The Patriarch, Giuseppe Biltritti, was born in Italy on December 13th, 1910. He studied in the seminary of Tomasini that was established by Saint Cotolongo. He continued studying philosophy and theology in 1926 in the Latin Patriarchate Seminary of Jerusalem.

       He was ordinated a priest in Jerusalem by Patriarch Barlassina on April 15^th, 1933 and started his service as a spiritual guide in the school of the Rafat convent. Two years after his ordination, he was appointed as a priest for the first time in the parish of Ramallah.

       He was contemporary with the Second World War in Rafat, al-Qubeibeh and in the flagellation church in Jerusalem after which he was appointed as an assistant priest and a parish priest in Beit Jala. In 1949 he was appointed as a secretary of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and in 1951 he was named a Canonic in the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and then was appointed as an Assistant to the Pope in 1956.

       He became an assistant bishop to the Patriarch, Alberto Gori, on October 10^th, 1965 and became Patriarch of the Holy City on November 25^th, 1970. In 1988 he decided to retire from the public life and stayed in the Rafat convent for prayer and to write his memorials.

       He died on November 1^st, 1992 in the Patriarchate of Jerusalem at eighty-two years of age and was buried in the Patriarchate.