Written by: Professor M. P. Roncaglia
Foreword by: Rear Admiral Samir El-Khadem, Ph.D
Dr. Martiniano Pellegrino Roncaglia, Assistant Director of The Arab Institute for East and West Studies, Beirut, Lebanon, has collected, studied and discussed the only comprehensive set of data related to the presence of Jesus in Southern Lebanon, where, at the Wedding Feast of Cana al-Jalil or Cana of Galilee, He performed the first sign of His messianic activity, abiding to His Mother’s request, the Virgin Mary.
The Messiah sought rest and refuge in the District of Tyre and Sidon, in the outskirts of Caesarea Philippi, (today Banias (Paneas in Greek) in Syria – different from Baniyas) where, during almost a week, He revealed signs and performed personal teachings for His Disciples, escaping from the Pharisees…
The current meticulous and richly-detailed masterpiece “In the Footsteps of Jesus, the Messiah, in Phoenicia/ Lebanon” represents, for the first time, the culmination of serious and long research to underline the difficulties we traditionally face, as we seek an end to the so-called arguments always singing the same traditional tune: Holy Land Palestine or Israel! But Jesus in Phoenicia/ Lebanon? Never heard of it! Dr. M.P. Roncaglia, who studied in Jerusalem, visited and attended the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, and interviewed many Scholars, succeeded in convincing us that Lebanon is also a true Holy Land, according to the scholarly authoritative expression of Pope John Paul II…
One striking example is the case of Tyre, the famous and prosperous Phoenician City. Tyre had an autonomous mint and had authority to strike silver coins that pre-dated the presence of Rome, the occupying power at that time. For religious reasons, it was symbolically inappropriate to use the Roman coins in the Temple of Jerusalem, and in particular, to pay for the liturgical sacrifice. Only the famous silver coins of Tyre were accepted. According to this legislation, Jesus, as baby was brought to the Temple by His Mother, the Virgin Mary, where Her alms in Tyrian coinage. The coins of Tyre had a higher fineness of silver than those of other mints (80%) and a stable weight due to a careful standard control (assured by the Tyrian authority). As a matter of fact, the Temple authorities welcomed the shekel of Tyre which carried the head of the God Melkart on the obverse and the Tyrian Eagle on the r~ the famous inscription: “Tyre the holy and inviolable”…
