St. Stephen's Basilica, Jerusalem

The St. Stephen's Basilica

The first time a sanctuary was built to commemorate the martyrdom was in the fifth century, when Empress Eudocia initiated the building of a structure on the site of the current basilica, a chapel dedicated to St. Stephen, where she was eventually buried.^{[citation needed]} With the arrival of the Persians in 614 and the siege of Jerusalem that followed, the chapel was destroyed.^{[citation needed]}

In 638, a small church was built by St. Sophronius, then restored and enlarged by the Crusaders, but later destroyed by themselves, lest they fall into the hands of Sultan Saladin.^{[citation needed]}

In the nineteenth century the French Dominicans acquired the site of the ancient ruins of the Crusaders, and after archaeological excavations built the convent and the current basilica, which was consecrated in 1900.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Catholic Church in Israel
• Catholic Church in Palestine

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saint Étienne Monastery.

• Photos of St Stephen's Basilica at the Manar al-Athar photo archive

31°47′06″N 35°13′48″E / 31.7850°N 35.2300°E / 31.7850; 35.2300