Maronite Church and Lebanon celebrated on Friday the beatification of Patriarch Estephan Douaihy, in a festive mass headed by the Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, on the Patriarchal Palace in Bkerke, with the participation of Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
At present, Saturday, a grand mass is deliberate in Ehden, the birthplace of the newly beatified and a summer time retreat for the folks of Zgharta.
Born in Ehden on August 2, 1630, Douaihy was thought of one of many main Lebanese historians of the seventeenth century and was referred to as “The Father of Maronite Historical past,” “Pillar of the Maronite Church,” “The Second Chrysostom,” “Splendor of the Maronite Nation,” and “The Glory of Lebanon and the Maronites.”
As bishop and later as Patriarch, he undertook reforms of the Maronite Church and its monks. Douaihy was elected Patriarch on Could 20, 1670, at simply 40 years outdated, and was confirmed by Rome on August 8, 1672.
He paid specific consideration to the traditions of the Maronite Church, favoring a de-Latinisation of rites and ceremonies. He was hounded by Ottoman authorities, who resented his principled appeals for justice for the Maronites.
This resistance to Ottoman management and his advocacy for the Maronites made Douaihy a goal for persecution. The Ottomans sought to suppress any type of dissent or problem to their rule, and Douaihy’s management and affect posed a risk to their management over the area. Regardless of the pressures and risks, Douaihy remained steadfast in his mission, touring extensively to assist and strengthen Maronite communities and their religion.
Douaihy traveled all through the Maronite world, together with Cyprus and Aleppo.
Nearly instantly after his loss of life on Could 3, 1704, in Qannubine, Kadisha Valley, he was thought of by many Maronites of Lebanon, significantly in North Lebanon and in Zgharta, Ehden, to have been a saint. The Positio for the beatification trigger was printed in 2005 and acquired the approval of the Historic Fee of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints on January 24, 2006.
Beatification is the second stage within the strategy of proclaiming an individual a saint. It happens after a diocese or eparchy and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints have carried out a rigorous investigation into the individual’s life and writings to find out whether or not she or he demonstrates a heroic stage of advantage, supplied their life, or suffered martyrdom. A miracle attributed to the individual’s intercession should be proved.
On July 3, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI licensed the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to attract up a decree on the heroic virtues of Patriarch Douaihy, who could be known as Venerable from the second of publication of the decree. Some miracles attributed to him had been collected by M.S. El Douaihy.
A miracle attributed to his intercession was investigated and acquired formal ratification from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on January 30, 2014. Pope Francis accredited the miracle required for his beatification on March 17, 2024.
Douaihy joins a protracted checklist of saints, blessed, and venerable in Lebanon, together with Saint Charbel, Saint Rafqa, and Saint Nehmatallah Hardini.
Douaihy’s influence on the Maronite Church ranks him among the many three most influential figures of Maronite religious management, following the church’s Patron Saint Maroun and the primary Patriarch, Youhanna Maroun.
