Ein Karem

Church of the Visitation

A Crusader Church in Ein Karem near Jerusalem

According to Christian tradition, John the Baptist was born in Ein Karem, leading to the establishment of many churches and monasteries. In 2010 the neighborhood had a population of 2,000.  It attracts three million visitors a year, one-third of them pilgrims from around the world.

According to the Bible, Mary went "into the hill country, to a city of Judah" when she visited the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth. According to Catholic tradition and dogma, Mary brought forth the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Theodosius (530) says that the distance from Jerusalem to the place where Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, lived is five miles. The Jerusalem Calendar (dated before 638) mentions the village by name as the place of a festival in memory of Elizabeth celebrated on the twenty-eighth of August.

The Anglo Saxon Saewulf on pilgrimage to Palestine in 1102-1103 wrote of a monastery in the area of Ein Karim dedicated to St. Sabas where 300 monks had been "slain by Saracens.” The site of this crusader church was purchased by Father Thomas of Novaria in 1621.

In 1672 the Franciscan order received a “Firman” from the Ottoman Sultan and 'large sums of mon[ies]' were expended in an extensive rebuilding program.

Perched high on a hill in Ein Karem near Jerusalem, the Church of the Visitation is a place of great faith and joy – the place where Mary met with her cousin and recited the beautiful words of the Magnificat that inspire us today.  This is where Elizabeth’s unborn child, John the Baptist, leaped for joy in the womb upon hearing Mary’s words of “my soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit doth rejoice in God my Savior.”