Martyrs of Jordan

Marj Al-Hamam, June 15, 2019 

​Martyrs of Jordan Church, a Roman Catholic Church located in Marj Al-Hamam, seven kilometres south of Amman, responds to the needs of Amman’s Roman Catholic community. The Church is situated at a Christian “intersection”: from Queen Alia International Airport to Madaba and Kerak to the south, and the Dead Sea and Jordan River to the west. The Church serves the 350 families extending from Queen Alia International Airport to the wider district of Amman, also known as the Seventh Circle.
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​The Church falls under the ecclesial jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Jerusalem and received funds for further expansion. Construction on the Church reflects the significantly added space of worship space for Amman’s Roman Catholics.

​The Church serves especially the faithful working at Royal Jordanian Airlines, in the Jordanian Army, and other services. The parish itself was established over thirty years ago, in 1986. The Church compound also includes space for the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition. 

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Jordan which has a history of accommodating refugees took in Christian refugees from Iraq who were hosted by the parish when the refugees fled northern Iraq due to ISIS attacks. The Church was inaugurated September 15, 2016, named after the Martyrs of Jordan, referring to the martyrs who shed their blood on Jordanian soil for the Christian faith during the Roman persecution in the early Christian era while Jordan was part of the Roman Province of Syria.

​The fact that in Jordan a Church can be constructed in an era of particularly turbulent relations in the region between Islam and Christianity, demonstrates Jordan’s policy regarding peaceful co-existence between religions where peaceful co-existence is promoted and concretely sustained. In Jordan not only did John the Baptist baptise Jesus but John the Baptist was also beheaded. The regions of Jordan divided between Ammonites, Moabites and Edomites, plays a significant role in biblical history. The 4th c. Bishop of Petra, Asterius, is commemorated on June 10th, while the Martyrs, Zainoun and Zainas, were martyred June 23rd in 304, and on August 1st, Saints Cyril, Aquila, Peter, Domitianus, Rufus and Meander, were martyrs in Amman. 

Saint John the Baptist is the patron Saint of Jordan.

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Martyrs of Jordan Church, Al-Quds St., Marj Al-Hamam, Amman, Jordan