22nd June: Abouna Yacoub, OFM Capuchin is beatified in Beirut. Fr. Romualdo from the Memorial of St. Paul in Damascus, Fr. Firas Lutfi from Aleppo and Fr. Najib Ibrahim from Jerusalem came to the St. Joseph’s Convent to take part in this joyous event.
On the evening before, we take a stroll to Martyrs’ Square where the preparations were in full swing: the young people from the Red Cross were setting up some tents. We sat in front of the stage on which a large altar has been prepared, the throne for the Cardinal and chairs for the Catholic and Orthodox prelates invited to the ceremony. The choir were rehearsing the songs for the celebration, in Arabic and in French. People passed and stopped out of curiosity to watch the preparations, like us.
Sunday 22nd, at 9 a.m. we went on foot to Martyrs’ Square. A lot of people had been queuing from the early morning under our Convent, where a checkpoint had been set up by the army. The streets were empty of cars. With alb. stole and hat! and a photo of Abouna Yacoub we went on our way, going through many checkpoints.
Here are some impressions on the ceremony of beatification:
- I find it strange that the ceremony took place in an area which divides the city into two parts, about two months ago the scene of fierce fighting which providentially came to an end on 22nd May when the agreement putting an end to armed fighting was signed. The opposing parties freed this square which they had occupied for a year and a half and the new President of Lebanon was elected almost unanimously. People now walk about on this square without fear. This curious transformation is attributed by Bishop Bshara Ra’i to the intervention of Abouna Yacoub just one month before his beatification.
- The celebration takes place in a moving climate of prayer. The multitude of people filling the square follow the ceremony with great devotion. Cardinal José Martinez celebrates the Mass in the Latin rite, in French. The readings are in Arabic. The choir accompanies the ceremony with polyphonic singing, in Latin, French and Arabic. The Bishop, Mons Paul Dahdah from the Latin apostolic vicariate in Lebanon presents the request for beatification to Cardinal Martinez…This is followed by a reading of a short biography of the Venerable, by his brother Selim Rizqalla vice postulator of the cause.
- Lengthy applause expresses the joy of the crowd when the Cardinal, in the name of the Pope, declares that the Venerable Abouna Yacoub is entered in the list of the Blessed and that his feast-day will be celebrated on 26th June.
- The Gospel is proclaimed by the Maronite Patriach, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir who in his sermon says: "The Blessed reflects the authentic face of Lebanon, a land of welcome and peaceful co-existence between the various parts of the population. With the intercession of the new Blessed and all the Saints of Lebanon, may this land once again be a model of peaceful co-existence".
- Amongst the guests in the first row can be seen the President of the Republic, the Maronite Michel Soleiman, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, the Shi’ite, Nabih Berry, and the Sunnite Prime Minister, Fouad Seniora. Those words were clearly also addressed to them, as well as to the various factions of the people of Lebanon.
The Mass continues with the offer of gifts which represent the vast field of charitable activity of Abouna Yacoub: two children of the First Communion, a disabled person, nurses, doctors, a nephew of the Blessed with the family tree, the mayor of Ghazir, from the same family as the Blessed, an elderly nun with the rule written by Abouna Yacoub, hymns and songs, writings by Abouna. Yacoub, the emblem of the Capuchin Minors presented by Fr. Fadi Sarkis, the emblem of the TOS which the Blessed instituted and diffused in Lebanon and lastly the Mother General, Sister Marie Makhlouf presents a cross with the relic of the Blessed.
At the end of the Mass, the Minister General of the Capuchins and the Mother General make two speeches in which they outline the vocation both of the Capuchin Friars in the Middle East and that of the Franciscan Sisters of the Cross which includes service to the people most in need of our help. On several occasions the vocation of Lebanon for peaceful coexistence is recalled and the Martyrs who died for Lebanon in this very square. Cardinal José Martinez, in the name of the Pope encourages the Lebanese to follow the footsteps of the new Blessed, an authentic son of St. Francis.
In Rome, the Pope also recalled the new Blessed at the end of the prayer of the Angelus hoping "with all my heart that the intercession of the Blessed Abuona Yacoub, together with that of the Lebanese Saints, can obtain for that beloved and tormented country,. which has suffered too much, to finally progress towards a stable peace".
After the solemn blessing, the song Regina coeli iubila in Arabic closed the celebration. Everyone returned home, taking with hem joy and new hope for the future of Lebanon and also that of the Christians, not only in Lebanon but all over the Middle East for the intercession of its saints that the Lord arouses so that the Church can continue its apostolic mission in the Land which was the cradle of Christianity.
