PRIVATE VISIT TO GARDEN AND BASILICA OF GETHSEMANE

VATICAN CITY, MAR 25, 2000 (VIS) - This afternoon, before the ecumenical encounter at the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, the Holy Father is scheduled to call on the consuls general of several countries at the apostolic delegation in Jerusalem and then proceed for a private visit to the Basilica of the Garden of Gethsemane.

Gethsemane, from the Hebrew "Gat-shemanin," for oil press, was the name of a farm at the foot of the Mount of Olives. The two holy sites of Gethsemane are the Grotto of the Oil Press and the nearby Rock of the Agony.

No church was ever built on the Grotto of the Oil Press because the grotto itself was considered a place of prayer as witnessed by the numerous graffiti. Preserved since 1392 by the Custody of the Holy Land, the grotto is 19 meters long, 9 wide and 3.5 high. In 1956 the Franciscan Friars Minor found mosaics from the fourth to sixth centuries, fragments of an altar and even older traces of an olive press and a well.

According to an account written by St. Jerome in 386, a church was built on the Rock of the Agony. This was burned by the Persians in 614, an imposing church was built during the Crusades and this too was destroyed in 1187. The current basilica was built by the Franciscans between 1919 and 1924 on the ruins of the previous church.

The Basilica of the Garden of Gethsemane has 12 small domes. In front of the main altar is the rock of the agony of Jesus, which is protected by a wrought iron fence resembling a crown of thorns. This church is also known as the Basilica of the Nations because its construction was made possible by the donations of faithful from many countries.

The adjacent Garden of Olives was acquired by the Franciscans in 1666. There are six centuries-old olive trees in the garden and one which dates back 2,500 years, as was evidenced by the carbon dating process performed on it.

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