
- Friars on mission may be transferred to Palestine, Syria and Egypt without the permission of the patriarch.
- Friars serving as parish priests may not be transferred or changed without the patriarch’s permission.
- The Custos of the Holy Land shall give authorization to the assistant priests (to replace or act as parish priest) after the approval of the authorization by the patriarch.
- The Franciscan General (the custos) may follow up matters related to monastic nature with the Friars Minor who are parish priests. As for the pastoral issues, he shall consult the patriarch.
- Non-resident visitor friars should secure the permission of the patriarch to deliver sermons.
- The patriarch should settle problems arising between the friars and the faithful.
- The publications of the friars shall be subject to the control of the patriarch.
- Friars and visitors should secure the permission of the Custos of the Holy Land to perform prayers at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. If there are differences over the permission between the applicants for the permission and the Custos of the Holy Land, the patriarch should settle the difference.
- Whomever the patriarch authorizes shall deputize for him in holding liturgical services.
- The patriarch shall determine the system of prayers and liturgical services and catechism in the diocese, taking the benefit of the people into consideration.
- The patriarch shall be entitled to control prohibited books.
- The Church of St. Saviour will be used to hold liturgical celebrations under patriarchal precedence. Special instructions will be issued to this effect.
- The patriarch is the party to be referred to for membership in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.
- Charities should be sent to the fund of the Custody of the Holy Land and the fund shall be managed and checked by the patriarch.
2- The Patriarchal Clergy:
At his entry into Jerusalem on 17 January 1848, an Italian priest, Father Battista Gavazzi, accompanied Monsignor Valerga. Friars serving as parish priests were placed under the jurisdiction of the patriarch on pastoral matters. Monsignor Valerga thought about establishing a patriarchal secular clergy to serve under his jurisdiction, to cope with the responsibility of forming parishes in the Patriarchate. He had recommended to the Holy See to execute such a project and wished that this goal be achieved: “A Patriarchate without national clergy is a mockery and is something like a ghost.”[46]
He hastened to have the first Latin Arab priest join him. He was Father Abdullah Commandari of Bethlehem. Abdullah studied in Rome and was ordained a priest there. Since there were no diocesan clergy in Palestine for him to join at that time, he joined the Franciscan Order and wore the friar’s habit without taking the monastic vows. Therefore, he remained a secular priest waiting the appropriate moment to achieve his desire of joining secular diocesan clergy. When he contacted the patriarch, Monsignor Valerga requested him to take off his monastic habit and to wear a cassock, and to immediately enter into his service. Thus he was the first Arab priest in the clergy of the Patriarchate.
A- The early Arab seminarians in Ghazir, Lebanon:
Patriarch Valerga dreamed up an innovative working plan to guarantee the future of the Catholic Church in Palestine. His plan was based on forming a mixed patriarchal clergy of Arabs and foreigners. One of his contemporaries explained this policy by saying: “Monsignor Valerga wanted to have priests of all peoples join him alongside the local Arab elements, and thus he would have representatives of all races present in the Holy Places.”[47]
“In the parishes he visited, such as Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem, Monsignor Valerga was looking for priestly vocations, and urgently demanded the families to offer their sons for the service of God.”[48] By 1848, he had 10 candidates. Since the Patriarchate had no special seminary of its own, he sent them to the Jesuit Seminary in Ghazir, Lebanon. Valerga ordained three of the l0 seminarians as priests, who worked in the service of the Patriarchate. They were the following:
1- Father Sim’an Ishaq:
He was born in Jerusalem in 1839 and was ordained in 1863. He worked as a teacher in the Patriarchal Seminary and served the parishes of Nablus, Beit Sahor, Ramallah, Taybeh, and Salt. He died at the Patriarchate in Jerusalem in 1889 at the age of 50.[49]
2- Father Anton Morcos:
He was born in Jerusalem in 1839, ordained in 1863. He served in the following posts: director of protocol and liturgical ceremonies at the Patriarchate and representative of the Latin Millet with the Ottoman authorities. In 1880, he served as a papal visitor with the Catholic Copts in Egypt and continued to perform this job for 12 years. He retired at the Patriarchate in 1892 after suffering a terminal disease. He was 67 years old when he died in 1906.[50]
3- Father Youssef Tannous:
He was born in Nazareth in 1838, ordained in 1863. He served in the following posts: teacher at the Patriarchal Seminary in 1863, secretary of the Apostolic Delegation in Beirut in 1866, chancellor of the Patriarchate in 1868, and theological advisor of Patriarch Valerga at the First Vatican Council of 1869. In 1880, he founded the Congregation of the Rosary Sisters. He was 54 years old when he died in Nazareth in 1892.[51]
B- The early European priests in the patriarchal clergy:
Monsignor Valerga knocked on several doors demanding help and relief. He asked the priests of Italy, France and Belgium to join the patriarchal clergy. He used his visits to the West to make speeches on the prospects of the European priests working in Palestine. His drive led many priests to join him. The foreign priests formed, along with the Arab priests, the nucleus of the Latin patriarchal clergy. Only a few years later, the seminary became the main source for the priestly vocations at the Patriarchate. The most famous early foreign priests were the following:
1- Father Théophane Dequevauviller:
He was French, joined service at the Patriarchate in 1851, and occupied the post of General Vicar of the patriarch and secretary of the Patriarchate. He died in 1864.[52]
2- Father Bartolomeo Cardito:
He was Italian, joined the Patriarchate in 1852 and participated in the foundation of the Beit Jala and Jefnah parishes.
3- Father Pierre Cotta:
He was French, joined service at the Patriarchate in 1852 and occupied the post of superior of the Patriarchal Seminary. He founded the Ramallah parish and died in 1863.[53]
4- Father Jean Morétain:
He was French, joined the patriarchal clergy in 1852. He founded the Beit Jala and Beit Sahor parishes and built several churches. He died in 1883.[54]
5- Father Louis Poyet:
He was French, joined the patriarchal clergy in 1852. He served as a teacher in the seminary. Monsignor Valerga nominated him general vicar. He died in 1893.[55]
C- The Patriarchal Seminary:
Four years after the establishment of the Patriarchate, the wish of the patriarch to open the seminary came true. He had a number of priests who could teach at the seminary. Valerga did not begin by sending his few priests to the villages and cities of Palestine, but preferred to ensure the distant future of the diocese by opening the seminary next to the Patriarchate in 1852. The patriarch kept the post of superior of the seminary for himself. He appointed his brother Leonardo Valerga vice-superior. Leonardo was a Carmelite in Haifa, who secured the permission of Propaganda Fide to separate from his convent for a specific period of time and to work in the service of the Patriarchate.
Father Poyet and Father Eugene Tommasi taught at the seminary. Father Cotta was the financial manager of the seminary and taught Latin. Youssef al-Daqqaq, a Lebanese teacher, taught Arabic. The early students of the seminary in 1852 were Antoun Dikha of Jerusalem and Vicenzo Constanzi of Venice, and three Cypriots, namely, Charles Cantoni, Theophile Salatovich, and Emile Zaccaria. The ten seminarians dispatched by Monsignor Valerga to Ghazir in Lebanon joined them in December 1853. Thus the number of students in the seminary became 15. In 1857, the seminary was moved to Beit Jala, and in 1856, four French seminarians joined the seminary. They were Jean Reyt, Joseph Coderc, Julien Bost, and Étienne Joly.
The patriarch made several appeals to the seminaries in Italy and France inviting them to join the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. He started with an appeal to the French seminarians by a verse from Jeremiah: “ Little children go begging for bread; no one spares a scrap for them” (Jeremiah Lamentations, 4:4). The words of the Prophet Jeremiah are repeated in his appeal.
