Carbon Canyon Historical Artifact #59: A Postcard of a Bucolic Scene at St. Joseph's Hill of Hope, 1970s

Among the most popular posts on the blog over its 11-year history are a pair about the remarkable St. Joseph's Hill of Hope religious compound, nestled among the hills north of Carbon Canyon Road at the border of Orange and San Bernardino counties.

Disillusioned by the changes wrought by the Roman Catholic Church after the Vatican II or Second Vatican Council completed its work in 1965, Frances Krug announced two years later that she was visited by God, who revealed directions to her concerning how to return to the true faith.

One of these instructions was "that a basilica be built in honor of The Holy Trinity" and Krug, who died in 2009, proclaimed that "Heaven directed her to purchase 440 acres of land in Brea, California."  Further commands from "Heaven" required more structures so that the project became a "City of God," the title of a famous book by St. Augustine in the early days of Christianity.

A 1970s postcard published by the St. Joseph's Hill of Home religious community showing a portion of its 440-acre property near the San Bernardino and Orange counties line in Carbon Canyon.

Perhaps as a promotional vehicle for the building program at the Hill of Hope, postcards were published with photographs of the site.  As we close out the year, we feature one of them, printed in the 1970s by the Angelus Shop of Yorba Linda, and showing a beautiful bucolic scene with a dirt road winding through gently sloping hills and stands of mature oak trees.

The caption on the reverse states that the view is "reminiscent of the Holy Land and Biblical times" and that "this scene is similar to the road to Emmaus which Jesus traveled after His resurrection."  There is also a post office box in Anaheim for the curious to write to for more information.

Notably, the location of Emmaus has been in dispute ever since the account of the journey to it from Jerusalem was discussed in the Gospel According to Luke.  Just this past September, however, a team of French and Israeli archaeologists working west of Jerusalem near the town of Abu Ghosh and the hill of Kiriath Yearim offered the supposition that they'd found the town.  Because Luke identified Emmaus as 60 stadia from Jerusalem, this is about the 7 miles that separates the holy city from the archaeological site.

It is stated on the reverse that the Hill of Hope tract is "reminiscent of the Holy Land" and that the dirt road shown in the photo is similar to that Christ was said to have taken after his resurrection when going from Jerusalem to Emmaus, the location of which is in dispute.

An Israeli expert of ancient history stated that the leaders of the dig made a good case, though he added "it is a hypothesis and remains a hypothesis" and noted there are two other sites in close proximity that could have been Emmaus. 

Whether the Hill of Hope property bears any real resemblance to can be left to those who read the linked article above and see the photo showing Abu Ghosh and the Kiriath Yearim—albeit we're now two millenia removed from the time of Christ.

With 2019 ready to recede and 2020 poised to ascend, best wishes to everyone reading this for the New Year to come.