Meistermann, Barnabas
MEISTERMANN, BARNABAS
Missionary, archeologist, and author of many books on the shrines of the Holy Land; b. Pfaffenheim, Alsace, March 27, 1850; d. Jerusalem, Sept. 29, 1923. Ordained in 1873, Meistermann became a Franciscan in 1875. From 1882 to 1887 he was stationed at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels, Assisi, as a confessor and as the director of the renovation of the Portiuncula. After a short stay in Rome, he left for China in 1887, where he was a missionary for six years. From 1893 until his death 30 years later, he labored in the Holy Land and devoted himself to the study of the history, topography, and archeology of Palestine and its sacred shrines. The fruits of his scientific research were published in several books and in articles contributed to the Catholic Encyclopedia. His Nouveau guide de Terre Sainte (Paris 1907, 3d ed. 1936), which was translated into several languages, is still of much value.
Bibliography: Acta Ordinis Fratrum Minorum 42 (1923) 287–288. b. cuneo, "Biblical Scholars in the Franciscan Order," Franciscan Educational Conference 7 (1925) 113–114.
[d. a. mcguckin]