Paul Peter Meouchi

Moran Mor Paul II Peter Meouchi (born April 1, 1894, Jezzine, Lebanon – died on January 11, 1975, Bkerké, Lebanon), (or Boulos Boutros el-Meouchi, Meoushi, Arabic: بولس الثاني بطرس المعوشي) was the 74th Maronite Patriarch of Antioch from 1955 until his death in 1975 and a cardinal of the Catholic Church.

His Beatitude
Moran Mor

Paul Peter Meouchi
بولس الثاني بطرس المعوشي
Cardinal Patriarch of Antioch
ChurchMaronite Church
SeePatriarch of Antioch
ElectedMay 25, 1955
Term endedJanuary 11, 1975
PredecessorAnthony Peter Arida
SuccessorAnthony Peter Khoraish
Orders
OrdinationDecember 7, 1917 (Priest)
ConsecrationDecember 8, 1934 (Bishop)
by Anthony Peter Arida
Created cardinalFebruary 22, 1965
by Pope Paul VI
RankPatriarch Cardinal-Bishop
Personal details
Born(1894-04-01)April 1, 1894
Jezzine, Lebanon
DiedJanuary 11, 1975(1975-01-11) (aged 80)
Bkerké, Lebanon

Life

Moran Mor Paul Peter Meouchi was born in Jezzine, Lebanon on April 1, 1894.[1] Bechara El Khoury was his second cousin.[1] He studied at the College de la Sagesse in Ashrafieh, a district of Beirut and later in Rome in the Pontifical Urban University and at the Pontifical Gregorian University.[2]

He was ordinated priest in Rome on December 7, 1917, and served as secretary of the Maronite bishops of Saida and of Tyre. After having attended a visitation of the bishop of Tyre in the United States in 1920, he remained in the United States till 1934, serving the Maronite communities particularly in Indiana, Connecticut and California.

He was elected Maronite bishop of Tyre on April 29, 1934, and consecrated on December 8, 1934, at Bkerké by Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, Anthony Peter Arida. His co-consecrators were Augustin Bostani, Eparch of Sidon, and Pierre Feghali, Titular bishop of Epiphania in Syria.[3] He chose as episcopal motto Gloria Libani data est ei.[2]

Moran Mor Paul Peter Meouchi was elected patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites on May 25, 1955. He attended the I, II and III sessions of the Second Vatican Council, 1962–1965, where he took a stand to defend the rights of Patriarchs to discourage the emigration of Christians from the Middle East.[4] On February 22, 1965, he was created Cardinal[5] by Pope Paul VI, being the first Maronite to become cardinal.[6] He was elevated - as usual of Eastern Catholic Patriarchs, as a result of the motu proprio Ad purpuratorum patrum collegium[7] - to the rank of cardinal-bishop without granting a suburbicarian diocese.

Paul Peter Meouchi was from 1969 until his death chairman of the Synod of the Maronite Church and from 1970 until his death chairman of the Assembly of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Lebanon.

From a political point of view, his action as Patriarch of the Maronite was intended to promote the reconciliation among all the Lebanese, both Christians and Muslims.[1] He was a supporter of the Arab nationalism, thus standing in opposition to the pro-USA former president of Lebanon Camille Chamoun.[1][4] Meouchi had also good relations with the Druze and was a personal friend and adviser of Nazira Jumblatt, mother of Kamal Jumblatt.[1]

He died on January 11, 1975, in the Maronite Catholic Patriarchate in Bkerké, Lebanon, where he was buried.

Home Video of Patriarch Meouchi in Los Angeles 1962 on YouTube

See also

Sources
  • Code, Joseph Bernard (1964). Dictionary of the American Hierarchy (1789-1964). New York: Joseph F. Wagner. pp. 200–201.

Notes
  1. Baroudi, Sami E. (2006). "Divergent Perspectives among Lebanon's Maronites during the 1958 Crisis". Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies. 15 (1): 6–7, 14. doi:10.1080/10669920500515093. S2CID 144148781.
  2. Salvador Miranda. "Meouchi, Paul Pierre". The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  3. "Pierre-Paul Cardinal Méouchi". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  4. Domenico, Roy (2006). Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Politics. Westport: Greenwood Press. pp. 370–371. ISBN 978-0-313-32362-1.
  5. Pope Paul VI, with motu proprio Ad purpuratorum Patrum Collegium, published on February 11, 1965 ruled that the Patriarchs of the Eastern rite undertaken in the Sacred College of Cardinals did not belong to the clergy of Rome and, therefore, can not be assigned from there any title or diaconate. The Patriarchs cardinals belong to the order of cardinal bishops and, in the hierarchy, are located immediately after them. They maintain their patriarchal sees and are not assigned to them any suburbicarian sees.]
  6. "The Maronite Patriarchs". Kobayat. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  7. w2.vatican.va
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