Stewards of the Holy Land
The Franciscans, or the Order of Friars Minor, were headed by Francesco di Pietro di Bernardone, who is more popularly known as St. Francis of Assisi. In 1217, just eight years after the founding, the Franciscans arrived in the region where Jesus was born, ministered, and died, establishing the “Province of the Holy Land.” St. Francis himself visited the Holy Land between 1229 and 1230.The Franciscans, after a brief stint in exile after the last Crusade outpost fell to Muslim hands, were able to return to the Holy Land and negotiate with Muslim leaders the acquisition of certain sites and the ability to officiate mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Pope Clement VI recognized the Franciscans’ role as caretakers of the holy shrines, and this was formalized in a papal bull, an official document from the church, in 1342.
Today, they have stewardship of more than 30 monasteries and 55 sanctuaries in the Israel–Palestine–Jerusalem–Jordan area. Among these sites are The Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem, The Wedding Church in Cana, and The Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Setting Up in America
More than 500 years after the issuance of the papal bull, the Rev. Charles A. Vissani founded the Commissariat of the Holy Land in the United States. Initially set up in New York, he wanted to call attention to the need for the preservation of these holy sites. He and another colleague, Rev. Godfrey Schilling, began plans to build a “Holy Land in America.”The plan to build it on top of a hill on Staten Island, overlooking the New York harbor, never took root, but they were able to find a wooded hilltop in a quiet neighborhood in the nation’s capital to build the monastery. They purchased the land in 1897, and work began soon after.
Exploring the Grounds
The grand monastery church, in the Neo-Byzantine style, serves as the main building on the 42-acre plot of land. A small replica of the Portiuncula, the little chapel in Assisi where St. Francis lived and worked for most of his life and where he also eventually died, can be found off to the side. The upper garden is surrounded by the rosary portico, where bright mosaics feature the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious moments of Jesus’s time on earth. On the path leading to the lower gardens, visitors may reflect on Jesus’s final moments leading up to his crucifixion.At each outdoor stop, listen to commentaries by scanning the bar codes on the signage for a more meaningful garden visit. The gardens are open to the public Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
