Sunday Church Feature

Church of the Beatitutes, Israel

"The Church of the Beatitudes is a Roman Catholic church located on the Sea of Galilee near Tabgha and Capernaum in Israel.

"Located on a small hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee, and built on the traditional site of Jesus' delivery of the Sermon on the Mount,[1] pilgrims are known to have commemorated this site since at least the 4th century. In her itinerary of the Holy Land, after describing the Church of the Loaves and Fishes, the pilgrim Egeria (c.381) writes, "Near there on a mountain is the cave to which the Savior climbed and spoke the Beatitudes." The current church sits near the ruins of a small Byzantine era church dating to the late 4th century[2], which contains a rock-cut cistern beneath it and the remains of a small monastery to its southeast. Part of the original mosaic floor has also been recovered and is now on display in Capernaum. Both Popes Paul VI and John Paul II celebrated Mass at the church during their pastoral visits to the Holy Land.[2]

"The modern church was built between 1936 and 1938 near the site of the fourth century Byzantine ruins. The floor plan is octagonal, the eight sides representing the eight Beatitudes.[2] The church is Byzantine in style with a marble veneer casing the lower walls and gold mosaic in the dome. In front of the church are mosaic symbols on the pavement representing Justice, Prudence, Fortitude, Charity, Faith, and Temperance.

"Jerome Murphy-O'Connor describes the selection of the site thus; "It was perhaps inevitable that this well-watered area with its shade trees on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, where Byzantine pilgrims ate their picnics, should have been identified as the location of two episodes involving the consumption of food, the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and the conferral on Peter of the responsibility of leadership after a fish breakfast. Then it became convenient to localize the Sermon of the Mount on the small hill nearby." (The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700, p.277) Regardless of whether this is the very spot, the Church of the Beatitudes stands in the general area and in a very similar setting to where Jesus would have stood as he delivered his famous sermon. As Murphy-O'Connor puts it, "from here one can see virtually all the places in which Jesus lived and worked" (p.280).

"The church was commissioned by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and designed by the architect Antonio Barluzzi.



"The church is maintained and overseen by the Franciscan Order." (See Link.)

Link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Beatitudes

Photo 1: Exterior of church-post card purchased in Israel in 1992 by SW.

Photo 2: Interior of church--post card purchased in Israel in 1992 by SW

Photo 3: Mosaic in interior of church taken in 1992 by SW.

Note: See Blog Post July 24 for more about Suzanne Wilson's 1992 trip to Israel