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[From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custody_of_the_Holy_Land]
The Custody of the Holy Land (Latin: Custodia Terræ Sanctæ) is a custodian priory of the Franciscan order in Jerusalem, founded as Province of the Holy Land in 1217 by Saint Francis of Assisi, who also founded the Franciscan Order. Its mission is to guard "the grace of the Holy Places" of the Holy Land and the rest of the Middle East, "sanctified by the presence of Jesus" as well as pilgrims visiting them, on behalf of the Catholic Church. Between 2004 and 2016, the Custodial Curia was led by Custos Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, with the approval of the Holy See. Since 2016, the chief custodian has been Francesco Patton. Its headquarters are located in the Monastery of Saint Saviour, a 16th-century Franciscan monastery near the New Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem.

In 1890, Father Marie-Joseph Lagrange opened the "Ecole pratique d'Etudes bibliques" in the Convent of Saint-Etienne to study the Bible within the framework of its development.
In the following years, the buildings of the School, the convent and the basilica were successively built, the dedication of which was celebrated on May 13, 1900.
In 1920, the French government recognized the École Biblique as the French Archaeological School of Jerusalem. The School is then attached to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.
From the first generation of professors, we can mention Father Édouard Dhorme, a great assyriologist, Father Louis-Hugues Vincent, who dedicated his life to Palestinian archaeology, Father Abel, a specialist in biblical history and geography, or Father Antonin Jaussen and Raphaël Savignac, who brought back from their explorations an impressive archaeological, epigraphic and ethnographic treasure.
Under the direction of Fr. Roland de Vaux, the second generation worked no less. It undertook real archaeological excavations in several places, starting with Abu Gosh (1946) and Emmaus-Nicopolis. The largest excavations were those of Tell el-Far'ah nord (1946-1960), identified by Fr. de Vaux as the former Tirça, and the exploration of Khirbet Qumran from 1951 onwards. The Qumran excavations were accompanied by a work as long as it was of primary importance on the famous manuscripts. A team of epigraphers was then formed, which worked for many years to identify and publish the fragments found in the caves. At the death of Fr. de Vaux (1971), the archaeology department was taken over by Fr. Benoit, his collaborator for many years, a fine connoisseur of Jerusalem.
The same Fr. Benoit also played an important role in the publication of the first Jerusalem Bible immediately after the Second World War. This new French edition of the Bible, later published in many other languages, was distinguished by its rich notes and in-depth theological reflection. Following the first edition, in fascicles, many reprints were published, promoting the progress of exegetical research, up to the famous Jerusalem Bible of the year 2000.
The scientific activity of the School is also illustrated by its periodical publications, whether it is the Revue Biblique (RB), founded in 1892, the only journal covering the entire biblical field, or the collections of Bible Studies (since 1903) and the Cahiers de la Revue Biblique.
The convent of Saint-Etienne/Biblical School has also housed an important library since the beginning, specialising in the exegesis and archaeology of the Near East.

On his return from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in April-May 1882, a Dominican, Father Mathieu Lecomte, submitted to the Master of his Order the plan to restore a convent of preachers in the Holy City. He wanted to open a house there for the assistance of pilgrims and the study of theology, in order to better understand the doctrine of Eastern Christians, Jews and Muslims.

On 27 December 1883, land was acquired for this purpose near the Damascus Gate, where a church dedicated to Saint-Etienne once stood. A convent was established there on 26 December 1884, the feast of Saint Stephen. Fr. Mathieu Lecomte died two years later.
His successor, Fr. Paul Meunier, proposed in 1886 to found a course in Sacred Scripture in this convent. The Provincial of Toulouse immediately promised him the assistance of Fr. Marie-Joseph Lagrange. When he arrived in Jerusalem at the beginning of 1890, Fr. Lagrange opened what he insisted on calling a practical School of Biblical Studies, intended to study the Bible within the framework of its development, on 15 November of the same year.

The Dominicans of Jerusalem constitute the monastery of Saint-Étienne (in France, we would speak of a "convent"), a community made up of about twenty brothers, most of them permanent, others who came for some time for study at the French Biblical and Archaeological School in Jerusalem, and some associate members.

