Abbey of the Sleeping of the Virgin Mary, Jerusalem
On Mount Zion, next to the gate of Zion and above the Upper Room, the Benedictine Abbey of the Sleeping, built between 1900 and 1910 on an ancient Byzantine basilica that marked the place where tradition places the transit of the Virgin Mary. Donated by the Kaiser William II, this great Neorromanic basilica with clear tones and blue dome is the German Benedictine presence in the Holy Land, and one of the most visited Marian shrines in the world. It is a temple different from the Tomb of the Virgin, located in the valley of the Cedron.
🌹 Wonders and anecdotes
- Under the ground of the present basilica lies the foundations of the Byzantine Hagia Zion of the 5th century, where in the year 415 the relics of St Stephen were deposited; the church is represented in the famous mosaic of Madaba of the 6th century.
- In 1898 the Kaiser William II bought the site on Mount Sion for 120,000 gold marks from Sultan Abdul Hamid II and donated it to the German Association of the Holy Land; the first stone of the present basilica was put on October 7, 1900.
- The first Benedictine monks arrived from the Archabbey of Beuron on March 21, 1906; the basilica was consecrated on April 10, 1910 by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, in a solemn ceremony that marked the rebirth of the monastic presence on Mount Sion.
- During the First and Second World War, and again in 1948, the German monks were interned three times by the British and Israeli authorities, but the community survived and the monastery was raised to the rank of abbey in 1926.
- In 1998 the community temporarily adopted the name "Hagia Maria Sion," in reference to the Paleocrist basilica that occupied the same place; in 2006, for its centenary, it recovered the original name of Sleep.
Sleeping of the Virgin Mary (Hagia Maria Sion)
The Abbey of the Sleep crown Mount Zion of Jerusalem as a witness of twenty centuries of Marian devotion. Where the Christian tradition places the last dream of the Mother of God, the Benedictine monks of Beuron pray the hours since 1906 in a Neorromic basilica of unique beauty, recognizable by its blue dome and four turreons. The temple celebrates the Feast of the Sleeping - the eastern equivalent of the Assumption - on August 15, and welcomes every year thousands of pilgrims of all Christian traditions. It is a different place from the Tomb of the Virgin, located in the valley of the Cedron.
"Virgin of the Sleeping, who on Mount Zion you consumed your earthly pilgrimage and were brought to heaven in body and soul, teach us to wait with peace and confidence for the moment when we also pass from this world to the Father.
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