Monsignor Valerga explained the nature of work in the Jerusalem diocese, its tempting aspects and difficulties: “the Jerusalem diocese, beautiful and rich in memories, needs workers.”[56] He offered to the seminarians the conditions of work with him “without salary or wages.”[57] As for the work difficulties, he sums them up in four points:[58]
- Arabic, which the missionaries should learn despite its difficulty.
- The nature of the people, which the missionaries will have to deal with.
- The slow progress of the work.
- The long leisure time because the number of the Christians in the missions ranged between 100 to 200 people. The missionary should use his leisure time in reading and in performing two tasks that are required of him. The first task is that he should be a doctor “with a little knowledge of the medical principles and a few medicines that are made available by the Jerusalem hospital. By and large, the missionary would render real and important services to suffering humanity.”[59] The second task is that he should judge fairly among the people. “The issues of the villagers will be brought to his attention, and he should not be troubled if he is told: ‘who appointed you a judge over us?’ He should even be sought by the Orthodox and Muslims because of his neutrality.”[60]
As for the positive aspects of joining the Jerusalem diocese, they are as follows:[61]
- The presence of the Holy Places in Palestine.
- The family life of the patriarchal clergy.
- The annual spiritual retreat, which each missionary should participate in.
- The monthly theological courses, which are held at the Patriarchate in Jerusalem to secure the permanent education of the clergy.
Monsignor Valerga concludes his appeal by an encouraging word to the French seminarians saying: “Jerusalem deserves your love and sacrifice.”[62]
Monsignor Valerga reaped the fruits of his efforts and realized his dream of forming a mixed clergy of Arabs and foreigners. He handled the affairs of his patriarchal diocese and entrusted leadership posts to those whose priestly education he supervised in the seminary. The first priest of the patriarchal clergy to be ordained by the patriarch himself was a Jerusalemite, Father Antoun Dikha on 8 March 1856. He then ordained Father Reyt and Father Coderc at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on 20 September 1856.[63]
Father Leonardo Valerga succeeded Father Abdullah Commandari as vice superior of the seminary in 1859. In 1862, the patriarch conceded the post of superior of the seminary to Father Vincenzo Bracco, who succeeded Patriarch Valerga as the second Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1873. Sixteen priests, who graduated from the seminary, were ordained priests in the era of Patriarch Valerga until 1872. Seven of them were Arabs, four were French and five were Cypriots. The last priest to be ordained by Patriarch Valerga was Father Antoun Rezeq of Nazareth. Father Antoun Rezeq “was born on 31 October 1848, ordained on 24 February 1872, died on 19 January 1932.”[64]
D- The Law of the patriarchal clergy:
Following the formation of the patriarchal clergy which Monsignor Valerga followed up since its establishment, the law of the patriarchal clergy was issued in 1864 under the title: ‘Regulae a Clero Diocesis Patriarchalis Hierosolymitanae Servandae.’[65] Monsignor Valerga conceived the spirit of this law from the teachings of St. Augustine, St. Charles Borromeo and St. Alphonsus Liguori and the circumstances of life in his age.[66] The Holy See endorsed the law, so “the law was enforced in the new dioceses in America.”[67] The most important provisions of the law were as follows:
- Urging the spirit of unity among the patriarchal clergy who belong to different nationalities.
- Organizing the clergy on the basis of fraternal love and joint community life.
- The Patriarchate in Jerusalem is the convergence place of all the priests. It is their private home, particularly in case of disease or old age.
- The law endorsed several principles of the monastic orders and laid down the sound framework for running the parishes of the Patriarchate. Monsignor Valerga addressed two pastoral letters to the priests and the faithful in 1853 and 1865 to regulate the work of missionaries in the parishes.
Following the publication of the patriarchal clergy law, Monsignor Valerga formed a new canonical council, known as ‘The Canons of the Holy Sepulcher, (Les Chanoines du Saint Sépulcre). The council included Arab and foreign priests. He ordained Father Vincenzo Bracco as a bishop, appointed him his assistant and vicar in 1866.
E- The Patriarchal residence and the con-cathedral:[68]
In 1848, Monsignor Valerga settled as guest of the Franciscan Fathers. He resided in the Convent of St. Saviour until an independent residence became available to him. In 1849, the Custody of the Holy Land submitted to him an eight-room building that was prepared for receiving the pilgrims. In 1852, the Custody placed under the disposal of the patriarch a home adjoining his temporary residence. He himself rented another home. Thus he managed to inaugurate the seminary within the Patriarchate’s temporary campus. The seminary was transferred to Beit Jala in 1857.
The Sublime Porte in 1860 offered the patriarch a spacious land to establish the permanent patriarchal headquarters. The patriarch moved to the new patriarchal permanent residence in 1865. Baron De ðððððWandelburg describes this residence as follows: “The patriarchal residence is not an episcopal palace. Monsignor Valerga, who built it, wanted it to be a residence for the bishop and his priests together. It is like a convent, a seminary or friars’ monastery. The Patriarchate is located in northwestern Jerusalem. It is a spacious two-floor building.”[69]
This residence remains the headquarters of the patriarchs of Jerusalem until this day and a home for the aged priests. It includes the offices and departments of the Patriarchate. The con- cathedral was built next to the patriarchal residence, and was inaugurated by the patriarch on 11 February 1872. The con-cathedral was built at the expense of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, which contributed the larger part of the cost of building. “Monsignor Valerga was the founder and sole architect of both of the con-cathedral and the patriarchal premises.”[70]
3 – The parishes of the Patriarchate:
A book published by a priest of the Latin Patriarchate said the following about the life of Monsignor Valerga: “When Monsignor Valerga held office in the diocese, there were 4,200 Catholics who congregated around the convents of the Franciscan Fathers.”[71] Monsignor Valerga did not restrict himself to this narrow boundary, but surged forth, with a team of priests, to organize parishes, build churches, open schools, and offer religious teaching for the faithful. This was not an easy thing to do because the history of the missions from 1853 to 1872 fluctuated between failure and success. Valerga established the following eleven missions:
A- Beit Jala Parish:
The patriarch founded the Beit Jala parish in 1853. It was the first patriarchal mission and the most important big project, which placed the newly born patriarchal entity to the test and made the future of the Patriarchate dependant on the success of its project in Beit Jala.
Beit Jala is located nine kilometers south of Jerusalem and two kilometers west of Bethlehem. An Orthodox majority and a Catholic minority inhabited it. “In the early nineteenth century there were 200 Catholics in Beit Jala.” [72] While there were more than 1,000 Greek Orthodox. When the missionary of the Patriarchate came to the village, the number of Catholics had declined and he could not find more than 10 Catholics there. [73]
Franciscans in Bethlehem served Beit Jala parish, but failed to settle in the village because of the fierce resistance they had to faced from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and the villagers. When the mission was attached to the Patriarchate, it was “certain that only the influence of the patriarch was capable of breaking the domination of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.“[74] Thus Father Abdullah Commandari bought a home for the Patriarchate in Beit Jala and agreed with the owner of the house to occupy the first floor, provided that the Patriarchate would build the second floor as a home for the Patriarchate missionary. Thus Father Abdullah began the construction of the building.[75]
On 15 November 1853, Father Jean Morétain, the envoy of the patriarch, left for Beit Jala. He wrote in his memoirs: “After His Beatitude blessed me and my mission, I left Jerusalem together with Father Allard, Father Abdullah, the Qawas of the patriarch, and a servant. We took with us the necessary supplies for a small home and a church loaded on four or five camels.” [76]
Father Morétain found a few supporters in the village. They were the old Latins. He also found many indignant Greek Orthodox followers. As soon as the convoy arrived in the village, the opposition acted quickly by taking a practical measure. The opposition untied the camels and let them go in the direction of Bethlehem. During the quarrel, which erupted between Father Abdullah and the residents of the village, Father Morétain was wounded in the leg. So he quickly dispatched Father Allard to the patriarch to convey the news to him. [77]
The complaints made by the patriarch and the French Consul Botta were not heeded by the Ottoman Governor of Jerusalem. Therefore, the patriarch decided to go to Beit Jala by himself “to confront the tempest that blew in the face of his missionary and to find out whether the Greeks or the Ottoman Governor would dare to expel him from there by force.” [78]
The patriarch arrived in Beit Jala on 27 November 1853, accompanied by the French Consul Botta and secretary of the consul, Mr. Lequeux. The patriarch ordered the workers to continue the construction of the uncompleted house so as to make it fit for accommodation. However, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate informed the Ottoman Governor of Jerusalem that Patriarch Valerga was building a church in the village. So he ordered the suspension of work. The patriarch protested, refused to leave the village and continued the work of building the house. [79]
The first skirmishes occurred on 3 December 1853 when some 150-armed men encircled the house. The patriarch organized the resistance and negotiations simultaneously. The construction workers, the servants of the patriarch, and the two Qawases retreated inside the house. Some Latin Christians from Bethlehem, the brothers of Father Abdullah, and the secretary of the French Consulate arrived in Beit Jala to help the patriarch. Finally, the crisis was resolved through negotiations and the supporters of the patriarch shouted loudly: “Eftahou assalat -start the prayer service-” [80].