The brothers and their friends celebrate religious services (Lauds, Mass and Vespers) in the Basilica of St. Stephen, rebuilt on the very remains of the 5th century Byzantine basilica. The entire estate is part of the holy sites of Jerusalem.

http://www.domjer.org/

Robert Langlamet was born on May 17, 1931 in Cherbourg. Fragile in health, he had to interrupt his high school studies several times because of lung disease. After his baccalaureate in philosophy in 1950, he entered the Dominican novitiate of the convent of Saint-Jacques in Paris and received, at the time of his taking up his habit, the name of François. For a year, from 1951 to 1952, he had to interrupt his studies because of tuberculosis and treat in a sanatorium in Haute-Savoie. He then spent two years at the Major Seminary of Aix-en-Provence (1952-1954), the climate of the south of France being preferable to him. His studies of philosophy were supervised by Fr. Marcel Dubois, then at Le Saulchoir, whom he later met again in Jerusalem. In 1954, he was able to finish his novitiate and make profession a year later. He continued his years of philosophy and theology at Le Saulchoir, interrupted in turn by a severe hip surgery, for which he spent many months in hospital. He kept one hip stiff all his life. Ordained priest on July 10, 1960, he finished his studies with a degree in theology and a degree in reading. His superiors then intended him to prepare for the biblical examinations in Rome. Langlamet arrived in Jerusalem on October 15, 1962. His first year thesis, under the direction of Fr. Raymond Tournay, focused on chiasma in the Old Testament, while his second year thesis, under the direction of Fr. de Vaux, focused on the "anti-monarchist narrative" and the "deuteronomist vocabulary". De Vaux then asked for his assignment to Jerusalem, so that he could become an Old Testament teacher, specializing in the Pentateuch and historical books. He obtained his bachelor's degree and bachelor's degree in Sacred Scripture in 1964 and began teaching upon his return to Jerusalem, focusing his research on the "deuteronomist writing" of historical books. In 1967-1969, he also studied at the Hebrew University, where he researched Joshua, and was awarded the prize for the best student of the year for a seminar on "Geographical en historical Problems in the Book of Joshua". He mastered both biblical and modern Hebrew. In the autumn of 1970, he was asked to replace, with André Caquot, Father Prignaud as translator of Samuel's Books for the Ecumenical Translation of the Bible. He spent more than three years translating, drawing on the courses and articles he was preparing on Samuel's Books (1971-1975). The complete edition of the TOB was published in 1975. In 1971, he devoted an infinite amount of time to completing the second volume of Israel's ancient history. Father de Vaux had indeed died accidentally without having been able to write all his notes, which Langlamet takes up again. His participation in the TOB gave Langlamet a lasting orientation on the books of Samuel and the Kings, particularly on what he called "the history of the succession to the throne of David" (2 S 9-20 and 1 Kings 1-2). He concludes, after years of research into the sources of this history, that there had been several original narratives that were combined with "the history of succession", then "benjaminite additions", which underwent "theological-sapientiarchal" changes. He developed a particular method that could be described as both a study of vocabulary, the identification of elementary units and their grouping into larger units, the consideration of symmetrical structures such as chiasmas, "all this while revealing at each stage of the drafting process a balance of the text that is very different from what would be a thoughtless and unarthed compilation3". In 1995, he retired from teaching and research but continued to be active in the School. He continues to be of great service to the Bible Review, particularly by continuing to write reviews. In 1977, he introduced a "Collections and Mixtures" section, which he wrote alone until 2003, and where he presented more than 1000 collective works. For many years, he was in charge of the sacristy and the ringing of the convent bells. His precise and infinitely careful personality excelled in it. His funeral was held on March 1, 2005. He rests in the cemetery of the convent of Saint-Etienne.

Born on August 3, 1906 in Nancy, Maurice Benoît came from a family of local notables: his grandfather, Charles Benoît, a member of the first class of the French School of Athens, was dean of the Faculty of Arts in Nancy; his father, Auguste Benoît, a doctor of law, was a lawyer by profession; two of his uncles, François Geny and Georges Renard, were law professors; one of his brothers, Jacques Benoît, a biologist, was a professor at the Collège de France.

