Designato titolare della nuova nunziatura apostolica in Irlanda (1929-1948)
La Delegazione apostolica di Palestina, Transgiordania e Cipro ebbe origine l'11 marzo 1929, quando essa fu separata dalla Siria e sottoposta alla giurisdizione della Delegazione apostolica d'Egitto.
Il 15 giugno 1934 mons. Gustavo Testa fu nominato Delegato apostolico di Egitto, Arabia, Eritrea, Abissina, Palestina, Transgiordania e Cipro ed arcivescovo titolare di Amasea. Rientrato a Roma nel 1941, fu nuovamente delegato apostolico dal 1947 finché l'11 febbraio 1948 la delegazione di Palestina, Transgiordania e Cipro fu separata dall'Egitto e costituita autonomamente con sede a Gerusalemme. Mons. Gustavo Testa ne fu il primo delegato.
A seguito del rientro di mons. Testa in Italia, nel 1941, mons. Arthur Hughes fu nominato incaricato d'affari della Delegazione apostolica e poi reggente fino al 1948, quando la nuova delegazione di Palestina, Transgiordania e Cipro venne nuovamente affidata a mons. Gustavo Testa fino al 1953.
La Delegazione apostolica di Palestina, Transgiordania e Cipro ebbe origine l'11 marzo 1929, quando essa fu separata dalla Siria e sottoposta alla giurisdizione della Delegazione apostolica d'Egitto.
Il 15 giugno 1934 mons. Gustavo Testa fu nominato Delegato apostolico di Egitto, Arabia, Eritrea, Abissina, Palestina, Transgiordania e Cipro ed arcivescovo titolare di Amasea. Rientrato a Roma nel 1941, fu nuovamente delegato apostolico dal 1947 finché l'11 febbraio 1948 la delegazione di Palestina, Transgiordania e Cipro fu separata dall'Egitto e costituita autonomamente con sede a Gerusalemme. Mons. Gustavo Testa ne fu il primo delegato.
A seguito del rientro di mons. Testa in Italia, nel 1941, mons. Arthur Hughes fu nominato incaricato d'affari della Delegazione apostolica e poi reggente fino al 1948, quando la nuova delegazione di Palestina, Transgiordania e Cipro venne nuovamente affidata a mons. Gustavo Testa fino al 1953.
To be completed
In the 17th century, King Louis the 13th decided to appoint a French consul in Jerusalem, as he was urged to protect the Latin people and restore their threatened rights. But until 1842, the French presence in town remained occasional.
Before the French consulate being stable, French and Palestinian affairs were ruled by other French consulates first in Aleppo, then in Cairo and finally in Damascus.
On the 29th December of 1842, the French Foreign office established a consulate in Jerusalem, and first put in charge Count Gabriel de Lantivy. For quite a long time, consuls’ missions had been both religious and political. Consuls were directly under the authority of the French embassy in Constantinople.
In 1871, the defeat of France against Germany unsettled the protectorate and French prerogatives upon the Christian monks it had to protect. Therefore, the French Foreign office deeply reformed the consulate so that it could better serve the French interests in the area. At the end of the 19th century, the Consul of France used the powerful French Catholic missionary movement to enlarge his influence. Many French religious orders came and settled their houses in Jerusalem and around Holy places (Mytilene agreement in 1901 and Treaty of Constantinople in 1913). Thus, the French presence in the area increased just before the First World War. Furthemore, capitulations of the Ottoman Empire allowed France to gather more and more people under its protection. In addition, as a consequence of colonization of Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Consulate also began to protect a larger number of Muslim and Jewish citizens who came and lived in the Holy City.
Franco-Russian Alliance (1891) brought some troubles to the Consulate. The diplomatic and political crisis the Ottoman Empire got through until the First World War unsettled its authority. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed in 1918, the General Consulate in Jerusalem enfranchised from the French Embassy authority in Constantinople and became General Consulate. In may 1941, The Consulate was closed upon mandatory British authorities.
Consuls of Jerusalem Post :
The Consulate General of Greece in Jerusalem was established in 1862.
Ottoman period:
Jerusalem municipal council (majlis baladiyya, meclis-i belediye) came into existence in the early 1860s. Jerusalem was, in fact, one of the very first cities within the Ottoman Empire to form a municipality, which was further consolidated after the Ottoman law on municipalities in 1877. From the 1880s onward, the municipal council was composed of nine to twelve members, elected for a renewable mandate of four years: there were generally six Muslims, two Christians, and one or two Jews on the council (depending on the period), in addition to a maximum of four ex officio members.
Mandate period:
Construction of the historical city hall building in 1930 (used until 1993)
From 1948: to be completed.
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.