Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (SBF), Latin for 'Franciscan Biblical Studies', is a Franciscan academic society based in Jerusalem. It is a center of biblical and archaeological research and studies, established by the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.
In 1901, the Custody of the Holy Land started envisaging the creation of a biblical studies institute in Jerusalem, which led in 1924 to the establishment of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum. [1] [2] The SBF is since 2001 the Faculty for Biblical Sciences and Archaeology of the Pontifical University Antonianum, the Franciscan university in Rome. Its main seat is the Flagellation Monastery in the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. [3] [4]
It has a branch in Hong Kong, founded in Beijing in 1945 by Blessed Gabriele Allegra, which produced the first complete translation of the Catholic Bible in Chinese in 1968 after a 40-year effort; the Studium Biblicum Translation is often considered the Chinese Bible among Catholics. [5]
The Studium has good relationships with the Dominican École Biblique , also located in Jerusalem. [6]
The SBF publishes a number of scientific publications: the theological-archaeological journal Liber Annuus ISSN 0081-8933 with scientific articles in different languages, [7] and the series "Collectio Maior", "Collectio Minor", "Analecta" and "Museum". [8]
The SBF uses the services of the Franciscan Printing Press (est. 1847).
The SBF offers two academic degrees, [2] the Licentiate and the Doctorate in Biblical Sciences and Archaeology, a diploma in biblical-oriental sciences, a biblical diploma, and a philosophical-theological curriculum in the "Studium Theologicum Jerosolymitanum“. The language of teaching is Italian.
Fields of study and research are Old and New Testament exegesis, biblical and Christian history, biblical and Middle Eastern languages, and biblical archaeology with several excavations conducted by the SBF. The main discoveries are exhibited in a museum, including the oldest Georgian Bir el Qutt inscriptions . [9]
The library contains appr. 50.000 volumes and 420 journals in the areas of archaeology, biblical studies, Christian and Jewish history, and ancient travel accounts of the Holy Land. [10]
Teaching staff [11]
Retired Professors
Prominent Professors of the past
Virgilio Canio Corbo was an Italian Franciscan Friar and professor of archaeology at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem.
Machaerus was a Hasmonean hilltop palace and desert fortress, now in ruins, located in the village of Mukawir in modern-day Jordan, 25 km (16 mi) southeast of the mouth of the Jordan River on the eastern side of the Dead Sea.
The Studium Biblicum Version is the predominant Chinese language translation of the Bible used by Chinese Catholics. It is considered by many to be the Chinese Catholic Bible.
The Catholic Church in Israel is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, in full communion with the Holy See in Rome. The Catholic Church in Israel is divided into three main jurisdictions: the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, and the Salesian Mission. Each of these jurisdictions has its own responsibilities and areas of operation.
The Pontifical Biblical Institute is a research and postgraduate teaching institution specialised in biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies located in Rome. Founded in 1909 by Pope Pius X, it is an institution of the Holy See entrusted to the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Since 1927, the Institute has had a branch in the city of Jerusalem.
The Madaba Map, also known as the Madaba Mosaic Map, is part of a floor mosaic in the early Byzantine church of Saint George in Madaba, Jordan.
Liber Annuus is a yearly academic journal of theology and Biblical archaeology published by Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem. The first issue appeared in 1951. One of its founders was the Italian archaeologist, Franciscan Bellarmino Bagatti.
Bellarmino Bagatti was a 20th-century Italian archaeologist and Catholic priest of the Franciscan Order.
Gabriele Allegra was a Franciscan friar and Biblical scholar. He is best known for accomplishing the first complete translation of the Bible into the Chinese language. His Studium Biblicum Translation is often considered the definitive Chinese Bible among Catholics. He was beatified in 2012.
The Custody of the Holy Land is a custodian priory of the Order of Friars Minor in Jerusalem, founded as the Province of the Holy Land in 1217 by Saint Francis of Assisi, who had also founded the Franciscan Order in 1209. In 1342, the Franciscans were declared by two papal bulls as the official custodians of the Holy Places in the name of the Catholic Church.
Maurice Benoit, also Pierre-Maurice and Maurice-Marie Benoit, better known as Father Pierre Benoit, was a French Catholic priest, exegete, and theologian who became an expert on the archaeology of Jerusalem. Pierre Benoit impressed with his combination of both unswerving Christian faith, and skeptical and open-minded approach to biblical history typical for a scientist, the one side never impeding on the other.
École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem, commonly known as École Biblique, is a French academic establishment in Jerusalem specializing in archaeology and Biblical exegesis. It is housed by the Saint-Étienne priory.
The Antonianum, also known as the Pontifical University of Saint Anthony, and as Pontifical Athenaeum Antonianum, is a Franciscan pontifical university in Rome named in honour of Anthony of Padua. It is located in the Rione Esquiline, a block north of the Basilica of St John Lateran, at Via Merulana 124, near the intersection of Via Labicana/Viale Manzoni and Via Merulana.
Tobias of Jerusalem was the fifth Bishop of Jerusalem, who lived in the 2nd century. He was acquainted with Addai of Edessa, one of the seventy disciples and a miraculous healer.
Stanislao Loffreda, O.F.M., is an Italian Franciscan friar, archaeologist, Palestinian pottery expert and Bible scholar.
Pierbattista Pizzaballa is an Italian Catholic prelate who has served as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem since 6 November 2020. A Franciscan friar, he served as Custos of the Holy Land from 2004 to 2016 and as Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate from 2016 to 2020. He was made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023.
Leslie J. Hoppe is an American Franciscan priest and Old Testament scholar with a focus on Deuteronomy and Deuteronomic literature and is an expert in biblical studies. He is Carroll Stuhlmueller Distinguished Professor of Old Testament Studies at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and the general editor of the refereed theological journal Catholic Biblical Quarterly.
Michele Piccirillo (1944–2008) was a Franciscan priest and expert in Byzantine archaeology. He is credited with advancing the study of early Byzantine archaeology, and especially the study of mosaics, in Jordan, Palestine and Syria.
Terra Sancta College of Jerusalem serves as the cultural centre of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land and as a succursal institution (dependency) of Saint Saviour's Latin parish. It was initially created in the 1920s as a school for the children of Jerusalem, regardless of their religious affiliation. It stands at the southwestern extremity of the Talbiyeh neighbourhood of West Jerusalem, on the corner of Paris Square.
The Terra Sancta Museum is a network of museums managed by the Custody of the Holy Land and located in the Old City of Jerusalem. It originated from the first "Museum of the Franciscan Fathers" opened in 1902 to exhibit the results of archaeological excavations conducted in the Holy Land by the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum. Today it includes the Terra Sancta Museum - Archaeology situated at the Church of the Flagellation and the Terra Sancta Museum - Art and History located at the Monastery of Saint Saviour.