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Sunday 5 December 1999: Cana of Galilee was in a festive mood. After about two years of restoration work the renovated sanctuary was opened during a celebration presided by the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Giovanni Battistelli surrounded by friars who came from Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth. It was a sober celebration reserved mainly for the latin Christians of Cana for whom the sanctuary serves as a parish run by the Franciscans. The assembly was in fact mainly made up of the local catholic community amongst whom a substantial number of youth who animated the liturgy with Arabic hymns.

The parish priest, Fr Francis M. Shamieh in a joyful mood, explained in Italian and Arabic, the various moments of the celebration. He expressed the satisfaction of all the parish and of the Franciscan fraternity led by Fr. Gabriel Vormaweh. He also underlined the fact that the inauguration of the renewed sanctuary was a commitment for all to be a dwelling of God and living stones of the edifice who is Christ. He also thanked the superiors of the Custody, the archaeologist Fr Eugenio Alliata and the architect Fr. Alberto Prodomo who, with their respective technicians and workers and with competence and love, have dedicated energy and time to the study and the restoration of the sanctuary.

At the end of the celebration one of the parishioners thanked the Custos of the Holy Land. He also added that for the good of the parish they were awaiting new works mainly those in favour of the youths of Cana: for this the community looks upon the Custody with faith.

Fr Custos concluded by expressing the satisfaction of all the Custody of the Holy Land who on the eve of the Great Jubilee of the year 2000 is happily presenting the renewed sanctuary to the Catholics of Cana and to the pilgrims of all the world. He augured that the sanctuary will daily attract the parishioners and the pilgrim Christians to prayer and to instil the will to live the grace of marriage and of family in holiness. On all those present he invoked the maternal intercession of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who at Cana was the mediator of the first miracle performed by the Son.

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While the exterior of the sanctuary, freely inspired by the Cathedral of Salisbury, was renewed by the new covering of the cupola in the German churches style, the interior of the sanctuary and annexed spaces have been radically restored and renewed. The higher level on the crypt and its entrance were completely removed and levelled giving the nave a homogenous and uniform aspect. The walls were stripped from all the plaster and revealed the humble but suggestive masonry with which the sanctuary was built thus bringing to light the columns, capitals and arches which support the three apses. The presbytery has a new marble altar whose table rests on bunch of wheat tied by a vine shoot from which abundant grape bunches hang. These have always been the eucharistic symbols so much dear to the Christian community. The old marble altar has been preserved with its tabernacle, after some minor changes, and it rises in the central apse over which hangs a painting depicting the marriage of Cana. With the removal of the altars from the side apses more space for the concelebrants was created. In the north apse an opening along the wall allows to see the most ancient Christian remains which were discovered during the excavation: an apse and a tomb dating to the V-VIth century.

Archaeologist and architect worked hand in hand to preserve the remains which came to light during the recent excavations and those carried out by Fr Stanislao Loffreda in 1969. In this way the pilgrim who today arrives at Cana is lucky not only to see the newly restored Franciscan church which was built in 1881 by Fr Aegidius Geissler (the first parish priest of Cana) but also the ancient and venerable remains. These comprise also remains of ancient houses which were in use in the time of Jesus and up to the IV century. The stone basin which used to be placed in relation to the jars of the miracle and the mosaics belonging to a porticoed atrium of a Jewish place of worship, probably a synagogue, belong to this period. From this building comes also the famous Aramaic inscription discovered last century "Blesses is the memory of Yoseh, son of Tanhum, son of Butah, and his children who had made this table (mosaic). Be for them a blessing. Amen". Still visible are the remains of a great hall divided by columns dating from the medieval period which the pilgrims of the XVII century indicated as a church.

After the liturgical celebration Fr Alliata, archaeologist of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, explained the archaeological remains. He pointed out that now we have a better knowledge of the sanctuary and of this holy site even if we must say that "no elements came to light to confirm the tradition that locates at Kefer Kenna the Cana of Galilee mentioned various times in the Gospel of John (2,1-11; 4,46; 21,2)". Notwithstanding it is still possible to accept the hypothesis put forward by the late Fr. Bagatti who saw in the synagogue a place of Jewish-Christian worship subsequently transformed into a church.

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The ever increasing number of Christian pilgrims will now find more space for prayers and reflection not only in the church and the crypt but also in other spaces recovered in the adjacent spaces. Today at Cana many underline the grace of marriage and family. Nevertheless it will keep the Franciscan title with which it has been consecrated as the site of the first miracle of Jesus. This will help re-read the gospel account of the marriage of Cana referred in the Gospel of John (2,1-11) in the light of its deeper chsristological and Marian richness. A richness and depth summarised in the Marian Missal:
We bless you and honour you for the maternal care which the blessed Virgin Mary, at the marriage of Cana, showed towards the young spouses. With her power she intervened with her Son and ordered the servants to fulfil the orders: the jars are reddened, the guests are happy and the nuptial banquet becomes the symbol of the banquet which every day Christ prepares for the Church. This marvellous sign inaugurates the messianic times: pre-announces the effusion of the Spirit and anticipates the mystical hour in which Christ, clothed in the purple vestments of the passion, offers himself on the cross for the Church ( Preface of Mass of Our Lady of Cana )

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It was a great joy to see the parish family of Cana gathered around the young parish priest, proud of their church-sanctuary and actively participating in the liturgy. From my place I could see the marble plaque which commemorated the consecration of the main altar carried out by Mons. Giacomo Radini Tedeschi on 30th September 1906 on the occasion of the third Italian national pilgrimage. Spontaneously I remembered Don Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, future Pope John XXIII, who on that occasion accompanied as Secretary the then bishop of Bergamo. Of this voyage the future pope wrote with vivid details in his diary from the Holy Land. I do not know whether a new plaque will be placed to commemorate the day of December 5th 1999 but certainly the Custody of the Holy Land has had the grace to add yet another page in its pluri secular history of service in he Holy Places in favour of the Christians of the Holy Land and the pilgrims of the whole world.

Fr. G. Claudio Bottini ofm
Jerusalem - Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, 6th December 1999

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