The siege around the house was lifted and the patriarch held Mass on Sunday, 4 December 1853 for the first time in Beit Jala. Meanwhile, Elias al-Shaer, the owner of the old house, sold the house for the second time to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and received its price in cash for the second time. [81] According to the last sale contract, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate claimed that it was the sole proprietor of the house, demanded the Ottoman authorities to hand over the house to it after evicting it occupants from it. The villagers forged an alliance with the leaders of the adjoining villages to expel the Latins from their village in return for Beit Jala’s subservience to these clan leaders. [82]
The second skirmish occurred on Friday, 9 December 1853 when three armed men entered the home of the mission and requested the patriarch to depart from the village. One of them brandished his sword in the face of the patriarch. Father Cotta averted a blow that was targeting him. However, his hand was wounded and he fell on the ground. The tenants of the house retaliated by evicting the armed men from the home and taking up positions inside it. The siege was lifted on the evening of 10 December 1853 when Ottoman soldiers arrived from Jerusalem after the French Consul requested the Ottoman Governor to act quickly to avert the grave consequences of these skirmishes. [83]
The attack on the house led to substantial damage to the building. Moreover, seven persons were wounded. They included Father Cotta and the patriarch was hit by a stone on his leg. The patriarch expected that the Greek Orthodox might take advantage of his absence on Christmas Eve in Bethlehem to attack and liquidate the mission. Therefore, he cancelled his ceremonial entry to Bethlehem on the evening of 24-25 December and held the Christmas service in Beit Jala.
The skirmishes continued with no results until 6 February 1854 when the mission came under a surprise attack that broke the window panes of the building. The patriarch and French Consul demanded the Ottoman autorities to take deterrent measures to punish the aggressors. It should be recalled here that Hafiz Pasha, the Ottoman Governor of Jerusalem, died on 16 January 1854. Ottoman soldiers arrested two young boys and accused them of breaking the windowpanes. However, the patriarch refused this solution and intervened to put an end to the mockery and to release the two young boys, all the more so because the aggressors were still in the village roaming around the mission without being deterred. The parties supporting them protected them, although 20 soldiers were deployed in the village.
Consul Botta sent the final ultimatum to the Ottoman authorities in Jerusalem, asserting that measures should be taken to arrest the aggressors and to do restoration work for the house. He cautioned that he would leave along with the patriarch for Jaffa in protest against the collusion of the Turkish officials, and from Jaffa they would raise their case from the local level to the highest political level. The patriarch and the consul left Beit Jala on 7 February 1854 for their voluntary exile in Jaffa.
Touma Bannoura sums up the events of this decade of Beit Jala’s history by saying: “When the patriarch returned to Palestine from his trip to Rome and Paris, he wanted to settle in Beit Jala where he established the first Latin parish in 1853. This brought him new troubles from the Orthodox Patriarchate and its representatives in Beit Jala and the Orthodox community there. Therefore, they attacked him and tried to kill him along with the people who were with him.” [84]
In Jaffa, Patriarch Valerga was the guest of the Franciscans for six months waiting for an answer from Istanbul. He demanded the punishment of the aggressors and the building of the Beit Jala Church. On 4 March 1854, Yacoub Pasha, the new Ottoman Governor of Jerusalem, arrived there. He carried with him ambiguous verbal promises. Botta returned to Jerusalem and contacted the French Embassy in Istanbul. But he was given ambiguous promises only. In fact, he was rebuked by the French Embassy in Istanbul for leaving his place in Jerusalem without securing a permission from the French Embassy of Istanbul. Thus Botta communicated with the French Foreign Ministry directly, calling on his government to intervene with Istanbul and to pressure the French Embassy to issue a Firman allowing the building of the church and punishing those who assaulted the patriarch and the mission. “By doing so, Botta has acted beyond the limits of caution and cleverness. This is rare to happen in diplomacy. He has in fact, risked his job and political future, persisting on completing what he thought was his duty to do as consul and friend of the patriarch.”[85]
The step which Botta made prompted the French embassy to act by sending the consul a Lettre Vizirielle issued by the Sublime Porte ordering the punishment of those involved in the incidents in Beit Jala and sending three members of the Pasha’s office in Jerusalem to Istanbul for trial. In fact, their collusion with the aggressors was confirmed. The Pasha arrested the aggressors and carried out the Istanbul order concerning the members of his office.[86] On 27 February 1854, corresponding to 1 Shawwal 1270 Hegira, a Firman was issued to build the church.
This was followed by another Lettre Vizirielle dispatched to the governor of Jerusalem ordering him “to give a suitable piece of land at the expense of the Sublime Porte to build a church in Beit Jala.”[87] On 15 August 1854, the vessel carrying the Firman anchored in Jaffa port and the Firman was read in public at the governor’s office in Jerusalem in the presence of the dignitaries of the city.
The patriarch was determined to return to Jerusalem and to enter the city officially at the advice of his friend Botta, because the infringement against his person was public, and therefore, the infringement should be settled in public also.”[88] Several friends joined the patriarch at his entry to Jerusalem, namely, the French and Austrian Consuls, Moustafa Abu-Ghosh, and Catholic dignitaries of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Jerusalem, and the chief-clan of the Taamreh clans in the villages east of Bethlehem, Sheikh Hamdan. Rounds of bullets were fired from the Tower of David on the Jerusalem Wall to welcome the patriarch. [89]
The site of the church was chosen under the supervision of the governor of Jerusalem, who offered Monsignor Valerga a vast state land on parts of which the Beit Jala villagers had planted olive trees. The government compensated them for their planted trees as was contained in the Istanbul instructions.
On 4 September 1854, Father Morétain began to build the Beit Jala Church in the gothic style. A convent attached to the church was also built. Emperor Napoleon III gave three paintings to the church as a present. The altar was built of white marble, but was later replaced with a copper altar as a present from the Austrian Emperor François Joseph. The patriarch inaugurated the church and the convent on 18 April 1858. The seminary was transferred to Beit Jala in 1857 before the construction was completed.
