Nazareth

Nazareth, the city that gave its name to Christianity, was described by St. Jerome as “the flower of Galilee and the nurse of Christ”. Here the angel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she was going to give birth to Jesus (Luke 1:26–38). Here Jesus grew up and went out to preach in the surrounding cities and villages, until he was driven out by the inhabitants after declaring himself to be the Messiah (Luke 4:21). At that time, during the Roman period, Nazareth was a small, unimportant Jewish village. In 1620 the Druze ruler, Fakhr a-Din, allowed Franciscan monks to purchase the remains of the Crusader Church of the Annunciation, and later to settle in the town and build churches and monasteries. Today it is the largest Arab city in Galilee and a center of Christian pilgrimage