What is a CENACLE?

Another term for the Upper Room, or the site of The Last Supper.

Under Christian tradition, this was the site where the Apostles of Christ received Holy Orders and became His first priests, and where they were praying when the Holy Spirit descended upon them on Pentecost.

The Cenacle was spared during the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus (10 AD) and became the site of the first Christian church. Was later destroyed by Persian invaders and rebuilt by a monk called Modestus. During the Crusades, the building was razed to the ground by Muslims and replaced by the Crusaders with a basilica. Franciscan monks cared for the Cenacle from 1333 to 1552 when the Turks captured Jerusalem and banished all Christians.

The Cenacle then became a mosque and Christians were not allowed to return until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Following a visit by Pope John Paul II, the Israeli government arranged for its ownership to be transferred to the Catholic Church in return for a church in Toledo, Spain which had originally been a synagogue. (www.wikipedia.com)

[French cénacle, from Old French Cenacle, the room where the Last Supper took place, from Latin cēnāculum, dining room, garret, from cēna, meal.]