The real difficulties were not posed by the building of the church, or by bringing in water from the distant springs carried by the animals, or in the bringing of the timber from the Jordan valley. The real difficulty rested in how to do business with the village inhabitants. Morétain wrote the following in his memoirs:
“When we came to Beit Jala, several persons joined the Latin parish on the hope that we would provide them with money. When they made sure that we would not do so, they immediately changed their minds and quit our parish. I can say that they have done the right thing. Several attempts were made to entice me in different ways. I was offered to accept a whole suburb to join my community or that some 500 to 600 persons would be converted to Catholicism provided that I pay the Jizyah for them. However, I refused the offer. I often told the people who offered me these deals that I would rather have 10 persons join the Catholic Church without any financial enticement than 2,000 people who would join for money, because religion is not based on money. Meanwhile, these people knew that the Greek Orthodox leadership would not sit idly by with its hands folded. If we pay money to these people, the Greek Orthodox will pay money also. Thus these villagers would continue to exploit the Church which would pay their due taxes.” [90]
Father Morétain did not believe in the principle of buying followers with money at a time when he was ready to protect the villagers, whether Latin or Orthodox: “In addition to the services I can offer to every individual in the village, I have sought to protect all of them, whether Orthodox or Latins, from the tyranny of the Turks and succeeded in doing so.” [91]
The governor of Jerusalem confirmed Father Morétain in his job. He was assured about his prestige in the village and deputized him to punish the outlaws by imprisoning them, if he had to.[92] Father Morétain enjoyed the support of Patriarch Valerga and Consul Botta. The political conditions were opportune. “Allied forces entered the Black Sea in the Crimean War, and the city of Sebastopol on the Black Sea was encircled. It was enough to be French to be treated with more respect than other people.” [93]
The establishment of the Beit Jala parish was viewed as an important turning point in the history of the Latin Patriarchate. In light of the experience gained by the patriarch, other missions were opened, and he proved that he was capable of coping with difficulties and confronting the Turks and others. He also proved his ability to have access to the highest political levels in France and Turkey to achieve his goals and to secure freedom of action for the Catholic Church in the Holy Land.
B- Jefnah Parish:
The village of Jefnah is located 25 kilometers north of Jerusalem. Contact was made with the Orthodox people of Jefnah through the efforts of a person called Khalil Yasmin, who spent a few months at the seminary but cut short his studies there and worked as a salesman moving from one village to another. In Beit Jala, he was aware of the attitude of the patriarch and the developments of the events, which led to the inauguration of the first parish for the Latin Patriarchate. So Khalil Yasmin became the trumpet for the Patriarchate narrating these events in every village he went to. His name can be found in numerous documents as a witness and a contact person between the village residents and the Patriarchate. [94]
In 1855, the people of Jefnah requested the Patriarchate to send a priest to their village: “Several Orthodox delegations requested a Latin priest to teach them the Catholic faith.”[95] However, the patriarch did not act with haste in sending a priest to Jefnah out of fear that he might arouse the sensitivity of the Orthodox majority and a repetition of the painful events of Beit Jala would recur. The patriarch sent to Jefnah a catechist, who was followed by Father Antoun Dikha, Father Cardito, and Father Maria-Alphonse Ratisbonne. These priests used to come to Jefnah on Sundays only. Monsignor Valerga inquired about this method to ascertain their good intentions, and in 1856, he appointed Father Coderc as parish priest. Jefnah was mentioned in the correspondence of the Patriarchate in the following phrases: “The school of Jefnah was opened two months ago and had 15 students. On Christmas, some 20 adults reconciled themselves with the Catholic Church.”[96]
Father Joseph Coderc built the Jefnah convent, which remained the residence of the parish priest until today. The Jefnah parish elected its Mukhtar (chieftain) just as other denominations in the village had, under the supervision of Father Coderc and the approval of the Ottoman Governor of Jerusalem.
The circumstances of that age produced an opposition, as was the case in Beit Jala. Due to the opposition, a failed attempt was made on the life of the parish priest by opening fire on him in his convent. Father Coderc began to build a small Gothic church designed by Father Morétain in 1856. An attempt was made to stop the building, but the Ottoman soldiers intervened, and the church was built in 1859. It is the church, which exists today and which has been restored several times because it was very old.
C- Lod Parish:
Thirty families from Lod expressed their desire in 1856 to join the Catholic Church. They were encouraged to join by one of the Lod residents, Rezeq Allah Dabbas.[97] Dabbas was an Orthodox who communicated with the Latins in Alexandria and joined them. The patriarch requested the Franciscan parish priest of al-Ramla, Aldo Brando, to take care of them and to build a church and school for them. Father Simon Kayabegow of the patriarchal clergy, who was born in Georgia in 1820, followed him. He studied theology in Rome and could not go back to his country. So Propaganda Fide appointed him to work for the patriarchal clergy. He became the priest of the Lod parish on 11 December 1857 until he died on 29 May 1906. He was known in that area and among his clergy colleagues with the name of Father Sam’an al-Liddawi -Simon from Lod-[98]
D- Ramallah Parish:
Ramallah is located 15 kilometers north of Jerusalem. The Patriarchate followed in Ramallah the same steps it followed in Jefnah. The patriarch mentioned Ramallah in a letter he sent to Propaganda Fide as follows: “Some of the residents of Ramallah asked me several times in the past years to open a mission in their village.”[99] Monsignor Valerga assessed these requests and responded to them cautiously. “Such requests were not void of secondary and humanitarian interests.”[100] “I decided for the time being to send a catechist to Ramallah to teach religious education to whomever is willing to learn.”[101] Some time after appointing a catechist in Ramallah, the patriarch wanted to ascertain for himself the intentions and goodwill of the Ramallah people: “I wanted to personally ascertain the preparedness of these people. Therefore, I visited them on my way back to Jerusalem from Nazareth. I was received with signs of respect which I did not expect.”[102]
The second step was to appoint a parish priest for Ramallah. “I thought that I should send one of my priests to support and upgrade the functions of the catechist.”[103] In 1856, the Patriarchate opened a school, which accommodated 40 students. The Patriarchate did not budge from its policy of opening missions. However, the Patriarchate did not seek to call the faithful to Catholicism, but waited for them to come to it. It did not act expeditiously in fulfilling their requests, but did so in order to ascertain their resolve and strength of faith. “We did not give them anything, but left them to run their own affairs by themselves. I was content with sending a priest to Ramallah on Sundays. However, if things continued as they were now, I should appoint a resident priest for them.”[104]
Father Pierre Cotta was chosen for this purpose at the beginning of 1857. He rented a room to reside in until the convent was built. Father Morétain described the residence of his colleague, Father Cotta in the following words: “He resided temporarily in a large house, the house was typical of Ramallah peasants houses at that time, and it was in bad shape. This one-room house was used as a church, bedroom, dining room, and a sitting room for his many guests.”[105] According to the records of the Ramallah Church, Father Cotta baptized the first child in his parish on 26 July 1857, held the first matrimony on 27 February 1859, and held the first funeral in December 1860.
Father Cotta said in a message[106] to the patriarch on 6 May 1860 that there were 200 Catholics in his parish. Some 200 Orthodox converted to Catholicism, bringing the total to 400 Catholics. This moved the opposition, which was so far quiet. The opposition followed its expression of indignation by the customary reprisal that was familiar at that time. It cut down the olive and fig trees owned by one of the Catholics on 2 May 1860. However, Father Cotta did not retreat in his mission or projects. The number of Catholics was increasing and the small church was not suitable any longer. Therefore, he should build a church and provide a teacher for the girls. Nonetheless, the dream of Father Cotta was not achieved. He died on 9 October 1863 of an knknown disease. The church was built in the era of Patriarch Camassei.
