The intuition dates back to 1901, when the Custos of the Holy Land at the time, father Frediano Giannini, conceived and proposed the creation of a study center intended to reconstruct the history of the holy places. Everything happens for a reason. Already in the past centuries, it can be said since the foundation of the custody of the Holy Land, the Franciscans had taken care to collect traditions concerning the Holy Land. Just the names of Giovanni Di Fedanzola from Perugia, Niccolo from Poggibonsi, Bernardino Amico and Francesco Quaresmi. When it was founded on January 7, 1924, the SBF was based, therefore, on a qualified tradition of studies, whose value has gradually established itself over time in the academic field.

Among the many activities promoted by the CTS, the one carried out by the SBF as a center of studies and teaching plays, without a doubt, a central role. It is only thanks to the financial support of the CTS, and therefore of the benefactors around the world, that the SBF is able to respond to the commitments for which it was conceived.

Our institute not only promotes archaeological, philological, exegetical and theological research, but welcomes students from different countries. The SBF, in fact, is the Faculty of Biblical Sciences and Archaeology of the Pontifical Antonianum University (Rome) and issues Licentiate and doctoral degrees.

The SBF is remembered above all the excavations, the museum and what is connected to them; its teaching mission is often silent, which is no less important than all the other activities promoted by the CTS. Now there are many generations of students who have trained in SBF, bringing to their countries what they have learned in our classrooms. In this regard, we cannot fail to recall, with deep gratitude, how many of our predecessors carried out with commendable dedication their Magisterium as professors at the SBF. It is a service done to the church, to many churches, which often do not have the opportunity to support their students in their studies. The CTS, supported by the generosity of benefactors, goes to meet them by offering students hospitality at a modest price and in many cases completely free of charge. For us Friars it is a way of sharing our knowledge and of giving back what we receive.

By promoting Biblical Studies in the Holy Land, the SBF contributes, to some extent, to maintaining the bond that unites the other churches with the Mother Church of Jerusalem.

It is for this series of reasons that we at SBF see in our students the “living stones” that will go on the streets of the world to teach, deepen and spread the “Living Word” of the Holy Scriptures.

Fra Rosario Pierri Director Studium Biblicum Franciscanum-Jerusalem