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| Al- Hoayek is utopian... The Great Patriarch of Lebanon is crowned in the glory of holiness |
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Al- Hoayek is utopian... The Great Patriarch of Lebanon is crowned in the glory of holiness
25/07/2026
(See translation in Arabic section)
Sydney-Middle East Times Int'l: President of the Republic General Joseph Aoun and First Lady Nehmat Aoun attended the solemn Mass during which Patriarch Mar Elias Peter Hoayek was proclaimed Blessed of the Maronite Church.
The ceremony was held on Sunday afternoon at the patriarchal residence in Dimane and was presided over by Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Al-Rai.
Also attending was Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints and the representative of Pope Leo XIV.
Prime Minister Dr Nawaf Salam and his wife, Sahar Baassiri, attended the celebration, along with Apostolic Nuncio to Lebanon Monsignor Paolo Borgia; Iraqi Minister of Endowments Rami Aghajan and his wife; a number of ministers and members of parliament; Lebanese Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal and his wife; security chiefs; patriarchs and heads of Eastern Churches; metropolitans and bishops; and superiors general of religious orders.
Church leaders and faithful travelled from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Cyprus and several countries of the Lebanese diaspora to take part in the historic occasion.
Political, judicial, military, trade union and municipal figures were also present, as well as governors, directors-general, ambassadors, heads of diplomatic missions, former ministers and MPs, mayors and large crowds of worshippers.
The Ceremony
The celebration began with a liturgical procession led by the cross and candles, amid an atmosphere of prayer and hymns of thanksgiving.
Maronite Bishop of Batroun Mounir Khairallah then delivered an address in which, on behalf of the Maronite Church, he formally requested that Patriarch Elias Peter Hoayek be declared Blessed. He sought the blessing of Pope Leo XIV through his representative, Cardinal Semeraro.
Patriarchal Vicar General and postulator of the beatification cause Bishop Hanna Alwan then presented an account of the life of the new Blessed, recalling the most important stages of his priestly, patriarchal, national and humanitarian mission.
Cardinal Semeraro subsequently read the official beatification decree in Latin on behalf of Pope Leo XIV.
Mother Marie Antoinette Saadeh, Superior General of the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family, then read the decree in Arabic:
“We, responding to the petition of our venerable brother Bishop Mounir Khairallah, Bishop of the Maronite Eparchy of Batroun, and to the desire of many brother bishops and a great multitude of the faithful, after having obtained the opinion of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and by virtue of our apostolic authority, grant permission that, from this time forward, the Venerable Servant of God Elias Peter Hoayek, Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, founder of the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family, zealous shepherd after the heart of Christ, courageous defender of the poor and oppressed, and tireless promoter of the unity of his people, shall be called Blessed.
“His memorial shall be celebrated on the fifth day of June each year, in the places and according to the norms determined by law.
“In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s Basilica, on the twenty-ninth day of June, on the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, in the year of Our Lord two thousand and twenty-six and the second year of our pontificate.”
Cardinal Semeraro then presented five official copies of the decree to Cardinal Rai, Bishops Mounir Khairallah and Hanna Alwan, Mother Marie Antoinette Saadeh, and Sister Nora El-Khoury Hanna, secretary of the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family.
Bishop Khairallah expressed the gratitude of the Maronite Church to Pope Leo XIV for enrolling Patriarch Hoayek among the Blessed.
The curtain was then lifted to reveal the official icon of the new Blessed.
A statue of Blessed Hoayek containing his relics was brought into the church in a ceremonial procession and placed on the altar.
The Divine Liturgy then began, presided over by Patriarch Rai, with the participation of Cardinal Semeraro and Bishops Mounir Khairallah, Joseph Naffah, Youssef Soueif and Hanna Alwan.
The Mass was served by a combined choir comprising the Choir of the Holy Family Congregation, the Choir of the Maronite Seminary in Ghazir and the Choir of Beit Al-Inaya Al-Ilahiyya, the House of Divine Providence.
The Patriarch’s Homily
Following the reading of the Holy Gospel, Patriarch Rai delivered a homily entitled, “The Glory of Lebanon Has Been Given to Him.”
He said:
“Your Excellency, President of the Republic General Joseph Aoun, and the First Lady of Lebanon,
“I am pleased to welcome you, Mr President, following your return from your official visit to the United States of America, at the invitation of US President Donald Trump.
“We thank God for the signs of its success in all its dimensions.
“We pray that, through the intercession of the new Blessed, Patriarch Mar Elias Peter Hoayek, God will fulfil your aspirations for the welfare and stability of Lebanon, its economic and financial growth, its reconstruction, and the implementation of the framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel in a manner that guarantees Lebanon’s sovereignty over all its territory, its complete independence, its full liberation, and a permanent, just and comprehensive peace.