E- Beit Sahor Parish:
The history of the Latin community in Beit Sahor near Bethlehem goes back to the era of the entry of the Franciscan Fathers to the Holy Land. In 1347 The Franciscans bought a shrine known as Shepherd’s Field in Beit Sahor. According to an old Christian tradition, angels appeared to the shepherds in the fields of Beit Sahor on Christmas night to convey the good news to them. At the shrine, the friars performed the religious services for the Beit Sahor parish until 1820, when the friars lost the proprietorship of the shrine and started to hold Sunday Mass at a private home. [107]
In 1848, Mr. Salem Ayad asked the Patriarchate to look after the Latin parish in the village. The patriarch promised him that he would. He only fulfilled his promise 10 years later.[108] The patriarch sent to Beit Sahor in 1858 Father Morétain after completing he building of the convent and church in Beit Jala. Father Morétain held religious services at a cave in the western part of the village. He then moved to the house of Suleiman Ayad in the same area.[109]
Later on, “Father Morétain bought a piece of land and built a convent, church and a small school for the parish children.”[110] He laid the foundation stone on 13 July 1863 and the building was completed on 18 March 1864.[111] Father Morétain gained fame as a bright architect. So he was transferred to Salt to supervise the building of the first Catholic Church in Trans Jordan. He returned to Beit Sahor to build the second church in 1877.[112]
Thus, over a period of a few years, the patriarch surrounded Jerusalem with parishes in which the Patriarchate priests were residing. He built churches and opened schools. In 1860, he started to make preparations to surge forth to distant places such as Nablus, Birzeit, Taybeh and Salt.
F- Nablus Parish:
The cities and villages in which the Patriarchate established missions, such as Beit Jala, Beit Sahor, and Jefnah, were not administrative centers. As for Nablus, it was an administrative center and headquarters of the Turkish governor.[113]
The Patriarchate had to have a representative living close to the Turkish authorities. Proceeding from this principle, the Patriarchate sought to confirm one of its priests in Nablus. The Patriarchate chose Father Courtais for this purpose. However, the governor of Nablus and its residents resisted Father Courtais. “Threats were made to punish anyone who received the priest and secret orders were issued barring the residents from leasing a home to him.”[114]
The patriarch suggested to Father Courtais to travel to Beirut and discuss the issue with the Ottoman officials there. He returned from Beirut with two letters of recommendation, which the governor of Nablus did not welcome. In fact, he implemented the orders of his superiors belatedly. Thus the Patriarchate decided to postpone the establishment of a mission there until the right time comes. When the governor of Nablus began to procrastinate in his promises, the patriarch ordered Father Courtais to leave the city, where he had stayed as guest of one of the Christians.
In 1869, the Patriarchate opened the Nablus mission after contacting a Catholic doctor there, called Dolt,[115] who was employed in the service of the Ottoman army in Nablus. Dolt gained respect and appreciation for his medical services. The doctor’s recommendation to the governor of Nablus was more effective than the letters of recommendation issued in Beirut. Father Julien Bost rented a house in Nablus and turned part of it into a church. After a short period of time, he was replaced by Father Agusto di Actis, who occupied the post of secretary of the Apostolic Delegation in Beirut. The Holy See designated Monsignor Valerga to supervise it in 1858.
“The Latin parish in Nablus did not constitute a burden to Father Di Actis because the parish was made up of 30 people distributed in seven families.”[116] He contacted the Christians of the adjoining villages, including Rafidia on the outskirts of Nablus in 1866. It should be recalled that Di Actis lived through the era of the cholera epidemic in 1865 and the locust invasion of Palestine in 1866. He wrote a 30-page report on these two disasters and several letters, which were viewed as important resources on the events of that period in Palestine.
G- Birzeit Parish:
Father Coderc, the pastor of the Jefnah parish, was one of the first missionaries who joined the Patriarchate. He knew Arabic very well. Therefore, the patriarch designated him to train the new priests. His convent always had some priests under training throughout the year. The missionaries found a breathing space for their activity in the adjoining villages. Father Coderc designated his two assistants, Father Philippe Uhlenbrok and Father Etienne Joly to establish a mission at Birzeit, which is one and a half kilometers from Jefnah, at the request of some residents of the village.
Father Coderc rented a house until the convent was built. He narrates the story of the inauguration of the mission by saying the following: “I headed to Birzeit accompanied by Father Uhlenbrok and Father Joly on the evening of Sunday, 27 September 1859. The Latins congregated in the house, which we have especially prepared for this purpose and turned it into a small church. I recited with them the litany of the saints and I made a speech congratulating them on the inauguration of the parish.”[117]
The opposition soon appeared in the village and prevented Father Philippe from entering Birzeit. A conspiracy was concocted and led to the arrest of one of the parishioners. The prisoner was not released and the freedom of action for the missionaries of the Patriarchate was not ensured except after the intervention of the French Consul with the Ottoman Governor in Jerusalem. Father Joly built the Birzeit Church in 1863-1865.
Religious factors alone were not the only reason for the opposition, nor were the conversion of some Orthodox to Catholicism. The truth of the matter was that clannish and tribal conflict played an important role and was the motive behind these two phenomena. Namely, opposition and conversion to Catholicism. The motive behind the conversion of a clan or a family to the Catholic Church in most villages was the competition with another clan or family, or the desire of the converted clan or family to be protected by the Latin Patriarchate and to benefit from its influence with the Ottoman authorities and contacts with the Great Powers, particularly France. It was hard to find two tribally competing families convert to Catholicism. This reality will clearly appear from the situation that existed in the village of Taybeh, which Father Philippe moved to in early 1860. Among the reasons, which prompted the followers of the Orthodox Church to convert to the Catholic faith, were the strict Orthodox Church rules of prohibiting marriage among cousins, which was common in Palestine and Jordan. The most important reason for this kind of marriage was the desire to keep the inheritance of the family within the family itself and to bar its transfer to another clan when girls are married to strangers. Meanwhile, the Latin Patriarchate was allowing cousins to get married easily.
H- Taybeh Parish:
Father Antoun Dikha, the Taybeh parish priest, sent a message to Monsignor Valerga casting light on the formation of the Taybeh mission. The message said that Sheikhs Issa Massis and Mikhael Barakat of Taybeh asked the Patriarchate to send a missionary to serve the Christians of the village. The village was split into two hostile camps, namely, the Massis clan and the Khoury clan, and the two clans were Orthodox. The motive of the appeal, which the Massis clan made to the Patriarchate, was not purely religious, but was prompted by the profound clannish conflict in the village. Father Uhlenbrok wrote to the patriarch hinting at the divisions in the village and supporting the idea of opening a mission there. A new goal appeared for the Patriarchate and it had to achieve this goal: “The Taybeh location is suitable to prepare the missions to Trans Jordan. The location is also convenient for the Patriarchate to get acquainted with the residents of the desert, who are the friends of the Taybeh people, their camels enter Taybeh daily.”[118]
In 1859, Father Coderc visited Taybeh in the company of a number of priests, including Father Morétain who made a clever proposal to resolve the clannish conflict: “To build the church at a location that is midway between the two clans and to make one door for the church, from each side, so that each clan would enter the church without having to see one another face to face and quarrel. The location of the Orthodox Church was inconvenient because it was located in the part of the village where one of the two clans was staying, and thus the other clan stopped going to church for four or five years.”[119]
The Patriarchate requested Father Uhlenbrok to form the Taybeh mission in July 1860. However, he died as a young man on 28 September 1860 at the age of 28. Father Courtais, who started building the church in 1861 and completed the construction in 1871, succeeded him. The clans of Massis and Barakat constituted the nucleus of the Latin parish in Taybeh.
