Sound Power: Musical Diplomacy Within the Franciscan Custody in Mandate Jerusalem

Abstract

AbstractAlthough often underestimated or barely quoted by historical studies, music plays a crucial role in the cultural agenda of Church institutions and missionary congregations. Among the Catholic actors, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land was a central one connecting two of their main goals: evangelisation and education. These two tasks were strictly linked: music was a central element in the liturgies celebrated in the parishes and in the Holy Places and at the same time a pedagogical tool, taught in the schools ruled by the Friars. Music reveals also the complex process of encounter of Palestinian and Western patterns in modern Palestine. In this way the music sung and taught in the St Saviour also contributed to shape the soundscape of Jerusalem. The chapter discusses various sources related to Augustine Lama, at that time the director of theschola cantorumof St Saviour.