The Maronite Catholic Church gathered on the evening of July 25 at the Maronite patriarchate’s summer residence in Dimane, northern Lebanon, to celebrate the beatification of Patriarch Elias Hoyek, marking an extraordinary moment for both the Church and the Lebanese nation.
Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, the Maronite patriarch, presided over the official liturgical celebration. Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, attended as the representative of Pope Leo XIV alongside patriarchs, bishops, and Lebanese officials, including President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.
The ceremony began with a formal petition presented to the pope’s representative by Bishop Mounir Khairallah, Maronite bishop of Batroun and petitioner for the beatification cause, requesting that Hoyek be declared blessed.
Bishop Hanna Alwan, patriarchal vicar general and postulator of the cause before the Holy See, then read the official biography of the new blessed, recounting the principal stages of his life.
Semeraro subsequently read the apostolic letter issued by Pope Leo XIV formally enrolling Patriarch Elias Peter Hoyek among the blessed. The decree granted the petition of the Maronite Church, its bishops, and its faithful and designated June 5 as the date of his annual liturgical memorial.
The pope’s representative also presented the Maronite Church with five original copies of the decree as official documentation of the occasion.
A large official icon of the new blessed was then unveiled. His relics were brought forward in a solemn procession accompanied by 32 lit candles, symbolizing the 32 years Hoyek served as Maronite patriarch, from 1899 to 1931.
In his homily, Rai said: “Hoyek entrusted himself completely to divine providence until he became a radiant sign in the history of the Church and of Lebanon.”
“The Church today is not raising a man to earthly glory,” he continued, “but bearing witness to the glory God brought about in him. Holiness is not an honor bestowed by the earth but a divine gift granted to those who live the Gospel faithfully to the end.”
Addressing Semeraro, Rai said the cardinal’s presence embodied the depth of communion between the Maronite Church and the Church of Rome. He added that it carried a message of love and appreciation from Pope Leo XIV to a Church that has remained faithful to the faith and to its witness to Christ in the Middle East.
Rai emphasized that “the new blessed lived by his famous motto, ‘My God, may your will be done.’ He was a man of divine providence, combining in his person the vigilance of a shepherd, the wisdom of a leader, the heart of a father, and the faith of a saint.”
“He never sought personal glory,” Rai added, “but rather the glory of God and the good of the human person, believing that Lebanon is a message and that the human person is its greatest treasure.”
At the conclusion of the Mass, Aoun was presented with a cedar tree carved from Lebanese stone bearing the likeness of the new blessed and containing one of his relics.
Following the final blessing, Hoyek’s relics were carried in procession through the aisles among the faithful.
This story was first published by ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.