Bethlehem

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Atitular see of Palestine. The early name of the city was Ephrata; afterwards Bethlehem, "House of Bread"; today Beith-Lahm, "House of Flesh." There died Rachel, Jacob's wife (Genesis 35:19);David was born there (1 Samuel 17:12), and many other Biblical personages. There was enacted the gracious idyll of Ruth and Booz. There, above all, the Savior was born, a descendant ofDavid, and from this fact thehumble village has acquired unparalleled glory. It was at Bethlehem, also, that in the fourth centurySt. Jerome,St. Paula, and St. Eustochium fixed their residence. According to John Cassian, it was in amonastery of Bethlehem that the office ofPrime was instituted. As early as the second century it was indicated bySt. Justin Martyr, a native of Neapolis (Nablous), as the place of the Nativity. About A.D. 330Constantine the Great built abasilica on this site. The present church appears to date from a later time — either the fifth or the sixth century — and has been repaired at still later periods. TheFrankish kings were wont to come fromJerusalem to becrowned at Bethlehem, in memory of thecoronation ofDavid by Samuel. The greater part of the church is now shared by various communions, while the choir belongs to the Greeks alone, the Grotto of the Nativity is open to the Latins, the Greeks, and theArmenians, who hold services there each in turn.

The firstBishop of Bethlehem, Arnolfo (1099-1103), was appointed by theCrusaders. Thesee was not canonically erected until 1109, when the title was united with that ofAscalon, till then a Greek diocese (Revue de l'Orient latin, I, 141). The Diocese of Bethlehem-Ascalon existed from 1109-1378, but since the middle of the thirteenth century itsbishops resided at Clamecy inFrance. The Diocese of Bethlehem-Clamecy was created in 1378, and suppressed by theConcordat betweenNapoleon andPius VII, in 1801. The titularBishoprics of Bethlehem and Ascalon, however, had existed separately from 1378 to 1603, when they were suppressed. From 1801 to 1840 both residential andtitular sees, either of Bethlehem or Ascalon, were extinct. In 1840,Gregory XVI reunited the title of Bethlehemin perpetuum to the independent Abbey ofSt. Maurice d'Agaune inSwitzerland. In 1867 the titular See ofAscalon was also re-established.

Bethlehem is today a little town with about 10,000 inhabitants, exclusive of foreigners (5,000 Latins, 100Catholic, orMelchite, Greeks, 4,000 Greeks, a fewArmenians andMussulmans). The inhabitants are very active and industrious. Besides agriculture, they are engaged in the fabrication of wooden, mother-of-pearl, and bituminous limestone objects, such as beads, crosses, etc. Thewomen are remarkably beautiful and wear a peculiar costume which is very rich and of ancient pattern TheFranciscans govern the Latinparish, a scholasticate, a primaryschool, and an asylum; theChristian Brothers have anovitiate for native young men; the Fathers of the Sacred Heart, or Betharramites, have a scholasticate for their missions in South America; theSalesians conduct an industrialschool with anorphanage and an elementaryschool; theSisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition have twoconvents, aschool, anorphanage, and an infantschool; the Sisters of Charity have ahospital and anorphanage; theCarmelitenuns, amonastery. The GreekCatholicparish lately established has not yet a church. There are also Greek andArmenianmonasteries, andschools conducted by Greeks,Armenians, andProtestants.

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