Lebanon celebrates historic beatification of Maronite Patriarch Elias Hoyek

The Maronite Catholic Church beatified Patriarch Elias Hoyek during a liturgical celebration on July 25 at the patriarchate’s summer residence in Dimane, northern Lebanon. Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, the Maronite patriarch, presided over the ceremony, which was attended by bishops, patriarchs, and Lebanese officials including President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

During the event, Bishop Mounir Khairallah, the Maronite bishop of Batroun and petitioner for the cause, presented a formal petition to Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. Representing Pope Leo XIV, Semeraro read the apostolic letter that formally enrolled Patriarch Elias Peter Hoyek among the blessed. Bishop Hanna Alwan, the patriarchal vicar general and postulator of the cause, read the official biography of the new blessed.

The decree designates June 5 as the annual liturgical memorial for Patriarch Hoyek. Cardinal Semeraro also presented the Maronite Church with five original copies of the decree and unveiled a large official icon of the new blessed.