So there I was, your nice-Jewish-girl blogger, sitting in the Immaculata Hall among all these Franciscan friars and a smattering of nuns.
I came to St. Saviour's Monastery curious to see the inauguration of the new premises of the archives of the Custody of the Holy Land.
The morning of lectures began at 8:30. You can see the topics here in the online invitation; but don't let the English fool you (as it did me)--the lectures were all in Italian.
We browsed the exhibition "Books of the Holy Land. A journey among the ancient books of the General Library of the Holy Land Custody in Jerusalem."
I like what the Custos, Father Custos Pierbattista Pizzaballa, said about all the work that had been invested in this project:
"It is necessary to focus our identity, to have a clear perception of reality, to be capable of having a vision, to give ourselves perspective," because "in books, in documents, in the archives, — that is, in our history — is our future."
See a short Franciscan Media Center video about the library and its inauguration.
Or a slideshow of the place and some of the beautiful old books at the official website http://bibliothecaterraesanctae.org/.
And about "culture at the forefront."
.
.
(A post for ABC Wednesday: I is for Italian and inauguration.)
.
