Virgilio Canio Corbo (1918, in Avigliano – December 6, 1991 in

Capernaum Capernaum ( ; ; ) was a fishing village established during the time of the Hasmoneans, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It had a population of about 1,500 in the 1st century AD. Archaeological excavations have revealed tw ...

) was an Italian

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

Friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

and professor of archaeology at the

Studium Biblicum Franciscanum Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (SBF), Latin for 'Franciscan Biblical Studies', is a Franciscan academic society based in Jerusalem. It is a center of biblical and archaeological research and studies, established by the Franciscan Custody of the H ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

Life

Virgilio Canio Corbo was born in Avigliano, Italy on July 8, 1918. At the age of ten, he entered the minor seminary Franciscan Custody of Terra Santa (CTS). He was ordained a priest in Bethlehem in 1942. From 1946 to 1949 he studied at the

Pontifical Oriental Institute The Pontifical Oriental Institute, also known as the Orientale, is a Catholic institution of higher education located in Rome and focusing on Eastern Christianity. The plan of creating a school of higher learning for Eastern Christianity had bee ...

in Rome, where he obtained a doctorate in Oriental Science. (His thesis, ''The excavations of Kh. Siyar El-Ghanam (Shepherd's Field) and the surrounding monasteries'', was published in 1955.)Musholt O.F.M., Silas. "In Memoriam: Father Virgilio Cano Corbo O.F.M. (1918-1991)", ''Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan'', vol. 36, 1992
/ref>

Archaeological exploration

Corbo began teaching, first at the Franciscan minor seminary in Al-Qubeiba, and from 1950 to 1968 at the major Franciscan seminary in Jerusalem. While at Al-Qubeiba, he became interested in the work of archaeologist and fellow Franciscan Bellarmino Bagatti, and made some experimental excavations in the village. In expanding his investigations to other monastic ruins, and through literary sources was able to identify the monastery of St. Theodore at Bir el Qutt. Here he discovered the oldest extant Georgian inscriptions yet found. These give an important look into the everyday life of the early monks. In October 1987, on a visit to Jerusalem, Ilia II of Georgia,

Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia ( ka, სრულიად საქართველოს კათოლიკოს პატრიარქი) is the Archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi and the head of Georgian Orthodox Church. The of ...

presented Corbo with a commemorative coin celebrating 1500 years of the Evangelization of Georgia for helping to increase awareness of the Georgian monastic tradition in the Holy Land. He will be remembered for excavating many important holy places. Father Corbo was responsible for organizing the Terra Sancta pavilion at the exhibition of missionary art for the 1950

Holy Year A jubilee is a special year of remission of sins, debts and universal pardon. In the Book of Leviticus, a jubilee year is mentioned as occurring every 50th year (after 49 years, 7x7, as per Leviticus 25:8) during which slaves and prisoners would ...

. This resulted in the publication of ''Sacred art in the Holy Places''. From 1950 to 1955, Corbo was director of the magazine ''La Terra Santa'', and in 1951 was put in charge of the restoration of a number of shrines administered by CTS. In this he worked with architect Antonio Barluzzi. One of the buildings restored was the Chapel of the Shepherd's Field, another was the Church of Saint John the Baptist, Ein Karem. From 1956 to 1959, he was custos of the friary at Gethsemane. In 1962 Corbo and Stanislao Loffreda, from the

, began archaeological excavation of the

Herodium Herodion (; ; ), Herodium (Latin), or Jabal al-Fureidis () is a fortified desert palace built by Herod the Great, king of Herodian kingdom, Judaea, in the first century BCE. The complex stands atop a hill in the Judaean Desert, approximately s ...

. Work continued until 1967: they discovered the upper citadel, at the top of the hill. Corbo also excavated the interior of the Byzantine basilica on

Mount Nebo Mount Nebo (; ) is an elevated ridge located in Jordan, approximately Height above sea level, above sea level. Part of the Abarim mountain range, Mount Nebo is mentioned in the Bible as the place where Moses was granted a view of the Promised L ...

. In 1963, he was put in charge of restoring the original pavements for exhibition. In the modern chapel presbytery, built to protect the site and provide worship space, remnants of mosaic floors from different periods can be seen. In 1968 Corbo and Loffreda began work at Capharnaum. Between 1971 and 1977 they began work at

Magdala Magdala (; ; ) was an ancient Jews, Jewish city on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, north of Tiberias. In the Babylonian Talmud it is known as Magdala Nunayya (), and which some historical geographers think may refer to Tarichaea (). It is belie ...

. From 1978 to 1981, they carried out excavations were carried out at

Machaerus Machaerus (Μαχαιροῦς, from sword ; ) was a Hasmonean hilltop palace and desert fortress, rebuilt by Herod and now in ruins, located in the village of Mukawir in modern-day Jordan, southeast of the mouth of the Jordan River on th ...

. Corbo's group was the first to prove that the castle of Machaerus was definitely one of the mosaic-decorated fortified palaces of King

Herod the Great Herod I or Herod the Great () was a History of the Jews in the Roman Empire, Roman Jewish client king of the Herodian kingdom of Judea. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea. Among these works are the rebuilding of the ...

. His name will be especially tied to two sacred places: the Holy Sepulcher and Capharnaum, the "city of Jesus"."Corbo Virgilio Canio", Edizioni Terra Sancta
/ref> He is remembered for the excavations of many religious sites: * the "Shepherds' field" near

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

* the place of the Ascension on the

Mount of Olives The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet (; ; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge in East Jerusalem, east of and adjacent to Old City of Jerusalem, Jerusalem's Old City. It is named for the olive, olive ...

, a fortress-palace and funeral site of

, another Herodian fortress-palace across the Dead Sea in modern-day

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, the site of the decapitation of St

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

* the

Old Georgian Old Georgian (ႤႬႠჂ ႵႠႰႧႭჃႪႨ, ''enay kartuli'') is a literary language of the Georgian monarchies attested from the 5th century. The language remains in use as the liturgical language of the Georgian Orthodox Church and for ...

Bir el Qutt inscriptions The Bir el Qutt inscriptions ( ka, ბირ ელ ქუტის წარწერები, tr) are four Old Georgian Early Byzantine mosaics in the Middle East, Byzantine mosaic inscriptions in the ''Asomtavruli'' script. They were excavat ...

* a Byzantine basilica and monastery on Mt. Nebo in Jordan * the church of the

Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection, is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The church is the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Some ...

* the ancient city of

Corbo died in Capharnaum on December 6, 1991.

Works

* ''Archaeological research at the Mount of Olives'' (1965) * ''The Capernaum synagogue after the excavations in 1969'' (1970) * ''The house of Saint Peter at Capharnaum'' (1972) * ''Capernaum I'' (1975)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corbo, Virgilio 1918 births 1991 deaths Italian Franciscans People from Avigliano 20th-century Italian archaeologists 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Life

Archaeological exploration

Works

See also

References