Custos in Washington

Francis of Assisi, simplest and kindliest of saints, lived in an age when Christendom sent army after army to wrest the Holy Land from the infidel. Burning to convert, rather than slaughter, the paynim, St. Francis took Palestine as a province of his order, before he or his followers ever laid eyes on it. When he did arrive there in 1219, the little saint settled Franciscans in some of the Holy Land's holy places. In 1333, by treaty with the Sultan, and with papal approval, Franciscans were awarded permanent "Custody of the Holy Land"--i.e., care of its Christian fanes.

The Custody still stands. Last week the 151st Franciscan Custos (custodian), arrived in Washington, D.C. for a visit. A merry, bespectacled, red-bearded Italian, Most Rev. Albert Gori, the Custos (also called "His Paternity") put up at the Franciscan monastery of Mt. St. Sepulchre. There he was visited by many a priest, including well-waisted Rector Joseph M. Corrigan of nearby Catholic University. Object of His Paternity's trip to the U.S.: to thank U.S. givers, to rally more givers to the Holy Land shrines. The Washington monastery, called the Commissariat and College of the Holy Land for the U.S.A., and containing replicas of numerous Palestine fanes, is headed by a Commissary, Very Rev. Leonard Walsh.

Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which traditionally covers the site of Christ's entombment, is shared by Franciscans, Copts, Abyssinians, Armenians, Orthodox Greeks, Syrians. The church is in danger of collapse, has been closed to the public pending $750,000 worth of repairs. The Franciscans, however, have repaired or rebuilt such shrines as the Basilica of the Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor, the Sanctuary in Aim Karem (birthplace of St. John the Baptist). Chief holy place not under partial or complete Christian control is Jerusalem's Room of the Last Supper, owned by an Arab family, which charges admission.

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