Patriarch Elias Peter Hoayek (1842-1931), the head of the Maronite Catholic Church, father of Greater Lebanon, and founder of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family, was beatified on July 25 in Dimane, where the Maronite Patriarch resides during the summer.
Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï, O.M.M., the current Maronite Patriarch, preached the homily at the beatification Mass (video). Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, was among the other prelates who were present.
Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to Blessed Hoayek at the conclusion of today’s Sunday Angelus address:
For more than 30 years, he led the Maronite Church with great dedication and pastoral sensitivity. A man of dialogue and hope, he was an outstanding ecclesial, social and political leader, so much so that he came to be known as the “Father of Greater Lebanon.”
May the prayers and intercession of the new blessed always accompany the Maronite faithful throughout the world, and obtain the gift of peace for all the people of Lebanon, a country dear to my heart.