Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Tripoli


The Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Tripoli is a non-Metropolitan Archeparchy of the Maronite Church in the north-west of Lebanon.
It is immediately subject to the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and the Roman Congregation for the Oriental Churches. It is currently ruled by Archeparch Youssef Soueif. Its archeparchial seat is the Saint Michael Cathedral in the city of Tripoli in Lebanon.
WWW maronitediocesetripoli.or...

Statistics

As per 2014 the archeparchy pastorally served 147,800 baptized Eastern Catholics in 126 parishes and 3 missions with 190 priests, 206 lay religious and 6 seminarians.

History

The eparchy dates back to the seventeenth century, but was canonically erected in the Maronite Synod of Mount Lebanon in 1736 as Arch?Eparchy of Tripoli / Tripoli del Libano / Tarabulus / Tripolitan Maronitarum. Initially it included all the coastal territory from Tripoli to Latakia.
Joseph Assemani, Archbishop of Tripoli, attended the First Vatican Council in 1869–1870, called upon by Pope Pius IX. Assemani, of the famous family of Maronite clerics, was born in Hasseroun on 31 March 1821. Well versed in Italian and Latin, he was sent to Rome to the Pontifical Urban University to study theology and French. He was ordained a priest in Rome by Cardinal Fransoni, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. He returned to Lebanon, where he was appointed confessor to the Maronite Patriarch. He was a professor of Italian, Latin and philosophy before being named Vicar General of the Maronite Patriarchy in Tripoli. He was named Maronite Chorbishop of Tripoli in 1856. With the assistance of the French Consul, Mr. Planche, he was able to obtain from Fuad Pasha a plot of land to establish a Maronite cemetery and hospital. He established in Tripoli the Brotherhood of the Immaculate Conception, repaired the Church of the Virgin Mary, and obtained an Ottoman firman to build a church in Tripoli, the first of its kind since the Crusades. According to his biography, he suffered numerous vexations while representing the Maronites in Tripoli. In 1860, his home was attacked and pillaged during the night. He was arrested twice and often attacked, before being exiled by the Ottoman governor in 1867. In 1869 he joined the Maronite delegation attending the First Vatican Council in Rome, serving as the Maronite delegation's official interpreter due to his knowledge of Latin, French and Italian.

Archeparchial hierarchs

;Archeparchs of Tripoli