” “"An important step for studying a charity institution that stems from a shared love of the Holy Sepulchre and the Christian communities of the Holy Land and binds the Friars Minor to the knights of the Holy Sepulchre to which the work is dedicated". With these words, father Michele Piccirillo, professor at the Studium biblicum franciscanum (Sbf), defines the "Registrum equitum Ssmi Sepulchri (1561-1848)", that he edited and will be presented in Rome today. It is a publication that contains some manuscripts kept in the historical archives of the Custody of the Holy Land which speak of the centuries-old relations that have connected the knights of the Holy Sepulchre to the Franciscan Custody since 1561, when Pope Pius IV issued a bull, in which he confirmed to Franciscans the privilege of the investiture of the knights of the Holy Sepulchre. The idea of publishing the "Registrum", advocated by father Giovanni Battistelli, the former Custodian to the Holy Land, and by Gian Roberto Costa, Lieutenant for Northern Italy of the equestrian order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, has been accomplished by father Pier Battista Pizzaballa, the current Custodian, and by Pier Luigi Parola, Governor General, and Silverio Vecchio, Lieutenant for Northern Italy of the equestrian order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. The presentation will also be attended by card. Carlo Furno, Grand Master of the Equestrian Order, the historian Franco Cardini and researcher Paolo Pieraccini.” “
