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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Jaffa</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08268a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="A titular see in the Patriarchate of Jerusalem"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="08268a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/j.htm">J</a> > Jaffa</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Jaffa</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>A <a href="../cathen/08025a.htm">titular see</a> in the Patriarchate of <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a>. The city of Jaffa is very ancient. Even before the arrival of <a href="../cathen/08524a.htm">Josue</a> in Palestine it is mentioned on the pylons of Karnak and the cuneiform <a href="../cathen/14477d.htm">tablets of Tell-el-Amarna</a>. Several Greek authors, relying on native legends, traced its foundation to Jopes (Cassiopeia), daughter of Aeolus, and made it the scene of the fable of Andromeda exposed on a rock and delivered by Perseus. Assigned to the tribe of <a href="../cathen/04615c.htm">Dan</a> (<a href="../bible/jos019.htm#vrs46">Joshua 19:46</a>), Japho, or Jaffa, seems not to have belonged to the <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a> before the reign of <a href="../cathen/04642b.htm">David</a>, who conquered the maritime region (<a href="../bible/jdg001.htm#vrs34">Judges 1:34</a>; <a href="../bible/jdg018.htm#vrs1">18:1</a>; <a href="../bible/2sa008.htm#vrs1">2 Samuel 8:1</a>; <a href="../bible/sir047.htm#vrs8">Sirach 47:8</a>). In the time of Solomon it served as the port of landing for the <a href="../cathen/03473a.htm">cedars</a> sent by Hiram for the construction of the <a href="../cathen/14499a.htm">Temple of Jerusalem</a> (<a href="../bible/2ch002.htm#vrs16">2 Chronicles 2:16</a>). After the death of Solomon it probably recovered its independence or fell into the power of the kings of <a href="../cathen/08193a.htm">Israel</a>. The Prophet Jonas took ship there for Tharsis (<a href="../bible/jon001.htm#vrs3">Jonah 1:3</a>), and King Ezechias brought it once more under the power of the Kingdom of Juda (<a href="../bible/2ki018.htm#vrs8">2 Kings 18:8</a>). In this condition it is several times mentioned in the inscriptions of the kings of <a href="../cathen/02007c.htm">Assyria</a>, whose domination passed later to the Chaldeans and <a href="../cathen/11712a.htm">Persians</a>. In the reign of Cyrus Jaffa again served as a landing-port for the materials destined for the reconstruction of the Temple (<a href="../bible/ezr003.htm#vrs7">Ezra 3:7</a>). After the expedition of Alexander the Great (333 B.C.) the city passed into the power alternately of <a href="../cathen/14399a.htm">Syria</a> and <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a>. In consequence of violent wrong done the Jewish population, <a href="../cathen/08541a.htm">Judas Machabeus</a> attacked the harbour at night and burned all the vessels (<a href="../bible/2ma012.htm#vrs3">2 Maccabees 12:3-7</a>). Shortly afterwards (about 142 B.C.) his brothers Jonathas and Simon Machabeus took final possession of the city (<a href="../bible/1ma010.htm#vrs74">1 Maccabees 10:74-6</a>). Pompey captured it from the <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a> in 63 B.C., and during the period of more than a century, until it became entirely Roman, the city changed masters several times.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>Jaffa, which had now become Joppe, soon counted <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> among its inhabitants. It was there that St. Peter raised to life the <a href="../cathen/15617c.htm">widow</a> Tabitha, a name interpreted Dorcas (<a href="../bible/act009.htm#vrs36">Acts 9:36-42</a>), whose <a href="../cathen/14773b.htm">tomb</a> is still the object of a popular <a href="../cathen/12085a.htm">pilgrimage</a>; there, too, in the house of Simon the Tanner, he had the symbolical vision of the unclean animals (<a href="../bible/act010.htm#vrs1">Acts 10:1-23</a>). At the time of the great Jewish revolt against the Romans, Joppe was taken by Cestius Gallus, Governor of <a href="../cathen/14399a.htm">Syria</a>, and its inhabitants slaughtered to the number of 8400. The fugitives from the city and vicinity afterwards reassembled there, and turned to piracy, which brought about a second intervention of the Romans and the violent death of 4200 <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">persons</a>. The city was then razed to the ground. Being without importance during the first centuries of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a>, Joppe did not possess a <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> until the fifth century (<a href="../cathen/09187a.htm">Le Quien</a>, "Oriens Christianus," III, 627); a very small number of its Greek or <a href="../cathen/09022a.htm">Latin</a> <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> are known (ibid., III, 