“You have come with Prime Minister Judge Nawaf Salam and his wife; with the Beatitude Patriarchs and heads of the Eastern Churches; with the Apostolic Nuncio, bishops, superiors general, ministers, members of parliament, the Army Commander and other dignitaries; and with this faithful people who have gathered from Lebanon, the patriarchal territory and the countries of the diaspora.
“You have all come to celebrate the work of God in a man who entrusted his entire being to Divine Providence, until he became a shining sign in the history of the Church and the nation.
“Today, we do not raise a man to earthly glory. Rather, we bear witness to the glory that God accomplished in him, because holiness is not an honour granted by the earth, but a gift bestowed by God upon those who live the Gospel faithfully until the end.
“This is one of those days written in letters of gold and light in the record of the Church, and its echo will be preserved in the memory of Lebanon.
‘The glory of Lebanon has been given to him.’
— Isaiah 35:2
“In this patriarchal residence in Dimane, which Blessed Patriarch Mar Elias Peter Hoayek built in 1905, which knew his footsteps, heard his prayers, witnessed his tears and accompanied his struggles, we gather today to proclaim with joy and jubilation that the Church has raised him to the ranks of the Blessed.
“For a long time, the faithful had already known him as a father, a shepherd, an intercessor and a man of Divine Providence.
“This is a moment of thanksgiving and praise, in which we glorify God, who works through His saints and raises up in every age witnesses to His Gospel who illuminate the paths of peoples and leave future generations a legacy of faith, hope and love.
“At this historic celebration, it is our pleasure, on behalf of the Maronite Church, to welcome His Eminence Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the personal envoy of Pope Leo XIV, who has come to proclaim Patriarch Elias Hoayek Blessed and to inscribe his name among the Blessed in the register of the Universal Church.
“He comes bearing the love of the Holy Father and sharing with us the joy of this blessed day.
“Your Eminence, your presence among us is a sign of the profound communion that links the Maronite Church to the Church of Rome.
“It is also a pledge of love and appreciation from Pope Leo for our Church, which throughout its history has remained steadfast in its faithfulness to the Catholic faith and has borne witness to Christ in this beloved East.
“Congratulations to our Maronite Church and to the Maronites of Lebanon, the patriarchal territory and the countries of the diaspora.
“Congratulations to the Universal Church.
“Congratulations to the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family, the daughters of Blessed Patriarch Hoayek.
“Congratulations to Lebanon, which gave birth to this great spiritual and national figure.
“God willed that from this land should shine forth a man who lived by one motto:
‘My God, may Your will be done.’
“God transformed his desire to please Him into glory for the Church, a blessing for Lebanon and hope for future generations.
“There have been many men in the history of the Church and many great figures in the history of Lebanon.
“Patriarch Elias Peter Hoayek, however, united in his own person the vigilance of the shepherd, the wisdom of the leader, the heart of the father and the faith of the saint.
“He was a man of God. God was the centre of his life, the purpose of his mission and the source of his strength.
“He lived by his famous motto, ‘My God, may Your will be done.’
“He never sought glory for himself, but rather the glory of God and the welfare of humanity, filled with limitless compassion.
“No decision he made was anything other than the fruit of prayer. No position he took was founded on anything other than conscience and faith, and grounded in integrity, justice and humility.
“He was a man of Divine Providence.
“He believed that God guides the Church and peoples, and therefore he never knew despair, even during the most difficult periods.
“When famine struck Lebanon, he did not stand as a spectator before the suffering of the people.
“In 1916, he opened the doors of Dimane, Bkerke and the monasteries to the hungry and needy.
“He even mortgaged some of the patriarchate’s properties. When asked who would compensate for what was being spent, he answered with the confidence of a believer:‘God will provide.’
“He therefore became known as the Patriarch of the Poor and the Oppressed.
“He was a man of vision and nationhood.
“He saw Lebanon as a message before it became a political entity and believed that the human being was its most precious asset.
“When the first Lebanese delegation to the Paris Peace Conference failed, Lebanese from all religious communities gathered in Bkerke and entrusted the Patriarch with leading the second delegation on July 15, 1919.
“He later sent a third delegation headed by his Patriarchal Vicar General, Bishop Abdullah Khoury.
“In this way, he carried Lebanon’s cause to the Paris Peace Conference, defended the right of his people to freedom and dignity, and recovered the territories that had been separated from it by the Ottoman Empire.
“He thus deserved to be called the Patriarch of Greater Lebanon and to have his name remembered among those who contributed to the birth of the modern Lebanese state.
“A former Muslim minister said of him:
‘His holiness is established by two miracles: the first was the creation of the Lebanese entity, which he extracted from the depths of the Franco-British agreement; and the second was the survival of this entity for more than a century until the present day.’
