Old Broken Stuff

Howdy, pilgrims! Well, today was a slower day to go look at the old broken stuff. They need to take better care of their antiquities. I mean the place is in ruins!

The ruins today were at Caesarea Maritima and the Crusader Stronghold at Acre.

Caesarea Marittima – When the Roman Emperor Pompeii took over much of the middle east in in 63 BC, he set up Herod the Great as the puppet monarch of Palestine. Herod was completely insane and an incredible despot. Not only did he order the execution of all the boys under the age of three in Bethlehem, (see Matthew 2:16-18), he also killed his two eldest sons six days before his own death because he suspected they wanted to usurp his throne. But boy, could he build! There were public works projects going on all the time. Part of this was the port city of Caesarea Marittima, the first man-made port in history. They said he “folded nature” to make it happen. He build a huge palace for himself on the most prominent point. (“It’s good to be the king!”) It had an amphitheater that is still in use today as well as a hippodrome for chariot races and all the things a fellow needs to make himself comfortable. It later became the provincial capital.

Biblically, there are at least two significant events. You may recall in the Acts of the Apostles where the pious Roman centurion Cornelius had a vision of an angel who told him to seek out Simon, also known as Peter, to speak to him about the Way of Jesus. About the same time Peter had his famous “What God has declared clean, you cannot declare profane” vision. Peter came to Cornelius’s house Caesarea Marittima and baptizes Cornelius and his whole household – men, women, children, servants, neighbor kids, everybody! It was from this point forward that the Christians began to distinguish themselves from the Jews, since increasing numbers of Christians were Gentiles. You can read all about it in Acts 10.

This was also where St. Paul was held for two years once he appealed his case to the Emperor. He would have left from the port on his trip to Rome. Of course, he got shipwrecked off the coast of Malta.

The Crusader stronghold at Acre – After the crusaders were defeated in 1187, they held out for another 100 years at the port city of Acre. Here they built a most impressive fortress. While not biblical, it was really, really impressive what they were able to accomplish. They built glorious halls, churches, and fortifications. It was worth the trip. The sheer magnitude of the excavations to bring it to light is astounding.

The first snafu of the trip came when we tried to say Mass at St. John the Baptist Church on the bastion walls. The place was locked up like the fortress it sat upon. Turns out the friars were in the middle of a rotation and nobody told the incoming friars that we were coming. So, we improvised and had Mass at their school chapel. Fr. Gabriel was most accommodating.