Location El Qubeibeh Denomination Roman Catholic Church | Country Palestine | |
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The St. Cleophas Church or St. Cleopas Church also called Emmaus Church or the Basilica of St. Cleophas, it is a Catholic church with the status of minor basilica, is located in the village of El Qubeibeh (province of Jerusalem) in the occupied West Bank, Palestine.
When the Crusaders built this church in 1280, felt that the place was corresponding to the biblical village of Emmaus, whence came Cleophas. The village also has the ruins of a Roman fort called Castellum Emmaus. The Crusaders built on the supposed house of Cleophas a three-aisled basilica with a vaulted choir and an apse.
In the nineteenth century, the church was in ruins. The nave was almost destroyed and was a wall three meters high instead of the apses. In 1852, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land again began an annual pilgrimage each month septiembre. The Marquise Pauline de Nicolay bought the ruins in 1861 and donated to the Franciscans.
In 1902, Sultan Abdul Hamid II gave permission to the order of the Franciscans to rebuild their church once again. The temple was awarded the rank of minor basilica in 1919.