“This was written by Rashid Derbas in an article published in Al-Dustour newspaper on July 19, 2026, under the headline: ‘His Holiness Is Established by Two Miracles: The Creation of the Entity and Its Survival.’
“In 1926, the Patriarch approved the Constitution and laid down its philosophy: harmony within diversity and the necessity of protecting the identities and particular characteristics of all Lebanese components.
“By this, I mean the confessional system as a participatory system for diverse components that pledged to live together peacefully in harmony amid difference, within a consensual democratic state.
“This was explained by Father Professor Georges Hobeika in his lecture, ‘Greater Lebanon and the Philosophy of Harmony within Diversity in the Political Thought of Patriarch Elias Hoayek.’
“He was also a man of the Church.
“He worked for its spiritual, educational and social renewal.
“He founded the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family in 1895, believing that education and mission are two aspects of one sacred image.
“He encouraged schools, missions and works of mercy because, in his view, the Church was not an institution that merely preserved the past, but a mother that builds the future.
“He established a patriarchal agency in Paris in 1890, the Maronite College in Rome in 1891, the Patriarchal Vicariate in Egypt in 1904, which later became an independent eparchy, and the Patriarchal Vicariate in Jerusalem in 1893.
“During his patriarchate, the three martyred Massabki brothers were beatified in 1925.
“The causes for the canonisation of Saint Charbel, Saint Rafqa and Saint Nimatullah Al-Hardini were opened in 1928.
“He was also a man of Marian faith.
“He loved the Virgin Mary with the love of a son for his mother.
“He worked to build the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa in 1905 and inaugurated it in 1907, so that it would become a beacon of prayer and hope for all Lebanese.
“His name was also associated with the prayer, ‘O Mary, Queen of the Mountains and the Seas,’ which became a hymn raised by the Lebanese people to their heavenly mother, generation after generation.
“This was Patriarch Hoayek: a shepherd who prayed, a father who loved, a wise builder and a leader who saw beyond his own time.
“He therefore became a school of faith, a shining page in the history of the Church and a living conscience in the history of Lebanon.
“Today, as the Church raises him to the ranks of the Blessed, it proclaims before the world that a life lived for God, devoted to serving humanity and filled with love for the nation is a life worthy of becoming an example for future generations and a light illuminating the path of all those who seek to make faith a force for building both humanity and the nation.
“Great indeed is God in His saints!”
Gift Presented to President Aoun
Following the Divine Liturgy, Mother Marie Antoinette Saadeh presented President Aoun with a symbolic gift: a cedar carved from Lebanese stone, bearing the likeness of the new Blessed and containing one of his relics.
She said:
“To God, first and last, we raise our thanks and praise for this heavenly grace that He has bestowed upon us as a nation, a Church and a congregation.
“We then thank Pope Leo XIV for proclaiming our founding father, Patriarch Mar Elias Peter Hoayek, Blessed upon the altars of the Maronite Church.
“He is represented among us today by His Eminence Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.
“We thank our father, shepherd and head of our Church, Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, for presiding over this liturgical celebration.
“We thank Patriarchal Vicar General Bishop Hanna Alwan, postulator of the cause, for his vigilance and his continued work on the file until it was crowned by this day of celebration.
“To you, Your Excellency President Joseph Aoun, we offer our gratitude and prayers for all that you are doing for the sovereignty of our beloved homeland, Lebanon — Greater Lebanon in its land, its people, its history and its holiness.
“From the cedars of the Lord, we present to you a cedar carved from the rock of Lebanon.
“It bears the likeness of the new Blessed and contains one of his relics, so that it may accompany you, protect you and guide your decisions and steps towards everything that serves our nation and the human person within it.”
A procession carrying the relics of Blessed Hoayek was then held among the faithful so they could receive the blessing.
A dinner marking the occasion was later held in the gardens of the patriarchal residence.
Meeting Between President Aoun and Patriarch Rai
Before the beatification ceremony began, President Aoun met Patriarch Rai at the patriarchal residence in Dimane.
The meeting was attended by the Apostolic Nuncio and the Syriac Catholic Patriarch, Mar Ignatius Joseph III Younan.
The latest developments were discussed, and President Aoun briefed Patriarch Rai on the results of his visit to Washington, his summit meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House, and the talks he held with the US Secretary of State and a number of other American officials.
President Aoun and Patriarch Rai then held a private meeting during which they continued their discussions on recent developments.
They later moved to the main reception hall, where President Aoun, the First Lady and Patriarch Rai met a number of metropolitans and bishops.
Prime Minister Salam and his wife joined them shortly after their arrival in Dimane.
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