I- Salt Parish:
The Franciscan Fathers supervised the Holy Places in Palestine and did not cross to the east of the River Jordan. Until 1866 the Catholic Church had no links with Jordan. “The patriarch waited a convenient opportunity or a reason to expedite his presence there.”[120] Jordan was in fact, within the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
One day in 1866, horsemen from Salt knocked at the door of Father Agusto di Actis and asked him to accompany them to their hometown. A Latin from Bethlehem working in Salt was suffering the death agony and hinted that he wanted a Catholic priest next to him in the hour of his death. Father Di Actis complied and went with the delegation to Salt. He performed the necessary religious duty for the dying man. It was an occasion where a strong friendship developed between Father Di Actis and the Christians of Salt. Sheikh Khalil Nouri Zoumot, who offered his house to the priest to celebrate Mass, hosted Father Di Actis. A movement of return to Catholicism appeared among the Orthodox Christians of Salt. Meetings were held in the house of Khalil Nouri Zoumot to discuss this step from all its aspects. A group of Christians announced that they had joined Catholicism.
Father Di Actis wrote to Jerusalem informing the patriarch of what had happened. So the patriarch agreed that Father Di Actis should stay in Salt and appointed Father Sim’an Ishaq as his assistant in Nablus. The governor of Nablus, who was a friend of Father Di Actis, encouraged him to go ahead with his plans. The governor appointed two members at the Municipal Council of Nablus to represent the Latin parish. They were Asad Serafim for the Latins in Nablus and Saleh Naser Abu Jaber for the Latins in Salt. In the end of 1869 Father Di Actis suffered symptoms of mental illness. At that time Monsignor Valerga traveled to Rome to attend the meetings of the First Vatican Council. His Vicar, Monsignor Vincenzo Bracco, summoned Di Actis back to Jerusalem. But when his health did not improve, he traveled to Italy in 1870 and died in 1883.
Father Morétain succeeded Father Di Actis in Salt. His choice of Salt was not a coincidence. He was the famous architect who built the churches in Beit Jala, Beit Sahor, and Jefnah. In his memoirs, Father Morétain described his travel to Salt in the following words: “Patriarchal Vicar Monsignor Bracco sent for me from Beit Sahor as Monsignor Valerga was then in Rome, and he asked me the following question: ‘Would you like to take over the Salt parish for five or six months until we find a priest who can reside there?’ As far as I was concerned, I was not prepared as yet to leave Beit Sahor because I had not completed the construction, which I had started. Finally, I agreed to be transferred to Salt for a few months, because this was the wish of the patriarch, provided that I return to Beit Sahor.”[121]
A delegation from Salt accompanied Father Morétain to the town, and he took over the parish on 25 October 1869. Within 18 days, Father Morétain held prayers at the home of Khalil Nouri Zoumot: “As customary, the house consisted of two parts. In the upper part, there were the bedrooms of the family, and it was there where I set up the altar. In the lower floor, there was a barn used to keep the cattle, particularly in the winter season. In this lower part, the cattle and the parishioners who could not find a room in the upper part congregated. When I used to say ‘The Lord be with you’ or preach to those attending, I used to see in front of me horns and heads of animals more than the faithful.”[122]
Father Morétain rented a better house and opened a school: “I was happy and felt that I was born again and that I should be patient in anticipation of the better. My church was suitable and much better than the earlier church. I had a room, a school, and a small kitchen. But I was in a bad shape in the wintertime as spring water dashed into my room to the height of one meter from the room floor. Thus I was compelled to dig a canal in the flour of the room to dispose of the water. The room I lived in was on the second floor and on the first floor there was the home of Sheikh Khalil Nouri Zoumot. The house is located at the foot of a mountain and water leaks to it from the stone layers.”[123]
Father Morétain did not hesitate to buy a piece of land and to build a church with two aisles on its two sides for residence. He brought in skilled workers from Beit Jala and Beit Sahor, and together with him, they formed a team that was trained in the building of churches there. Work on the building of the church was completed on 23 April 1871. Father Morétain returned to Beit Sahor three days after the said date. Father Giuseppe Gatti built a second church above the church built by Father Morétain. That church was completed in 1888.[124] Monsignor Valerga visited Salt for the first time in 1872 on his way back from Beirut to Jerusalem.
J- Shafa Amer Parish:
This mission was formed in 1869. In 1864, a Carmelite priest took residence in Shafa Amer to undertake the duty of caring for the Sisters of Nazareth. In 1867, the patriarch designated him to supervise the Latins in the village “so as the Latins would not convert to Protestantism.”[125] In 1869, the Patriarchate took over the mission from the Carmelites and appointed Father Luigi Piccardo as parish priest. In 1887, Father Henri Pons succeeded him until 1901. The Latins in Shafa Amer were a minority. The majority of the population was Muslim and Druze, the Greek Catholic was the largest Christian community.
K- Jaffa of Nazareth Parish:
Some faithful in Jaffa of Nazareth asked Patriarch Valerga in 1865 to send a missionary to their village. The patriarch asked the Franciscan Fathers to undertake this mission because of lack of priests at the Patriarchate. The friars opened in the village a temporary church. In 1869, the Patriarchate received custody of the mission and appointed as parish priest Father Luigi Fattori, who built a small church and convent in 1872. In 1888, he built another church. The Rosary Sisters joined the parish in 1885 to supervise the school and to care for the women sector. One of them was Mother Marie-Alphonsine Ghattas, the founder of the Rosary Sisters Congregation. The records of the congregation remember her in he following testimony: “Our revered founder is Mother Marie-Alphonsine who lived in Jaffa of Nazareth at the beginning of her missionary life. One of the schoolgirls fell into the well there. Mother Marie-Alphonsine threw her rosary into the well and the girl was miraculously pulled out of the well unharmed.”[126]
5-Religious congregations and charitable societies in the era of Monsignor Valerga:
The patriarchal missions have always needed a domestic and foreign hand to help in the discharge of their duties. Patriarch Valerga found foreign aid in the donations of the Holy See and the contributions made by charitable societies, particularly the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. The internal assistance of the patriarchal institutions was seen in the new religious congregations, which he summoned to open convents, schools, and hospitals in Jerusalem diocese. They were as follows:
A- St. Joseph Sisters of the Apparition:
Emilie de Vialar founded the Saint Joseph Sisters of the Apparition in France in 1832. The congregation opened a school in Larnaca, Cyprus, in 1844. The patriarch and the Custody of the Holy Land invited the Saint Joseph Sisters to come to Palestine in 1848. “Thus, it was the first congregation of nuns to settle in Palestine since the age of the Crusaders.”[127] It opened a school in Jerusalem in 1848, a hospital in 1851, a school and a clinic in both Bethlehem and Jaffa in 1849.
B- Sisters of our Lady of Nazareth:
“In Nazareth, for Nazareth, the best are the Sisters of Nazareth.”[128] This was the advice which Monsignor Count Herculais gave when he met in France with Father Dequevauviller, secretary of the Patriarchate, who was sent by Patriarch Valerga to Europe to discuss with the heads of the religious orders and congregations the possibility of establishing convents for friars and sisters in Palestine. This was the “desire of the patriarch, Propaganda Fide, and His Holiness the Pope.”[129]
Father Dequevauviller met in 1853 with the Mother Superior of the Sisters of Nazareth, Sister Helot. The society was still young and had no more than 30 nuns. Four of them came to Palestine on 9 December 1854 and established a school and an orphanage. Later on, they established convents in Haifa in 1858, in Akre in 1861, in Shafa Amer in 1864, and in Beirut in 1867.
C- Sisters of our Lady of Sion:
The Sisters of Sion were founded in France in the 1840s by the two brothers Ratisbonne, Maria-Theodore and Maria-Alphonse. Both grew up in a Jewish family and came to the Christian faith. The two brothers Ratisbonne, Father Maria- Theodore and Father Maria-Alphonse established the Sisters of Sion in Jerusalem in 1855, and built for them in 1856 the large Convent of Ecce Homo with a school and an orphanage for girls. In 1860 Fr. Maria-Alphonse erected the Convent of St. John on the mountain at Ain Karem, together with a church and another orphanage for girls. For boys he erected the orphanage of St. Peter, near the Jaffa Gate outside of Jerusalem, with a school for mechanical arts in the city.[130]
D- Father Antonio Belloni Institution:[131]
The biography of Father Belloni[132] said that while he was placing flowers on the altar in the Beit Jala Church, a 12-year-old poor boy named Issa Safady entered the church and offered the priest to help him in his work. Father Belloni knew from talking to the boy that he was an orphan. His mother was dead and his father was blind. Father Belloni felt sorry for him and gave him some money to buy clothes and a pair of shoes.