Like his elder brother Paul Benoît, he was destined for Benedictine religious life. He then took the first name of Pierre; he was ordained a priest in 1930. After studying theology at the Dominican College of Saulchoir in Kain, near Tournai (Belgium) from 1924 to 1932, then biblical studies at the Ecole Biblique est archéologique française in Jerusalem, he obtained his degree in Sacred Scripture on 22 November 1934.
At the request of Fr. Lagrange, he settled permanently at the Convent of St. Stephen in Jerusalem and became a professor at the French Biblical and Archaeological School, first of all in New Testament exegesis, then in Biblical Greek, in textual criticism of the Bible, Epistles and Gospels; at the end of his life, he was also in charge of Jerusalem's topography courses, as well as the organization of the School's archaeological excursions and trips.

Within the French Biblical and Archaeological School, his responsibilities led him to be Director of the Biblical Review from 1953 to 1968 and to take over from Fr. de Vaux as Director of the School from 1965 to 1972. He coordinates the publication of the Jerusalem Bible, in particular the New Testament, for which he is responsible, the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, the Epistles of captivity, the introductions and the key notes. He also closely follows the translations of the Jerusalem Bible into foreign languages. In 1967, he published the memories of his mentor, Le P. Lagrange. In the service of the Bible. Personal memories.
A recognized specialist in biblical exegesis, he was successively appointed member of the Preparatory Commission of the Churches of the East for the Second Vatican Council on 24 August 1960, expert at the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council on 27 April 1964, member of the Pontifical Commission for Neo-Vulgate on 1 June 1967, and member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission in 1972.

An active member of several learned societies, including the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas and the French Catholic Association for the Study of the Bible, he participates in numerous international conferences and gives numerous lectures throughout the world, both in the field of Christian theology and biblical archaeology. He was also administrator of the Palestinian Archaeological Museum (Rockefeller Museum) until 1967. Maintaining close relations with Western academics, he obtained an honorary doctorate from the University of Munich in 1972 and Durham in 1977.

Author, among others of Passion and Resurrection of the Lord (1966) and Synopsis of the Four Gospels (1965), he chose to gather most of his scattered articles in a four-volume publication Exegesis and Theology, from 1961 to 1982.
Knight of the Legion of Honour by decree of 29 April 1959, he was promoted to officer of the Legion of Honour by decree of 12 July 1974.

He had been suffering from cancer for several years and died on April 23, 1987.

Born in Mulhouse to a reluctant Jewish family, François Dreyfus was preparing for the entrance exam to the Ecole Polytechnique, where he was admitted in 1935. On his release in 1939, he was mobilized and then taken prisoner. It was in captivity that he read the Bible again, received Catholic catechesis and was baptized in 1941. It was also in prison that he met the famous Dominican Vicars and Congar. This probably explains why, at the end of the war, François Dreyfus chose to join the Dominican order. He took the habit in 1947 at the convent of Saint-Jacques in Paris and received the name of Paul.

First approached to accompany Fr. Bruno Hussar in the foundation of the Maison Saint-Isaïe in Jerusalem, Fr. Dreyfus was finally assigned to the École Biblique, where a New Testament teacher was needed. Living in East Jerusalem, Fr. Dreyfus had to bear the false name of Trevoux for several years. Returning to Le Saulchoir in 1957, he completed his thesis there and taught the New Testament for ten years.
Only then did he return to the EBAF, which was responsible for the reviews for the Bible Review; his field then became biblical theology. He opened up his fields of research very widely, until the publication, in 1984, of his best-selling book Jesus did he know he was God?

Paralyzed by an attack in 1990, he went to the brothers of Saint-Jean, in Rimont, where he died in December 1999.

