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Cana Of Galilee
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The name of Cana appears in the Gospel according to John on three separate occasions (John 2:111; 4:46; 21:2) and it is always followed by "of Galilee", to distinguish it from the other Cana on the border of Phoenicia (Lebanon). At Cana Jesus transformed water into wine during the wedding feast to which he had been invited with his disciples and his mother, Mary. This was the first of his miracles; at Cana a royal official obtained a cure for his son who was lying ill at Capernaum; and finally Nathaniel, who according to tradition is the apostle Bartholomew, came from Cana.
Until the XVII century there were doubts as to whether the biblical Cana was at Khirbet Qana or Kefr Kenna, two towns about 8 kilometers apart. Pilgrims usually stopped at one of these places, according to the times. Of the two, Kefr Kenna still stands today, where the nearby GreekOrthodox (1886) and Franciscan (1879) church commemorate the miracle of Cana of Galilee by displaying symbolic stone hydria.
The Franciscan church was built with some ancient architectural pieces, and there is a mosaic with an Aramaic inscription: "Remember Joseph, son of Tanhum, son of Butah with his sons because they made this tabula; may they be blessed. Amen". Aside from the difficulty in interpreting the key word in the text which we have given here as "tabula", the inscription is evidence of an ancient Jewish community and also probably a house of worship. Recent excavations (1969) in the north courtyard and adjacent rooms have brought to light other mosaics and ancient walls from a synagogue with a southfacing fagade.
At the entrance to the village is the spring that is believed to be the source of the water that Jesus changed into wine. St. Bartholomew is commemorated in a chapel at the end of the city, near the school run by the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
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