Year 116 - Issue No. 30 ||
July 26—August 1, 2026 A.D.
JESUS AND BEELZEBUL - يسوع وبعل زبول
Blessed Patriarch Elias Howayek (1843-1931)
“If the eyes of Divine Providence are turned upon you, sleep well, for you are secure despite all fears”.
The eldest of seven children, his father was the Maronite priest of Helta—Batroun, Lebanon. June 5 1870: Ordained priest.
December 14 1889: Ordained bishop.
When St. Sharbel died on December 24, 1898 everyone in the monastery was gone to the funeral of the Patriarch. Blessed Patriarch Howayek was elected on January 7 1899. He entered Eternal Life on Christmas Eve as well, December 24, 1931. His achievements are many: Re-opening the Maronite College in Rome. Sending Maronite priests to assist Lebanese migrants in foreign lands, our parish here in Cincinnati is the result of his zeal. Building 22 parishes in Lebanon. Building the see of Diman. Raising the shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon, in Harissa. Founding the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family in 1895. Drawing on the Patriarchal treasury to help the poor and getting the monasteries to do likewise during the famine of the 1914-1918 war.
Heading a Lebanese delegation to Versailles in 1919 to obtain independence for Lebanon. Solemnizing by his presence General Gouraud’s declaration of the Independence of Greater Lebanon in September 1920.
Beatified today, July 25, 2026!
We Elias Peter Hoyek Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, certify that our son Father Tobias Dahdah is a catholic priest of the Maronite rite, of the Eparchy of Baalbek (Mount-Lebanon). Is assigned to the United States to assist the Maronites of Cincinnati. He is not subjected to any ecclesial censorship or restriction and he may celebrate the Mass according to his rite. We ask the civil and ecclesial authorities of the countries of his transit to give him aide and protection.
Given from our winter residency of Bekerki on the 19 of May, 1911. (Mount Lebanon)
+Elias Peter Hoyek Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and all the East.
The very Reverend Chorbishop Tobias Dahdah, 1859-? was summoned from New Zealand where he was serving and was assigned by Patriarch Elias Howayek -who is Beatified today-, as the first pastor for the Maronites in Cincinnati. He served our community from 1911 to 1933.
