(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Father Gaudenzio Orfali, Oriental scholar and counsellor of the Board of Antiquities in Palestine, was killed last night in an automobile accident, when he was proceeding from Capernaum to attend the sessions of the international archaeological congress, now being held in Beirut.
Father Orfali, who was the dean of the Franciscan Archaeological School, supervised the work of restoring the ancient synagogue in Capernaum, where Jesus of Nazareth first addressed the Galileans. The work of restoring the synagogue was undertaken by the Franciscans.
Father Orfali, who organized the Palestine Pavilion for the Catholic Missionary Exhibition recently held on the grounds of the Vatican, was known for his pro-Zionist sympathies. When the correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency interviewed him in Rome last January he declared: “It is wrong to confuse ethnological and religious questions with political tendencies. I have never observed a lack of respect toward the Christian faith, the holy sites and Christian traditions, on the part of the Jewish colonists in Palestine.
“I reported to the Pope on the present situation in Palestine and His Holiness agreed with my views. Only Jewish work, capital and intellectuality will be able to revive Palestine and make it create new spiritual values for the world,” Father Orfali had declared.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
