Not everyone knows that Mary is the patron saint of the Franciscan order. But why this importance of Our Lady for the order? We will discover this through a selection of objects from the collections of the Custody of the Holy Land that will be displayed in the future historical section of the Holy Land Museum. The museum, which will be located in the Convent of St. Saviour in Jerusalem, will be a place to rediscover the history of the Franciscans in the Holy Land and their devotion to the Mother of God. Father Stéphane Milovitch, director of the Custody's Cultural Heritage Office, and Father Alessandro Coniglio, professor at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem, will accompany us on this in-depth study. Br STÉPHANE MILOVITCH, ofm Director of the Cultural Heritage Office - Custody of the Holy Land "We are in the church of St Saviour in Jerusalem, in front of one of the side altars of the church. To begin our journey of Marian devotion, we present this painting, an oil on canvas depicting St Francis of Assisi kneeling before the apparition of Jesus and Mary. The episode took place after the miracle of the roses, evoked in the painting by the red and white flowers depicted on the steps where St Francis is kneeling. It was on this occasion that Jesus granted the saint the indulgence of the Portiuncula. This painting that we have here in Jerusalem is a copy of a painting by Bartolomé Esteba Murillo, one of the most representative figures of Spanish Baroque painting, painted around 1667 and kept in the Prado Museum in Madrid. The copy we have here in the church was made in the 1940s by a Franciscan Missionary Sister of Mary." Br ALESSANDRO CONIGLIO, ofm Professor Studium Biblicum Franciscanum – Jerusalem "The painting shows us how St Francis would have obtained the indulgence of the Portiuncula. Francis is kneeling in front of the altar of the Church of St. Mary of the Angels in the plain of Assisi, which he himself restored, and which was very dear to the Saint. As one of the first biographers recounts, "his father said that he knew by divine revelation that the Blessed Virgin, among all the churches raised up in her honour, loved that one with particular fondness" (2Cel 19). The same biographer tells us that Francis "surrounded the Mother of Jesus with an unspeakable love, because she had made our brother the Lord of majesty. [...] But what fills us most with joy, he made her the Advocate of the Order and placed under her wings the children, whom he was about to leave, so that they might find warmth and protection until the end" (2Cel 198). And the episode depicted in the painting shows precisely this protection by Mary granted to St Francis himself in a moment of temptation. The roses at his feet recall how the Seraphic Father threw himself naked onto a rose bush behind the church of the Portiuncula because he was tempted by the flesh. Such was his love for God that he did not want to offend Him in any way, and would not have feared the wounds inflicted by the thorns of the roses, so as to remain faithful to his vocation of total consecration to the Lord. But, here is the miracle! The roses lost their thorns and Francis overcame the temptation through the intervention of God's grace, rather than his own ascetic gesture! Then, having returned to the Portiuncula, in front of the altar he had a vision of Jesus, who, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, His Mother, granted Francis a plenary indulgence for pilgrims who came to visit that little church in honour of Mary. Like Francis, we too can overcome every temptation by looking to Mary, and, by entrusting ourselves to her, we can obtain from her Son Jesus the grace that saves us in the forgiveness of our sins. For Mary is not only the Advocate of the Order of Friars Minor, but of all who invoke her with faith and sincere devotion." Read More