Deir Rafat

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Entrance area of ​​the Deir Rafat monastery, with the statue Queen of Palestine (2017)
Deir Rafat monastery building (2010)
Deir Rafat monastery church, "Ave Maria" banners (2010)

Deir Rafat ( Arabic دير رفات, Hebrew דיר ראפאת) is a place between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv , which is known as a Catholic Marian pilgrimage site in the area of ​​the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem with the sanctuary of " Our Lady , Queen of Palestine and the Holy Land ".

The Catholic monastery in central Israel is located northwest of Bet Shemesh between Givat Shemesh and Kibbutz Tzora in the south and Kfar Uria in the north. Politically it falls under the jurisdiction of the regional administration of Mateh Jehuda . In 2018, it had a population of 94.

The monastery was founded in 1927 by the Latin Patriarch Luigi Barlassina as a place in honor of Mary , the "Queen of Palestine". In 1933 the name “Queen of Palestine” was officially recognized by the then Congregation for Rites in Rome. In addition to the pilgrimage site, the pilgrimage site consists of a monastery with a church, a boarding school and an orphanage. In addition, a guest house and a retreat center for believers and pilgrims from the Holy Land are operated.

The facade of the monastery church bears the inscription in Latin Reginæ Palæstinæ 'the Queen of Palestine' and a six meter high statue of the Virgin Mary. The ceiling of the monastery church is adorned with a painting that shows various angels with ribbons that carry the saying "Hail Mary" ( Ave Maria ), the most important introductory words of prayer in the devotion of Mary , in 280 languages. Since 2009 the monastery has been in the care of the religious order of the Sisters of Bethlehem of the Monastic Family of Bethlehem, the Assumption of Mary and St. Bruno .

Every last Sunday in October there is a pilgrimage and procession in honor of the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Palestine, the Catholic solemnity of Mary, Queen of Palestine .

The monastery was devastated in April 2014 by the Hilltop Youth , the militant "hilltop youth" of the Israeli settler movement .

Web links

Commons : Deir Rafat  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Population in the Localities 2018 (.xls) , Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, August 25, 2019, accessed June 27, 2020 (Hebrew)
  2. ↑ a b Monastère Notre-Dame-de-Palestine, Deir Rafat , Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, August 25, 2019, accessed June 27, 2020 (Hebrew)
  3. ↑ a b The place of pilgrimage Deir Rafat , Order of Knights of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, accessed on June 27, 2020
  4. ↑ Ben Lynfield: Jewish extremists suspected of torching Sea of ​​Galilee 'loaves and fishes' church in Tabgha. In: Independent. June 18, 2015, accessed June 27, 2020 .

Coordinates: 31 ° 46 ′ 34 ″  N , 34 ° 56 ′ 47 ″  E