PRESS RELEASES
A new international website for the Order of the Holy Sepulchre: www.oessh.va
In early summer 2016, Cardinal Edwin O'Brien, Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, launched the website of the Grand Magisterium of the Order in the presence of European Lieutenants gathered in Rome. This site, available in five languages, was created by the Order's Communication Service in collaboration with the Secretariat for Communications of the Holy See. It is a new means of communication intended to reach about 30,000 members of the Order, Knights and Dames, present across the five continents, as well as their friends and all those who love the Holy Land. Historical information will still be available, in two languages, on the previous website, within the Holy See website. The new site, however, will give more space to information about the activities of the Order and the projects it currently supports in the Holy Land, as part of the "culture of encounter", dear to the heart of our Holy Father.
News from the Holy Land
In each language section, videos will show the life of Lieutenancies which are the Order's peripheral structures in local churches, from Australia to Argentina and from Norway to South Africa, and, of course, the European countries where the Order has been rooted for many centuries. Some articles are translated into five languages - Italian, English, French, Spanish and German - while others, which most affect the local reality of Lieutenancies, are available in their original language versions. Most importantly, this new website and social media associated with it, facilitates unity among members of the Order , nurturing their spiritual and fraternal life, while drawing their attention to information from the Holy Land, especially those released by the Latin Patriarchate and the Custody.
A dynamic universal brotherhood
The website's mission is to raise awareness about the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, the spiritual commitment of its members and their generosity, enhancing the current image of this pontifical institution. We hope that people who are interested in the Holy Land may find in this website an incentive and an encouragement to continue to help the Christian communities who live in the biblical territories, in the perspective of dialogue and dynamic universal brotherhood. Through the website visitors can subscribe to the Order's newsletter that will be sent by email to subscribers. The Order's magazine, Annales, is also available in five languages. The annual publication covers the great events that have marked the history of the Holy Land and the important events of the Order throughout the world.
Witness the power of the Resurrection
Today the Knights and Dames of the Holy Sepulchre, in increasing numbers, are mostly lay people engaged in their dioceses, who try to live their baptism in the light of the spirituality of the empty tomb, to witness the power of Christ's Resurrection, devoting their energies to support the "living stones" of the Mother Church in the Holy Land. Their model of holiness is the Blessed Bartolo Longo, apostle of the Rosary and only lay member of the Order to be beatified, who built a place of prayer and social works, source of hope for millions of pilgrims on the ruins of Pompeii and the old world. A Jubilee pilgrimage of the Order to the shrine of Pompeii was organized at the request of the Grand Master, for next October, during the Year of Mercy.
(Summer 2016)
The Order of the Holy Sepulchre's Communications Service at the Vatican
comunicazione@oessh.va