Fr. Etienne Doumeth was a Lebanese Maronite priest (from Maad) who joined the brothers of Sion (St. Peter's Monastery in Jerusalem) where he taught Arabic. After a few years spent in Saint-Pierre, he was claimed by the Bible School, just opened (1890) and where a teacher of Arabic was sought. Fr. Doumeth then became a Dominican, made profession and lived in the convent of Saint-Etienne during the First World War, when the French fathers and brothers had to leave the country. He died in Saint-Etienne on October 5, 1929.

Born in Paris on 17 December 1903, Roland de Vaux studied at the Collège Stanislas, then at the Sorbonne. After his degree, he entered the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, where he was ordained priest on June 29, 1929. But, having resolved to enter the Order of Preachers, he entered the novitiate at Amiens in September 1929, made profession there on 23 September 1930 and immediately made his studies at the Saulchoir de Cain in Belgium, where he remained until 1933. He then turned particularly to medieval philosophy, which explains the research leading to his first publication, dedicated to Avicenna. But he also turned to orientalism, before being asked, in 1933, by the École Biblique to complete the team of teachers then famous but aging. He arrived in Jerusalem in September 1933.

Father de Vaux first studied there for two years, under the direction of the PP. Lagrange, Vincent, Abel or Savignac. He passed the Bible Commission exams in June 1935. Back in Jerusalem, he was appointed professor of biblical history and archaeology, two subjects that would also be his main fields of research for the rest of his life. He taught these two disciplines from 1935 to 1971 without interruption. He also taught Assyro-Babylonian from 1935 to 1940 and Old Testament exegesis from 1946 to 1949, while preparing his translations for the first Jerusalem Bible. His former students agree in praising his pedagogical sense and brilliant presentations, with the absolute honesty he demonstrated as a researcher.
From these teachings came out several important works, starting with the Jerusalem Bible fascicles on Genesis, the Books of Samuel and the Kings. He also played a major role in the one-volume edition of the Jerusalem Bible in 1956. The two volumes of his Old Testament Institutions were translated into many languages.

He began his work as an archaeologist with modest campaigns that followed his first archaeological exploration in the Salt region of Transjordan in the summer of 1937. That same year, he and Fr. Savignac excavated the church of Ma'în, near Madaba (Jordan). In 1944, he and Fr. Stève carried out the excavation of an old caravanserai near the biblical Qiriat Yearim (Abu Gosh). Still with Fr. Stève, he then worked (1945-1946) on the site of el-Ma'moudiyeh, a Byzantine sanctuary dedicated to St. John the Baptist, west of Hebron. In 1946, he attacked a more important site: the Tell el-Far'ah of the North, later identified as the ancient Tirça, the first capital of the northern kingdom, from which King Omri emigrated to Samaria. Nine campaigns were devoted to this site until 1960.

In the middle of these Tell el-Far'ah campaigns, the "Qumran affair" arose, named after the manuscripts discovered in caves on the Dead Sea in 1947. From 1949 to 1958, Fr. de Vaux was responsible for the excavations of the various caves for the Bible School, and then for those of the Qumran site itself. In 1952, de Vaux organized a campaign of excavations at the wadi Murab'baat, followed by an excavation of the Qumran site every winter until 1956. Father de Vaux was also in charge of the international team responsible for studying and publishing the manuscripts, which were stored in the scrollery of the Rockefeller Museum until 1967. The findings of his research were presented in reports published in the Bible Review and in the 1959 "Schweich Lectures", lectures published in 1961 under the title Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls. From this book, Kathleen Kenyon could say: "This publication of his lectures is an monument to his skill as an excavator, as a historian and as an authority on the scrolls themselves".

Shortly afterwards, Fr. de Vaux was associated by Miss Kathleen Kenyon with the Jerusalem excavations: he was in charge of the southern part of the Mosque Esplanade, in the el-Khâtoûnîyeh district, which he searched from 1961 to 1963. The search was then resumed by Professor Mazar.

At the École Biblique, he also had heavy responsibilities to fulfil, since he was director of the Rebue Biblique from 1938 to 1953, director of the School from 1945 to 1965, as well as prior of the convent from 1949 to 1952. Appointed Consultant of the Pontifical Biblical Commission in 1956, then Master of Theology in 1958, he was called to Harvard as Visiting Professor for the year 1964-1965. The honours also followed since he was appointed correspondent member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1952, before becoming a non-resident free member in 1962. In 1961, he became a corresponding member of the British Academy, while subsequently being elected an honorary member of various scientific societies around the world. Several universities and colleges have also awarded him the title of Doctor honoris causa.