Fr. Joseph Constantin ofm
On the evening before, we take a stroll to Martyrs’ Square where the preparations were in full swing: the young people from the Red Cross were setting up some tents. We sat in front of the stage on which a large altar has been prepared, the throne for the Cardinal and chairs for the Catholic and Orthodox prelates invited to the ceremony. The choir were rehearsing the songs for the celebration, in Arabic and in French. People passed and stopped out of curiosity to watch the preparations, like us.
Sunday 22nd, at 9 a.m. we went on foot to Martyrs’ Square. A lot of people had been queuing from the early morning under our Convent, where a checkpoint had been set up by the army. The streets were empty of cars. With alb. stole and hat! and a photo of Abouna Yacoub we went on our way, going through many checkpoints.
Here are some impressions on the ceremony of beatification:
- I find it strange that the ceremony took place in an area which divides the city into two parts, about two months ago the scene of fierce fighting which providentially came to an end on 22nd May when the agreement putting an end to armed fighting was signed. The opposing parties freed this square which they had occupied for a year and a half and the new President of Lebanon was elected almost unanimously. People now walk about on this square without fear. This curious transformation is attributed by Bishop Bshara Ra’i to the intervention of Abouna Yacoub just one month before his beatification.
- The celebration takes place in a moving climate of prayer. The multitude of people filling the square follow the ceremony with great devotion. Cardinal José Martinez celebrates the Mass in the Latin rite, in French. The readings are in Arabic. The choir accompanies the ceremony with polyphonic singing, in Latin, French and Arabic. The Bishop, Mons Paul Dahdah from the Latin apostolic vicariate in Lebanon presents the request for beatification to Cardinal Martinez…This is followed by a reading of a short biography of the Venerable, by his brother Selim Rizqalla vice postulator of the cause.
- Lengthy applause expresses the joy of the crowd when the Cardinal, in the name of the Pope, declares that the Venerable Abouna Yacoub is entered in the list of the Blessed and that his feast-day will be celebrated on 26th June.
- The Gospel is proclaimed by the Maronite Patriach, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir who in his sermon says: "The Blessed reflects the authentic face of Lebanon, a land of welcome and peaceful co-existence between the various parts of the population. With the intercession of the new Blessed and all the Saints of Lebanon, may this land once again be a model of peaceful co-existence".
- Amongst the guests in the first row can be seen the President of the Republic, the Maronite Michel Soleiman, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, the Shi’ite, Nabih Berry, and the Sunnite Prime Minister, Fouad Seniora. Those words were clearly also addressed to them, as well as to the various factions of the people of Lebanon.
The Mass continues with the offer of gifts which represent the vast field of charitable activity of Abouna Yacoub: two children of the First Communion, a disabled person, nurses, doctors, a nephew of the Blessed with the family tree, the mayor of Ghazir, from the same family as the Blessed, an elderly nun with the rule written by Abouna Yacoub, hymns and songs, writings by Abouna. Yacoub, the emblem of the Capuchin Minors presented by Fr. Fadi Sarkis, the emblem of the TOS which the Blessed instituted and diffused in Lebanon and lastly the Mother General, Sister Marie Makhlouf presents a cross with the relic of the Blessed.
At the end of the Mass, the Minister General of the Capuchins and the Mother General make two speeches in which they outline the vocation both of the Capuchin Friars in the Middle East and that of the Franciscan Sisters of the Cross which includes service to the people most in need of our help. On several occasions the vocation of Lebanon for peaceful coexistence is recalled and the Martyrs who died for Lebanon in this very square. Cardinal José Martinez, in the name of the Pope encourages the Lebanese to follow the footsteps of the new Blessed, an authentic son of St. Francis.
In Rome, the Pope also recalled the new Blessed at the end of the prayer of the Angelus hoping "with all my heart that the intercession of the Blessed Abuona Yacoub, together with that of the Lebanese Saints, can obtain for that beloved and tormented country,. which has suffered too much, to finally progress towards a stable peace".
After the solemn blessing, the song Regina coeli iubila in Arabic closed the celebration. Everyone returned home, taking with hem joy and new hope for the future of Lebanon and also that of the Christians, not only in Lebanon but all over the Middle East for the intercession of its saints that the Lord arouses so that the Church can continue its apostolic mission in the Land which was the cradle of Christianity.
Fr. Joseph Constantin ofm