Elias Peter Hoayek

The patriarchate of Elias Peter Hoayek, which spanned 32 years, was marked by major ecclesial and political achievements. On the ecclesial level, he was the founder of the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family, which he established on August 15, 1895, in Ibrine (Batroun) with the help of Mother Rosalie Nasr and Sister Stéphanie Kardouche. This apostolic congregation had as its primary mission the education of young girls and support for families, as he was convinced that the education of women was the pillar of society. He also took care to structure the Maronite diaspora by creating a patriarchal vicariate in Cairo in 1904, establishing the Maronite Church in Cyprus, and founding independent dioceses in the United States and Argentina in 1920. In 1908, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, he had the famous statue of Our Lady of Lebanon erected on the hill of Harissa, consecrating the country to the Virgin Mary and setting its liturgical feast on the first Sunday of May. On the political and humanitarian level, he is considered the "founding father" of Greater Lebanon. During the First World War, while Mount Lebanon suffered a terrible famine orchestrated by the Ottoman authorities (1915-1917), Patriarch Hoayek displayed heroic charity. He used Church funds, mortgaged patriarchal lands, and opened monasteries and convents to feed the starving, without distinction of religion. In 1919, at the age of 76, he took the lead of the second Lebanese delegation to the Paris Peace Conference. There, he argued forcefully for the total independence of Lebanon and the restoration of its historical borders. His efforts culminated on September 1, 1920, in the proclamation of the State of Greater Lebanon by General Gouraud.

The reputation of holiness of Elias Peter Hoayek, nurtured by his pastoral charity and heroic dedication, has been maintained well after his death. His cause for beatification and canonization has been officially opened. After the diocesan inquiry, the file was transmitted to Rome to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on September 8, 2020. On July 5, 2019, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing his heroic virtues, thus declaring him Venerable.

The path toward his beatification reached a decisive stage on May 22, 2026. During an audience granted to Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Pope Leo XIV signed the decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Elias Peter Hoayek.

This miracle concerns the unexplained healing of Nayef Abu Assi, a Druze officer in the Lebanese Army. Suffering from chronic spondylolysis (a serious spinal condition causing chronic pain and mobility issues), the officer awoke completely healed after seeing Patriarch Elias Hoayek in a dream.

On June 3, 2026, the General Presidency of the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family announced that Pope Leo XIV had approved the date of July 25, 2026, for the solemn celebration of his beatification. The beatification mass will be held at 5:00 PM at the summer seat of the Maronite Patriarchate in Dimane (in the Bsharri region), presided over by Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai, with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro officially representing the Holy See.

The spirituality of Elias Peter Hoayek rests on an unwavering faith in Divine Providence, a deep devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and a filial love for the Virgin Mary. His famous phrase, spoken on the way to Paris in 1919, summarizes his spiritual abandonment: "I cannot imagine relying on politics, but on God and on this rosary."

His legacy is both spiritual, through the Sisters of the Holy Family who continue his educational and social work in Lebanon and throughout the world, and national. He promoted a vision of Lebanon as a space of conviviality and national unity beyond sectarian divisions, declaring at Versailles: "In Lebanon, there exists only one community and it is called Lebanon; the communities present on this land are the components of its social fabric."

His body rests today in the chapel of the motherhouse of the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family in Ibrine (Batroun). The Synod of Maronite Bishops, meeting in June 2026, set his annual liturgical feast day for June 5, the anniversary of his priestly ordination.