Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1882-2006 (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
1,60 linear meters of textual records
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
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.
Archival history
The fonds consists in Saint-Etienne Convent's records; because it is a religious house, the archives are arranged according to the hierarchical organisation of the convent, managed by a prior, a sub-prior, assisted by a conventual council. The convent's daily-life is managed by a Procurator.
The Convent archives' fonds is surprisingly small compared to the amount of activities of the institution since its creation nearly 130 years ago. It was found as such in the archives’ room of the school at the beginning of 2014.
Several reasons needs to be considered to explain the relative thinness of the fonds.
- During the First World War, the convent was occupied by troops; a number of documents may have been destroyed or loosed at that time.
- Until recent times, clercs were often used to destroy their personal records when they were feeling the end of theirs lives, probably for the sake of humility and discretion.
- The documents located in the archives' room are the only ones that have been arranged and described. It is highly probable that an amount of historical archives (documents from the general administration, the Procuracy, the Priory, etc.) is still in the rooms dedicated to these offices. These documents will need to be described in the future. Moreover, current and semicurrent records also stored in the various offices will be arranged only after they become historical archives. Currently there is no records retention schedule dealing with them.
The documents from the EBAF's repository were arranged as a whole for the first time in February-March 2014. Before that, only Lagrange's collection had been arranged, by Father Montagnes, o.p., in order to prepare the beatification request for the said Lagrange. At the same time, Father Montagnes had also began to arrange Father Couroyer's collection.
These two arrangement operations, along with the inventory realised, were processed again in 2014 to get an identical arrangement plan for the whole fonds. The present inventory results from this new process of arrangement.
Throughout this arrangement work, only duplicates and day-to-day accounting documents (invoices) aged more than 25 years have been destroyed.
The whole materials have been rehoused into archival containers and folders. The available quantity of pH neutral supplies at that moment was not sufficient to rehouse all the files. They might be rehoused in the future; espcecially to remove the current boxes, which are far from an adequate storage container: they do not prevent dust from penetrating into them and they are made from acid plastic.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Dominican Priory of St. Stephen of Jerusalem records.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
There is currently no management table. In this classification, eliminations have been limited to duplicates and current accounting documents (invoices) that are more than 25 years old.
Accruals
The collection is still increasing
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
With the authorization of the management of the EBAF and the Priory of St. Stephen
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Couvent Saint-Étienne de Jérusalem, Ecole biblique et archéologique française, archives, Répertoire numérique Établi par Marie-Alpais Torcheboeuf, après classement des archives, Février – avril 2014
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Publication note
MURPHY O’CONNOR, Jerry, Cent ans d’exégèse à l’École biblique. Nouveau Testament, Cahiers de la Revue biblique, Paris, 1990.
Cent ans d’exégèse à l’École biblique. Ancien Testament, Cahiers de la Revue biblique, Paris, 1990.
BENOIT, Pierre, Un siècle d’archéologie à l’École biblique de Jérusalem (1890-1990), Jérusalem, 1988.
Sources complémentaires
This fonds may be supplemented by documents related to the Bible School held at the General Archives of the Order of Preachers in Rome, for example:
- Series IV: Correspondence of the Masters of the Order with Jerusalem
- Series XI: files concerning Saint-Etienne de Jérusalem
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
ISAD(G), Second Edition, Ottawa 2000.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
February - April 2014. November 2018.
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
Author: Marie-Alpais Torcheboeuf