We highly value the photo exhibition held by the Friends of Jordan Festivals, with the support presented by the Jordan Tourism Board and the cooperation with the historical archives of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem, the French School of Biblical and Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, and the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies, in addition to the coordination by Darat Al-Tasweer. The exhibition shows photos relevant to the emergence of the Catholic Church in various parts in Jordan in the period 1860-1960 under the title, "Christianity in Jordan, heritage, history, and Culture.
The exhibition, organized by Dominican priest Fr. Jean-Michel de Tarragon, depends mainly on the historical archives of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem, whose spiritual services cover the entire Palestinian territories, Jordan, and Cyprus. The aim of this exhibition is to highlight the Christian presence in this Holy Land, whether in Jordan or in Palestine, yet the exhibition focused on the churches in Jordan. Whoever enters the exhibition halls, walks through history and geography, namely between those fruitful eras, but also views the hard times in terms of wars and political instability that took place in this region, as well as the difficulty of life and living there. Yet, there was a focus by the Latin Patriarchate, as is the case with the various sisterly Churches, to consolidate faith in this Holy Land through building churches prior and after the establishment of the Jordanian Emirate in 1921, which comes in the period extending between the 19th century and the 20th century that this exhibition chronicles.
I turned to my classmate Fr. Dr. Aziz Halawa, director of the historical archives of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem, who said that since its re-establishment in 1847 by Pope Pius IX, the Latin Patriarchate has preserved the fruits of its activities through its historical archives, whereby the oldest of which dates back to the first patriarch, namely Monsignor Giuseppe Valerga (1847-1872). He pointed out that the archive consists of about 3,000 volumes and boxes containing many documents in four languages, namely French, Arabic, Italian and English.
Fr. Halawa pointed out that the preserved archive is diverse in nature, whereby in addition to texts, books, old periodicals, and even artistic masterpieces, there is a large collection of photographs that depict the emergence of churches, parishes, and clerical life where the oldest of which dates back to the second half of the 19th century.
I was honored, alongside my fellow priests, to participate in the opening of this month-long exhibition, which was attended by Her Highness Princess Wijdan, her daughter Her Highness Princess Rajwa Bint Ali, and Minister of Culture Haifa Al-Najjar. A book by Father Jean-Michel de Tarragon, about the exhibition which includes explanations for every photo, will soon be launched. The visitors to the exhibition move from the city of Amman to the south of Jordan and to its north to find that the Latin Patriarchate has presented its spiritual and humanitarian services, as verified by the Latin Patriarchate schools which spread like being the twin of the churches. However, this exhibition has shed light on the churches, and we truly hope that another exhibition will be held for the schools of the Latin Patriarchate in Jordan since the educational process began there since the re-establishment of the Latin Patriarchate in 1847.
The Latin Patriarchate strives to establish its churches and schools to serve everyone, by refraining from isolation-- through neither religious nor sectarian considerations--for whoever wants to enter the field of humanitarian service must forget the differences and provide great services to everyone without exception.
Many thanks go to 80-year-old Dominican priest Fr. Jean-Michel de Tarragon for his love for Jordan and the Holy Land in general. A few days ago, he enriched us by organizing an interesting lecture delivered by 85-year-old Dominican Fr. Jean-Baptiste Humbert which was held at the French ambassador's residence about the excavations they jointly carried out in Gaza from 1995 to 2023. They only stopped the work because of the war that has been going on in Gaza Strip for about a year. They have numerous exploratory activities in Jordan, and through them, we greet everyone who loves our Holy Land and who recognizes Christianity in this country as heritage, history, and culture.
