Lebanon's "founding father" is being honoured at a moment when the country needs his message more than ever, according to a priest involved in the campaign that led to his beatification by the Catholic Church.
Speaking to The New Arab , Monsignor Pierre Tanios said the upcoming beatification of Patriarch Elias Hoayek, the architect of Greater Lebanon and one of the most influential figures in the country's modern history, comes as Lebanon grapples with war, economic collapse and deep political divisions.
"Patriarch Hoayek used to say, 'My sect is Lebanon'," Tanios said. "He was a religious man, but he believed the nation brings us all together despite our sectarian and religious differences, which is why he lobbied for a nation for all people."
The comments come after the general presidency of the Sisters of the Holy Family announced that Pope Leo XIV had approved Hoayek's beatification for 25 July.
According to the organisation, the Vatican will send Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, to represent the Holy See at the ceremony, while a mass will be celebrated by Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai in Dimane, north Lebanon.
The beatification of Hoayek, the 72nd Maronite Patriarch, was first announced by the Vatican on 22 May.
In the Catholic Church, beatification is the final step before canonisation, or sainthood. Who was Patriarch Hoayek? The Vatican recognised a miracle attributed to Hoayek involving a Druze officer in the Lebanese Army who was reportedly healed from chronic bilateral spondylolysis after dreaming of the patriarch in 1965. Hoayek later became known as the "Man of Divine Providence".
Born in 1843, Hoayek led the Maronite Church, which is in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, for 32 years from 1899 until his death in 1931.
During the First World War, he used his personal resources to support the poor and organised the distribution of food across Lebanon during a devastating famine.
His close relationship with France, which positioned itself as a protector of Lebanon's Maronite community, drew criticism from Ottoman authorities.
During the war, Hoayek was sentenced to deportation by the Ottoman administration, though intervention from Austria-Hungary and the Vatican prevented the measure from being carried out.
At the Paris Peace Conference in 1920, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Hoayek became one of the leading advocates for an enlarged and independent Lebanon.
His efforts contributed to the proclamation of Greater Lebanon later that year, a political entity that laid the foundations for the modern Lebanese Republic, which gained independence from France in 1943. 'A Lebanon for all' Tanios, a priest in the Maronite Diocese of Batroun and a member of the committee overseeing Hoayek's beatification cause, said the church's efforts to secure recognition of the patriarch's legacy began years before Pope Leo's visit to Lebanon last year.
"We began work on this five to six years ago," he said.
Tanios serves at the Monastery of Mar Youhanna Maroun in Kfarhay, widely regarded as the first seat of the Maronite Patriarchate, where Hoayek studied and later served as a senior church official. Hoayek himself was born in the nearby village of Helta.
Dimane, where the beatification ceremony will take place, was also built by Hoayek as the summer residence of the Maronite patriarch, adding further symbolism to the event. 'A sign from God' Hoayek's beatification comes as Lebanon continues to face profound challenges.
The country remains mired in a financial crisis that has devastated the banking sector, wiped out savings and driven large sections of the population into poverty. Israel's war on the country , which began in October 2023, has killed thousands of Lebanese, displaced more than a million people and left parts of southern Lebanon under Israeli occupation.
Political divisions continue to dominate public life more than three decades after the end of Lebanon's civil war, with the country's sectarian power-sharing system frequently producing paralysis and institutional deadlock.
Asked whether Hoayek would still believe in the vision of a multi-confessional Greater Lebanon after more than a century marked by conflict, occupation and political crises, Tanios was unequivocal.
"This is Lebanon's identity and message. Lebanon isn't just a geographic map," he said.
"Pope St John Paul II once said that Lebanon is more than a country; it is a message of freedom and an example of pluralism for East and West. Patriarch Hoayek had said this even before the pope."
The priest also pointed to the timing of the beatification.
"Patriarch Hoayek is known as the Man of Divine Providence. His beatification, at such a difficult time for Lebanon, shows that Our Lord has a message He wants to give us through Hoayek," Tanios said.
"May this be a blessing for our country."