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 * Beginning
* Memories till
crusaders
* Arrival of
Franciscans
* Franciscan
Sion 1
* Franciscan
Sion 2
* Franciscan
Sion 3
* Archaeology
* Reflection
* Reflexion
* Jeudi saint
* Séder Juif
1Cor 11,17-34
* English
* Cenáculo
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Christian Sion
from the Crusaders to the Franciscans
When the Crusaders arrived in Jerusalem they found in ruins the area of Sion where only the two storey chapel of the Cenacle had survived. It is here that Raymond of Tolouse put camp to protect the area from the intruding enemy. It is here too that Patriarch Daibert lived for some time before the coronation of Baldwin I.
The Crusaders raised on the ruins of the old church a monument worthy of the title Mater omnium Ecclesiarum. The edifice was divided into
three naves. In the northern nave stood an edicule in memory of the Dormition
of the Virgin. In the southwest angle of the centre nave arose the Cenacle
composed of two superimposed chapels and divided in the centre in such a way as
to form as it were four chapels, two below and two above. Thirty steps led up
from the lower to the "Upper" room, where the Institution of the
Eucharist and the Descent of the Holy Ghost were represented in mosaic.
The medieval "Upper Room" on Sion
The lower chapel, called the Galilee, recorded the washing of the feet and the
Apparition of the Risen Christ to the Apostles. The basilica was served by the Canons Regular of St. Augustine.
It is interesting that during the Crusader period no pilgrim mentioned the tomb of David. Only in 1167
Rabbi Abraham of Jerusalem told the pilgrim Benjamin of Tudela that 16 years
before, following the collapse of a wall, rich tombs believed to be those of
David and Solomon were discovered. The Latin Patriarch had called this Rabbi
Abraham from Constantinople to examine the two witnesses who had found the
Tombs. When these two, who had barely escaped with their lives, refused to
return, the Patriarch had the place closed up. This story probably has its
foundation in the legend of Josephus Flavius regarding Herod and David's tomb:
"However, he had a great desire to make a more diligent search, and to go
farther in, even as far as the very bodies of David and Solomon; where two of
his guards were slain, by a flame that burst out upon those that went in, as
the report was" (Antiq. XVI 7,1).
From this it would seem that the local people still held to the legend that
David was buried there. When Saladin captured Jerusalem in 1187, the basilica
of Sion was one of the few churches that was not destroyed or turned into a
mosque. It was given into the care of the local clergy, Syrians. During this period the western pilgrims were permitted to visit the Cenacle and priests allowed to celebrate the Eucharist. In 1192 the Basilica and the
monastery were enclosed by walls, but in 1219 by order of Malek el Muadden the
place was in part destroyed, and later destroyed completely by the Khwarismians
in 1244. The Greek pilgrim, Perdiccas, in 1260, speaks of the tomb of David in the
lower chapel. By 1294 the Dominican
Ricold da Montecroce saw the building already in ruins, part of it a mosque.
To understand later pilgrims it is necessary to remember that the name Cenacle
was reserved to the western section, where the Institution of the Eucharist was
commemorated. When the building had collapsed into ruins, it would seem that
this particular part remained standing, as it is mentioned by all the pilgrims
as the only thing standing in the ruins of Sion. Many pilgrims of the first
quarter of the 14th century describe the Sanctuary and all give the same
account.
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