Dear Brother Priests, Deacons/Subdeacons, Consecrated Men & Women, and Lay Faithful,
This week Patriarch Elias Howayek will be beatified in the Patriarchal Residence in Diman, Lebanon. There is something special about our Maronite Patriarchs. In particular I think of Blessed Estephan Douaihy and soon-to-be Blessed Elias Howayek.
Both Patriarchs Douaihy and Howayek loved the Church since childhood, studied in Rome, and served the Church at great expense to themselves. Patriarch Douaihy was writing, governing, and serving in the most challenging times, and Patriarch Howayek, the father of modern Lebanon, was the founder of the Holy Family Sisters, and the wise father and head of the Maronite community during the dark times of Ottoman rule.
Together these blessed Shepards guided the Church and brought us to where we are today. Blessed Estephan Douaihy, Blessed Elias Howayek, and all of the Maronite Saints, pray for us.
+ Gregory
Please find here a link to a video giving the importance of Patriarch Howayek :
Please note some valuable information on what a Beatification means in the Catholic Church:
The Journey to Sainthood
Servant of God
This title is given when the Church officially opens the cause for the canonization of a deceased Catholic. The person's life, writings, and reputation for holiness are carefully investigated by the local bishop and later by the Apostolic See. The opening of a cause does not mean that the person has been declared a saint; rather, it signifies that the Church has begun its formal examination of the candidate's life.
Venerable
After a thorough investigation, if the Pope authorizes the decree recognizing that the Servant of God lived a life of heroic virtue (or, in certain cases, offered his or her life for Christ), the person receives the title Venerable. This declaration acknowledges the individual's exemplary Christian life but does not yet permit public liturgical veneration.
Blessed (Beatification)
Ordinarily, the recognition of a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God after death is required for beatification (except in the case of martyrs). The person is then given the title Blessed, and public veneration is ordinarily permitted within a particular region, eparchy or diocese, or religious community.
Saint (Canonization)
Canonization is the Church's definitive declaration that a person is in heaven and may be venerated by the universal Church. For those who were not beatified as martyrs, a second miracle, occurring after beatification, is ordinarily required. By canonizing a saint, the Pope presents the individual as a model of holiness for the entire Church and enrolls the saint in the Church's official canon of saints.