The boy came back a few days later bringing with him two other orphaned boys like him. Thus Father Belloni became a refuge to these poor orphaned children. The Superior of the Seminary, Father Bracco, advised Belloni to rent a house for them to receive them there. The children disturbed the peace and quiet of the seminary because they were on the move all the time. So Belloni rented a house for them in Beit Jala and then in Bethlehem. Father Belloni kept his job as a teacher in the seminary but he spent his leisure time teaching the students of the orphanage and training them in handicrafts and manufacture of souvenirs which the Bethlehem area was famous for.
Father Belloni founded the Holy Family Society to take care of the orphans, and in 1867 founded the first agricultural school in the village of Beit Jemal in Palestine. He managed to buy the village through the generosity of the benefactors. Moreover, he founded another agricultural school later on in Cremisan on the outskirts of Beit Jala.
Father Belloni expanded his charitable projects and was known in Palestine as the “Father of the Orphans.” When he encountered difficulties in spending on his schools and establishments, Pope Pius IX advised him in 1874 to merge his schools and establishments with the establishments of the Salesian congregation. The merger was officially done in 1891[133] after “his request was submitted to Don Bosco and after him, to his successor, Michael Rua, that the establishments be merged with the Salesian congregation. He himself served as a Salesian in the said congregation.”[134] The Salesian Society appointed him general superior of all his establishments and he kept this post until his death in 1903.[135]
E- The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem:
The history of this Order dates back to the age of the Crusaders. After the fall of Acre in 1291, the knights of the Holy Sepulcher formed associations in their countries to help the Holy Land. The military nature which characterized the European knights who came to Palestine during the Crusades, vanished, and the mission of the knights became humanitarian and spiritual. Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503) empowered the Custos of the Holy Land with the authority to grant the rank of Knight of the Holy Sepulcher to deserving pilgrims who faced the trial of travel to visit the Holy Land. The papal bull ‘Pastoris Officii’ reserved this privilege in 1496 to the Custos of the Holy Land. After the reestablishment of the Patriarchate, Patriarch Valerga assumed the authority of the Custos of the Holy Land. In fact, he was the last to receive the medal of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem on 17 January 1848, and it was the vicar Custos of the Holy Land who decorated the patriarch with the medal.
When Patriarch Valerga took in charge the responsibility of the Order, was suffering from shortcomings that weakened it and obstructed its spread. There was only one rank of membership that was bestowed on the members joining the Order. Moreover, the insignia and dress of the knights were not unified or internationally recognized, save by the Holy See. The reason for this was that the Order became a private society that encouraged pilgrimage to the Holy Land and rewarded the pilgrims by granting them its insignia and membership.
In 1848, Monsignor Valerga submitted a working paper to the Holy See as a project for the reorganization of the Order.[136] The reply of the Holy See was belated and was made in 1868. A papal bull ‘Cum Multa Sapienter’ was issued endorsing the Order’s new law and designating three ranks of membership. The ‘Cum Multa Sapienter’ was only issued after tiring efforts were made, particularly during the visits, which Monsignor Valerga made in 1867 to the kings and princes of Europe. During these visits, he secured the recognition of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher by the countries of these kings and princes. Thus, the Order prospered, thanks to the efforts made by Monsignor Valerga. It is noteworthy that Monsignor Valerga is viewed as the founder of the Order in the modern age. “Until his death in 1872, Monsignor Valerga bestowed the ranks of the Equestrian Order on 1147 knights belonging to 20 countries.” [137]
5- The Jerusalem Patriarchate in the service of the Church:
When it was founded in 1847, the Jerusalem Latin Patriarchate continued to take, not to give. It received aid from abroad and was provided with priests from the dioceses of Europe. When it became strong, its patriarch and few priests had to be on the giving side commensurate with its own resources. One of the priests became secretary of the Apostolic Delegation in Beirut and another became an Apostolic Visitor with the Catholic Copts in Egypt. The powers of the patriarch extended to include Syrian and Lebanon where the patriarch served in his capacity as Apostolic Delegate. He also participated in the works of the First Vatican Council. The following is a brief review of the duties which Monsignor Valeria performed and which are not directly related to the Jerusalem Patriarchate.
A- Monsignor Valerga as an Apostolic Delegate in Beirut 1858 – 1872:
Writers who lived in his age and contemporary writers of this day have a consensus that Valerga was a man trusted by Pope Pius IX. “There is no doubt that Propaganda Fide listened to his views on ecclesiastical matters in the East.”[138] Patriarch Valerga occupied the post of Apostolic Delegate for Syria and Lebanon, the premises of the delegation were in Beirut. He was also Apostolic Vicar for the Aleppo area from 1858 until his death in 1872. “He stayed in Beirut in the summer and in Jerusalem in the winter.”[139] “He was accompanied to Beirut by two priests: Canon Father Pascal Appodia who occupied the post of General Vicar of the Apostolic Delegation and the Apostolic Vicariate of Aleppo since 1870. Appodia used to stay in Beirut all the year. As for Canon Father Youssef Tannous, he used to accompany Monsignor Valerga in his residence in Beirut and Jerusalem.”[140]
Monsignor Valerga lived through Lebanon’s events in 1860 and the crisis which the Greek Catholic Melchite Church underwent as it was transforming itself to the Gregorian calendar from the year 1858 until the year 1864. This led to the resignation of the Greek Catholic Melchite Patriarch Clement Bahous in 1864. Monsignor Valerga played an important role in supporting the Catholic institutions in Lebanon. “He urged the Jesuit Fathers to open a university to raise and educate the youth so as they could resist the Protestant propaganda and activity and this desire was fulfilled after his death.”[141] The Jesuit Fathers established a school in Ghazir, Kasrawan region, From that school, the college of philosophy and theology emerged. The school was transferred to Beirut in 1875. The Pope granted the college of philosophy and theology the title of university in 1875.[142]
The influence of Patriarch Valerga extended to the Chaldean Church. Propaganda Fide appealed to Valerga to intervene to resolve a crisis that erupted between the Chaldean Patriarch and the Holy See and almost reached the point of estrangement. The reason was that the Chaldean Patriarch appointed a bishop from his Church to serve in the Malabar region in India. The region was under the jurisdiction of the Chaldean Patriarchate before the Portuguese seized it in 1539. Valerga was a good friend of the Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon. The two sides reached a temporary agreement in 1861, thanks to Valerga. In the First Vatican Council, Valerga acted as the link between the Chaldean Patriarch Mar Tuma Oddo and Pope Pius IX. The two sides reached a final agreement on Malabar in 1923.
B- Monsignor Valerga at Vatican I (1869 – 1870):
In 1866, Monsignor Valerga was summoned to participate in the preparations for the First Vatican Council. So he left Beirut for Rome on 20 December 1868. He was an expert on Middle Eastern affairs and had a long experience on these affairs. He was the “a key person”[143] to be heeded on matters related to the issues of the Eastern Churches. Monsignor Valerga was a member of three committees: the Preparatory Committee of the Eastern Churches, the Preparatory Committee entrusted with submitting the Council’s working documents, and the Council’s Committee for the Eastern Churches.
