Franciscan Monastery

𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗿𝘆!

We are pleased to welcome Fr. John Puodziunas, OFM, as the new Commissary of the Holy Land. Fr. John entered the Franciscan Order in 1980; ordained in 1987, he has served in many leadership roles, most recently as General Economo in Rome.
Read more on our website ➡ https://myfranciscan.org/fr-puodziunas-is-the-new-commissary/

This service is a solemn reenactment of The Burial of Christ and is very similar to the ceremony reenacted each year on Good Friday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. There are very few places outside of the Holy Land where this ceremony is performed. The friars process through the church with a figure of the Lord after his body has been removed from the cross at the Altar of Calvary. At the conclusion of the procession, the “body” is placed on the anointing stone and, with measured solemnity, is lavishly incensed and anointed. The body is then placed into the Sepulchre itself and, as they leave, the door is dramatically slammed shut — to be reopened on the “third day.”