625-30, 1291; Eubel "Hierarchia catholica medii aevi," <a href="../cathen/10631a.htm">Munich</a>, I, 297; II, 186). After the <a href="../cathen/01663a.htm">Arab</a> conquest and the destruction of Caesarea Maritima in the seventh century, Jaffa acquired some importance and became the chief seaport of Palestine. Captured by the <a href="../cathen/04543c.htm">crusaders</a>, it became, under <a href="../cathen/06624b.htm">Godfrey of Bouillon</a>, the County of Jaffa and Ascalon, feudatory to the King of <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a>. One of its counts, John of Ibelin, wrote the principal book of the <a href="../cathen/02001a.htm">Assizes of the Kingdom of Jerusalem</a>. Retaken by Saladin in 1187, and surrendered to <a href="../cathen/13041b.htm">Richard Coeur de Lion</a> in 1192, Jaffa was reconquered in 1197 by the Sultan Melek-el-Adel, who had 20,000 <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> massacred there. In 1204 it fell once more into the power of the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a>, who held it until 1268, when Sultan Bibars of <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a> took possession of it and completely destroyed it. <a href="../cathen/10687a.htm">Bonaparte</a> took it by assault in 1799, and was accused, perhaps wrongfully, of having poisoned the Ottoman garrison and his own soldiers infected with the pest. Ibrahim Pasha, the son of Mehemet Ali, captured the city in 1831, and seven years later it was destroyed by earthquake.</p> <p>Jaffa is connected by railroad with <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a>; its harbour, which is difficult of access, received 1789 steam or sailing vessels in 1907, and transacted business to the extent of 28 million francs ($5,600,000) — 17,000,000 imports and 11,000,000 exports. The city is surrounded by magnificent orange groves, and has now entirely recovered from all its misfortunes, the census of 1905 crediting it with a population of more than 40,000 <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">souls</a>. Among these are 5000 <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a>, 1000 <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestants</a> (mostly foreigners), 3550 Orthodox Greeks, 100 <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schismatic</a> <a href="../cathen/01736b.htm">Armenians</a>, 1770 <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> (of whom 1010 are Latins, 215 <a href="../cathen/09683c.htm">Maronites</a>, 510 <a href="../cathen/10157b.htm">Melchites</a>, and 35 Syrians). The remainder of the population (about 30,000) is <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Mussulman</a>. <a href="../cathen/06217a.htm">Franciscan</a> Fathers direct the <a href="../cathen/11499b.htm">parish</a> church and a <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">school</a> for boys. The <a href="../cathen/08056a.htm">Brothers of the Christian Schools</a> have a boarding-school, two day-schools, and a commercial <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">school</a>. <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italian</a> <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> also have a <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">school</a> for boys. The <a href="../cathen/08511a.htm">Sisters of St. Joseph</a> and the <a href="../cathen/06217a.htm">Franciscan</a> Sisters have each a boarding and a day <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">school</a>. There is also a <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">French</a> <a href="../cathen/07480a.htm">hospital</a> conducted by <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a>. The other (non-Catholic) <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> communities, especially the <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestants</a>, also have <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">schools</a>, <a href="../cathen/07480a.htm">hospitals</a>, and <a href="../cathen/11322b.htm">orphanages</a>.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">VIGOUROUX, Joppe in Dict. de la Bible; MEISTERMANN, Nouveau Guide de Terre Sainte (Paris, 1907), 19-27; GUERIN, Description de la Palestine. Judee, I, 1-22.</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Vailhé, S.</span> <span id="apayear">(1910).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Jaffa.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08268a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Vailhé, Siméon.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Jaffa."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 8.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1910.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08268a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by John Fobian.</span> <span id="dedication">In memory of Robert John Fobian.</span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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