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"St. Catherine's Church"
Bethlehem
Monday, December 23, 2013
Third Day of my Holy Land Trip, Mount Zion, Jerusalem
My Holy Land Trip
"St. Catherine's Church"
next to the church of Nativity
Bethlehem
The Church of St. Catherine can be entered in three different
manners: via the north transept; through the underground caves; and passing
through the Cloister of St. Jerome. The church, which is part of the complex of
the former Crusader monastery, has undergone noteworthy transformations over
the years, most recently the modifications carried out on the occasion of the
Jubilee Year 2000.
The site, which already in 1347 had been dedicated to St.
Catherine of Alexandria, initially was only a small chapel within the
Franciscan Convent, corresponding to what today the area of the altar is
dedicated to St. Catherine.
The court yard of St. Catherine's Church, next to the church of Nativity:
The ancient structure as it appears in the drawings of Bernardino Amigo
underwent major changes, with its area substantially increased over time. The
sacred edifice which exists today is very large and well-lit. It consists of a
nave and two aisles, with a raised apse where the friars’ choir is located.
The court yard of St. Catherine's Church, next to the church of Nativity:
A Nativity scene is represented on the stained
glass windows, a result of the modifications carried out in the year 2000. At
the end of the aisle on the right is the altar dedicated to St. Catherine, while
to the right, in a recessed area, is the altar of the Virgin with the statue of
the Child Jesus, which dates from the 18th century and is used during
celebrations of the Christmas Solemnity in Bethlehem.
The court yard of St. Catherine's Church, next to the church of Nativity:
Worthy of note are the Crusader arches preserved at the entrance of the church that have been incorporated in the present structure and formerly were part of what is known as St. Jerome’s Cloister. In this area is a bas-relief donated by the Pope on the occasion of Jubilee 2000.
The court yard of St. Catherine's Church, next to the church of Nativity:
The Church of St Catherine of Alexandria, 19th-century church
adjoins the 6th-century Church of
the Nativity, built over the cave where Jesus was born. It even shares a
wall with the Nativity church. The Church of St Catherine is the parish church for
Bethlehem’s Catholics. It is also often used by groups of pilgrims.
The Cloister of St. Jerome, so-named because it allows direct
access to the cave dedicated to that Saint, was restored by the Italian
architect Antonio Barluzzi in 1947. During this work, Father Bagatti provided
assistance to the archaeological surveys of the caves lying below.
For the restoration of the cloister it was necessary to insert new
columns where the original ones were missing in order to provide additional
support to the structure. This was done in a manner to preserve the original
structure, a clear example being the simple and linear modern capitals which
alternate with the more richly decorated Crusader ones.
From the Cloister one can enter the Chapel of St. Helena, which is
in fact what remains from the base of the Crusader bell tower. The chapel
contains 12th century frescoes in a poor state of preservation but very
interesting stylistically. From the entrance, to the right of the cloister, can
be seen an entry door to the church used by the Latins for the official entries
of the Pope, since the right to enter through the principal door is accorded
solely to the Custom of the Holy Land and the Patriarchs.
On the opposite side is the entry to the Franciscan Convent, which
represents an enlargement of the Crusader monastery. Remaining elements from
the Crusader monastery include the entrance hall with pointed arches, the
perimeter walls giving access to the north side of the convent, the storeroom
and cisterns, some of them dating from even earlier periods.
By passing through the basement of the convent one can enter the
place that by tradition is known as the Washing of Jesus.
Statue of St. Jerome, in front of the church of St Catherine:
St Catherine of Alexandria, she
has been widely venerated in both East and West, there are few reliable facts
about her life. According to the traditional story, this early 4th-century martyr from
Egypt was of noble birth and well educated. At the age of 18, she challenged
the emperor Maxentius (or his father, the emperor Maximian) for persecuting
Christians and worshipping false gods.
The enraged emperor ordered her to be tortured on a wheel —
hence the term “Catherine wheel”. But when Catherine touched the wheel, it
broke. She was then beheaded and tradition says angels carried her body to Mount Sinai, where in the 6th century
a church and monastery were built in her honor.
This latter part of
the story was, however, unknown to the earliest pilgrims to the mountain. It was two or three
centuries later that the story of St Catherine and the angels began to
circulate
The Tree of Jesse
in St. Catherine’s Church in Bethlehem:
The bas-relief (a type of
sculpture) of the Tree of Jesse is a large work given as a gift by Pope
Benedict XVI during his trip to the Holy Land in 2009. The main part of the
work signifies an olive tree as the Tree of Jesse. It displays Christ’s ancestry
from Abraham through St. Joseph. It is placed along the path used by pilgrims
making their way to St. Catherine Church. The piece also integrates symbolism
from the Old Testament. Jesus at the top with his arms open wide blessing the
Earth.
The Tree of Jesse in St. Catherine’s Church
in Bethlehem:
St Catherine of Alexandria has been ranked with St Margaret and St
Barbara as one of the 14 “most helpful” saints in heaven. She is
also one of the saints reputed to have spoken to St Joan of Arc.
The Bethlehem church dedicated to St Catherine was built in 1882
on the ruins of the Crusader church and monastery belonging
to the Augustinians. Beneath the paving of the cloister are the foundations of
an earlier monastery, possibly that of St
Jerome (whose statue stands on a
pedestal in the cloister).
A door in the southwest corner of the cloister leads to a Crusader
chapel. The chapel walls are decorated with remnants of
Crusader wall paintings, which were partially restored in 1950. A narrow
stairway on the right hand side of the nave leads down into a complex
of caves and rock-cut chambers.
A view of inside the St. Catherine Church:
A view of inside the St. Catherine Church:
These contain a number of chapels. They
include the Cave of St Jerome,
who translated the Vulgate version of the Bible; St Joseph’s Chapel, recalling
the dream in which an angel warned Joseph to take the Holy Family to Egypt; and
the Chapel of the Holy Innocents, commemorating the children massacred by Herod.