Struck by arteritis in early 1971, he gradually lost his health and died at St. Joseph's Hospital in Jerusalem on September 10, 1971. The funeral was held in Saint-Etienne on the 13th. His last work, Ancient History of Israel, was unfinished and was later completed and published by Fr. Langlamet.

Fr. Bernard Couroyer arrived at the Ecole Biblique after very solid studies in classical and modern literature, as well as the theological and philosophical training given at Le Saulchoir. In 1929, he passed the examinations of the Biblical Commission.

He had been called to the School by Fr. Lagrange to become a professor of Assyriology. But Fr. Dhorme, director at the time, asked him to dedicate himself more to Egyptology; he therefore followed Fr. Abel's Coptic courses and learned hieroglyphics by himself. After a stay in Cairo to supervise the work of the new convent, he resumed teaching Egyptology and Coptic in Jerusalem. From 1929, he also became a biblical Hebrew teacher, until Father Lemoine's replacement in 1952. In 1955, when Fr. Marmadji died, he even became an Arabic teacher!

A member of the Palestine Oriental Society of Jerusalem, he was elected president in 1938.
Over the years, he forged his specialization: "Bible and Egyptology".

He translated the book of the Exodus for the Jerusalem Bible. He devoted much of his time to the study of the relationship between Bible passages and Egyptian civilization.

Fr. Couroyer was also prosecutor of the convent from 1945 to 1952.

Born in Rennes in 1904, Charles Couäsnon is the son of an architect, a profession he also chose. He was admitted to the Beaux-Arts de Rennes in 1923, before completing his training at the Beaux-Arts de Paris. He obtained the title of architect graduated by the Government in 1933. He was later appointed ordinary architect of the historic monuments of Ille-et-Vilaine. In 1938, he built the Sainte-Anne chapel near Rennes. It was at this moment that he thought of entering the Dominican order. He was mobilized at the same time and spent three years in captivity, from June 1940 to April 1943.

He entered the novitiate in 1943 and made his profession in 1944. Ordained a priest on July 16, 1948, he was assigned in 1950 to the convent of Saint-Etienne, his only convent of assignment until his death in 1976. He came here to help Fr. de Vaux in his excavations as an architect, which he did at Tell el Far'ah. From 1952 to 1954, he resided in Casablanca to direct the construction of a Dominican convent, which he also did in Mosul afterwards. Then he resumed work with Fr. de Vaux in Qumran, where he was in charge of the overall surveys.

In the Holy Land, he was called upon on all sides, particularly for the Benedictine monastery in Bethlehem, the restoration of the Holy Anne's Church in Jerusalem, or the restoration of the Crusader Church in Abu Gosh.
But his life's work was to cooperate in the restoration of the Holy Sepulchre from 1962 to 1976. The progress of the work can be followed more accurately in his book The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Sweich Lectures, 1972, Oxford University Press, 1974.

The basilica had been damaged by a fire in 1808, and an earthquake in 1927 had worsened its condition. In 1954, the three Christian communities owning and using the basilica had succeeded in reaching an agreement to begin its restoration. Work began in 1962, with each community having its chief architect. Fr. Couäsnon was the local representative of Jean Trouvelot, Inspector General of French Historical Monuments, architect for the Custody. On site, a "Joint Technical Office" bringing together Couäsnon and his Greek and Armenian counterparts, carried out the work in constant liaison with the three chief architects, who had remained in Paris and Athens.

The first objective was the restoration of the 12th century Crusader church (transept crosspieces, Katholicon choir, pillars, ground floor ambulatory). This was completed in 1969. The restoration of the Rotunda, whose building had to be supported, was then carried out.

Fr. Couäsnon was struck by a heart attack in 1976, while driving with Fr. Dreyfus. He died immediately.