Historical Overview of the School
The parish was founded by Father Jean Mourad in 1853, and the school was established a year later, making Beit Jala School the first among the Latin Patriarchate schools. Father Estephan Jouly succeeded in developing it and to ensure a better functions of the school, he entrusted it
to the Sisters of St. Joseph , with the blessing of Patriarch Monsignor Bracco. The Sisters of St. Joseph dedicated 80 years of devoted service to the parish and the school. Beit Jala School rose to prominence after the 1948 war. Father Khader Batteh capitalized on the school's positive outcomes and expanded it, leading to an enrollment of 320 students in 1951. In 1956, the Sisters of St. Joseph left the parish and the school, replaced by the Sisters of the Rosary.
The girls' school consisted of scattered rooms in old buildings that were difficult to renovate. Father Jacob Baltarati, the parish priest at the time, convinced the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher from the United States to build a new school and monastery for the nuns in 1965. On May 29, 1969, Patriarch Gauri and Bishop Jacob Baltarati inaugurated the new school.
In 1986, on the occasion of its sixtieth anniversary, the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher Association in Canada proposed a project to build and equip a kindergarten. In the same period, four new classrooms were added for middle school students. The opening ceremony took place on May 19, 1986, with the presence of the donors.
In 1993, the same Knights of the Holy Sepulcher Association from Canada adopted a project to build the new high school. The new section of this school was built opposite the parish church and was opened on May 31, 1994, in the presence of Patriarch Michel Sabbah and several Canadian benefactors.