Monsignor Valerga submitted a study,[144] which he prepared in Beirut raising two proposals concerning the canon law of the Eastern Churches. The first proposal said that each Church should keep its private ecclesiastical law, while the second proposal said that all the Eastern Churches should comply with the canon law followed in the Catholic Church, provided that freedom is left to each Church vis-à-vis its heritage and liturgy. Monsignor Valerga voiced his support for the second proposal and demanded a study of the conditions of the eastern religious orders, which own convents or vast areas of land and real estate endowments that reflect a specific social, religious and economic status on the religious orders and the Christian groups.
In 1868, Propaganda Fide consulted Monsignor Valerga on whether the eastern patriarchs should be invited to participate in the Council’s work. He expected that they would refuse the invitation. His intuition proved to be right when Pope Pius IX addressed the papal letter ‘Arcano Divinae Providentiae’ inviting the Orthodox and other non-Catholic patriarchs to participate in the work of the Council as their predecessors had participated in Council of Lyons in the thirteenth century and the Council of Florence in the fifteenth century. The news of the papal message leaked to the press before it could reach its destination. It was said that the news leaked by accident. Thus the efforts made by the patriarch, who was deputized by the Holy See to communicate with the religious authorities in the Syrian Apostolic Delegation and the Jerusalem Patriarchate failed. He recruited the priests of the Latin Patriarchate for this purpose. The Greek Orthodox Patriarch in Jerusalem and the bishops under his jurisdiction in Bethlehem and Nazareth apologized for participation in the Council. Moreover, the Armenian Patriarch in Jerusalem and the bishop of the Syrian Orthodox Church also apologized.[145] They apologized for participation after the press published that the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople refused to participate in the works of the Council on the pretext that the papal message addressed to them was published in the press before it was officially delivered to its destination. This was viewed as a departure from the protocol enforced in such cases.
The First Vatican Council opened its first session on 8 December 1869. Monsignor Valerga made two speeches on 21 May and 20 June 1870 defending the principle of papal infallibility. He criticized Gallican[146] trend in French thought. There was no opportunity for him to make the speeches he had prepared on the conditions of the Eastern Churches because the political conditions forestalled the continuation of the sessions of the Council. So the sessions were adjourned until further notice on 18 July 1870. On 19 July 1870, war broke out between France and Prussia. So the French army withdrew from Rome on 2 August 1870 and the soldiers of King Victor Emmanuel II entered Rome on 20 September 1870. The Fathers of the Council, including Patriarch Valerga, left Rome, and Pope Pius IX officially adjourned the sessions of the Council on 20 October 1870.[147] Monsignor Valerga issued a pastoral letter in 1869 on the occasion of the convening of the First Vatican Council.
Conclusion
Monsignor Valerga returned to Jerusalem from Rome in October 1870 after a two-year absence to put the final touches on the shape of the Patriarchate which he identified himself with since its very first days and to make his last inspection tour of the Apostolic Delegation and the Patriarchate, before he died while he was at the top of his strength.
Upon his arrival in Jerusalem, the patriarch appointed canon Father Pascal Appodia as his general vicar in Beirut. He completed work on the building of the con-cathedral and he inaugurated it on 11 February 1872. On May 1872 he presided over the feast of Corpus Christi solemn procession, which roamed the streets of Jerusalem. It was the first of its kind in centuries.
In late 1872, the patriarch left Jerusalem on a tour that lasted seven months. His friend Baron De Wandelburg, who wrote down the memoirs of the trip, accompanied him. These memoirs are the main source of the last days of the patriarch. During this trip, the patriarch visited the parishes of Nazareth, Shafa Amer, Karak and Haifa. In Beirut, he spent four months during which he was acquainted with the progress of work at the Apostolic Delegation. He then headed to visit Sidon and then returned to Beirut. He then visited Damascus where he chaired the committee of the Ecclesiastical Court entrusted with preliminary investigation in the martyrdom of a number of Franciscans in the incidents of 1860. He assigned his Vicar, Father Appodia to follow up the investigation later on. He left Damascus for Trans Jordan via Horan.
In Horan, the patriarch met with two delegates from Jordan. De Wandelburg, the companion of the patriarch, says: “We met with two Bedouins riding horses and wearing the white Koffiyeh (head dress). They were carrying arms. After exchanging a few words with the patriarch, they turned back and accompanied the convoy. They were two Catholic Sheiks from Jal’ad Mountains, who knew that the patriarch was in Damascus. So they came to meet him on the way.”[148] The two sheikhs asked the patriarch to open two missions in their villages, Ermemen and Fuheis. The man from Ermemen was from the al-Sayegh clan and the man from Fuheis was from the Hattar clan. The convoy spent the night of 6 November 1872 in Ramtha.
At dawn on 7 November, the convoy proceeded southward after facing a strong sand storm The convoy passed by Ajloun and Jerash. In Ermemen the patriarch was the host of the sheikh of the village who accompanied the convoy from Horan. The family of the sheikh was waiting for the patriarch. “They kissed the hand of the patriarch while their faces were radiant with joy at seeing him. Their joy at meeting the patriarch was greater than that of meeting their own father.”[149] The patriarch gladly exchanged conversation with these good people and said that he was sorry that at present he could not fulfill their demand to establish a parish in their village because there were not enough priests. The wish came true after his death in 1875.[150]
“After a long and tiring travel in the rugged rocky mountains, we suddenly saw a group of Bedouin horsemen on the foot of a slope. In a few moments, the horsemen descended from the rocky slope. Their horses were trained to cover such routes. They were shooting in the air and competing to kiss the hand of the patriarch. The horsemen were of the Latin dignitaries in Salt. Sheikh Abu-Jaber led them. The Salt Qa’immaqam [governor of a district] then arrived riding on his horse. The convoy proceeded after it was greeted by a group of soldiers. Four soldiers surrounded the patriarch and the Qa’immaqam.”[151] When the convoy arrived in Salt, the echo of bullets mixed with the chanting and songs of the people and the sounds of the bells of the Latin church ringing. The convoy proceeded slowly toward the church where Father Giuseppe Gatti received it. Monsignor Valerga entered the church and blessed the people. The people of Salt converged on the top of buildings until a late hour in the evening to see the patriarch’s entry into their city. On the second day, the patriarch held Mass. In the evening, Monsignor Valerga invited the Qa’immaqam for a Ramadan Iftar (Ramadan breakfast) at the banquet of the patriarch.
On 11 November, the patriarch visited the historic ruins of Amman and returned to Jerusalem via Jericho on the evening of 13 November. Only a few days later, the patriarch was taken sick by an acute case of fever on 24 November 1872. He died at the age of 59 on the morning of 2 December 1872 and was buried at the patriarchal con-cathedral.
It should be recalled that Patriarch Valerga began his mission in Palestine with parish visits in which he inspected what the Holy See entrusted him with. In his last visits, he inspected what he had offered and achieved within a quarter of a century. During his first visit, he requested the Christian families to give their sons to the priesthood so as to form his own patriarchal clergy. In his last visit, the priests went out with the people to receive and welcome his visit.
The new Latin Patriarchal entity which was sponsored by the late patriarch received commendation and criticism from his contemporaries and from his superiors and insubordinates. The best thing by which we can conclude this chapter before moving on to the age of Patriarch Bracco is what Franciscan Father Ludovico Piavi said in his eulogy in the progress of explaining the purpose of resurrecting the Patriarchate and appointing a resident patriarch in Jerusalem: “It was intended to resurrect what disasters and changing times had caused. Therefore, necessity dictated the presence of a very experienced, patient, powerful and courageous man, to achieve the final goal without reversing the entire old order, while preserving what had been established of the old order, a new ecclesiastical order had come out, systematic and precise in all its aspects.”[152] Perhaps these words which were said at the farewell of the founder of the Latin Patriarchate in the modern age summarize the life of this patriarch, who laid down the foundations of the contemporary Christian history in Jordan and Palestine.