ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how patterns of interaction were influenced by the beginning of the missionary activity in the 1620s and influenced it in turn. Bethlehem is located eight kilometers south of Jerusalem; the village and the neighboring Bayt Jala were the most populous villages of the district, respectively numbering 287 and 239 households at the end of the fifteenth century. The friars’ investments are equally significant when considered in the light of their involvement in village life. Land was very important both for the sociopolitical life of the community and as a means of subsistence. The reconstruction of the friars’ entanglements with local Bethlehem society shows differences and similarities with other Catholic missions in Asia. The case of the Franciscans in Palestine sheds new light on the meaning of the term “localized actors” for missionaries. Mediterranean trade, leading the Catholic community to acquire not only economic power but also unprecedented social prestige.
