Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Chiyaley,
possession . ; it was sacred , if in a less degree than Mecca ; it had been visited by the Prophet once , according to their legend , in a mysterious and sacred manner , and the Prophet had wavered between Mecca and Jerusalem , as the Kehla of prayer for his disciples . The great religious ancestor of the Jews ( Abraham ) was also that of
the Arabs ; the holy men and prophets of Israel were held in honour by the new faith ; and the Koran admitted the supreme sanctity , though not the divinity , of Jesus . On the surrender of the city to Omar , Christianity was allowed to perform all its rites , though shorn of pomp and publicity . The conqueror visited the Church of the Eesurrection , saying his prayers under the portico ; he also went to Bethlehem , and there performed his devotions . On the site of
the temple of Solomon he built the magnificent mosque which' still remains . The successors of Omar did not interrupt the pilgrimages , being contented to receive the tribute-money ; but when their fierce successors , the Seljuk Turks , came into possession of the country , the Christians were cruelly treated ; so that , plundered and maimed , they returned with lamentable tales of their own sufferings , and of those who had died through ill-usage .
These pilgrimages were strongly opposed by the early Fathers of the Church . They argued that unnecessary journeys to such remote lands were dangerous to the morals and virtue , especially ofthe female sex ; and urged the superiority of a quiet holy life in any part of the world , to the wanderings over sea and land , east or west , to
seek more intimate assurance of the divine presence . In spite of tho persecutions both Christian and Jew had alike suffered from their Moslem governors ( and they onstituted in those early times the chief residents in Palestine ) , most of the sites sacred in the eyes of the Christian were equally dear to the Jewish mind .
In the eighth century a hospital for poor pilgrims was instituted in Jerusalem ; and in the eleventh century some Christian merchants of Amalfi , in Italy , obtained a license from the Mussulman rulers for improving the establishment of the hospital , which they arranged should be supported by alms to be collected in Italy , and also by contributions from the wealthier pilgrims who should visit the Holy City ; the professed object of the hospital being the relief and
entertainment of wayfaring sick and poor pilgrims . To the hospital they attached a chapel , dedicated to the Virgin , under the title of St . Mary ad Latinos . The hospital was for the service of both sexes ; that part which was devoted to females being under the protection of St . Mary Magdalen . The hospital was dedicated to St . John the Almoner , a canonized patriarch of Alexandria , who , in the seventh century , fell into the hands of the Saracens ; and on his release and
return , sent money and provisions to the afflicted Christians in . Jerusalem . Bazot , in his " Manuel du Eranc Ma ^ on , " thinks it is this saint who is the true patron of our Order . He says : — " He was tho son of a king of Cyprus , and quitted his country and the prospect of a throne to go up to Jerusalem—after having witnessed the sufferings
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Chiyaley,
possession . ; it was sacred , if in a less degree than Mecca ; it had been visited by the Prophet once , according to their legend , in a mysterious and sacred manner , and the Prophet had wavered between Mecca and Jerusalem , as the Kehla of prayer for his disciples . The great religious ancestor of the Jews ( Abraham ) was also that of
the Arabs ; the holy men and prophets of Israel were held in honour by the new faith ; and the Koran admitted the supreme sanctity , though not the divinity , of Jesus . On the surrender of the city to Omar , Christianity was allowed to perform all its rites , though shorn of pomp and publicity . The conqueror visited the Church of the Eesurrection , saying his prayers under the portico ; he also went to Bethlehem , and there performed his devotions . On the site of
the temple of Solomon he built the magnificent mosque which' still remains . The successors of Omar did not interrupt the pilgrimages , being contented to receive the tribute-money ; but when their fierce successors , the Seljuk Turks , came into possession of the country , the Christians were cruelly treated ; so that , plundered and maimed , they returned with lamentable tales of their own sufferings , and of those who had died through ill-usage .
These pilgrimages were strongly opposed by the early Fathers of the Church . They argued that unnecessary journeys to such remote lands were dangerous to the morals and virtue , especially ofthe female sex ; and urged the superiority of a quiet holy life in any part of the world , to the wanderings over sea and land , east or west , to
seek more intimate assurance of the divine presence . In spite of tho persecutions both Christian and Jew had alike suffered from their Moslem governors ( and they onstituted in those early times the chief residents in Palestine ) , most of the sites sacred in the eyes of the Christian were equally dear to the Jewish mind .
In the eighth century a hospital for poor pilgrims was instituted in Jerusalem ; and in the eleventh century some Christian merchants of Amalfi , in Italy , obtained a license from the Mussulman rulers for improving the establishment of the hospital , which they arranged should be supported by alms to be collected in Italy , and also by contributions from the wealthier pilgrims who should visit the Holy City ; the professed object of the hospital being the relief and
entertainment of wayfaring sick and poor pilgrims . To the hospital they attached a chapel , dedicated to the Virgin , under the title of St . Mary ad Latinos . The hospital was for the service of both sexes ; that part which was devoted to females being under the protection of St . Mary Magdalen . The hospital was dedicated to St . John the Almoner , a canonized patriarch of Alexandria , who , in the seventh century , fell into the hands of the Saracens ; and on his release and
return , sent money and provisions to the afflicted Christians in . Jerusalem . Bazot , in his " Manuel du Eranc Ma ^ on , " thinks it is this saint who is the true patron of our Order . He says : — " He was tho son of a king of Cyprus , and quitted his country and the prospect of a throne to go up to Jerusalem—after having witnessed the sufferings