The
Lebanese Maronite Order was founded in 1695 by three young Maronite from
Aleppo, Syria. The Patriarch Estephan Al Douaihi encouraged the founders and
established them in the Monastery of Mart Moura in Ehden. As the Order grew
quickly, they established in Mar Lishaa, Bcharri (1696) and in Qozhaya (1708). Those
establishments of Jebbet Bcharri enabled the order to gain confidence and
spread towards the Chouf and Kisrwan. ln less than forty years, the Order
counted 210 monks living in 12 monasteries.
(1).
Given the privileged relations between the Monastery of Qozhaya and Kfarsghab
and the prestige of the new Order, it was natural to see young people from
Kfarsghab joining the order in the pioneering days. It is the case of Father
Abdallah Habqouq who joined the founders prior to the official confirmation of
the Order in 1698 and became one of the first administrators (Mudabbir)
(2).
On the 17 of February
1710, Brother Boulos of Kfarsghab took his vows in Mar Lishaa, Bcharri
(3).
The eighteenth century
During the eighteenth century, the Order attracted no more than 10 to 15
monks from Kfarsghab. The demographical weakness of Kfarsghab in the first
half of the century, the purchase of the winter village of Morh Kfarsghab and its
development from 1748 and possibly the conflict inside the Order that started in
1748 between the Aleppine monks and the Lebanese ones and that eventually led
to the splitting of the order into two, could be behind this modest number of
monks from Kfarsghab. From the chart below, we observe however a steady growth
all along the eighteenth century.
The nineteenth century
The first half of the nineteenth century witnessed a doubling in the vocations
from Kfarsghab. Between 1800 and 1850, the Order received 8 to 10 monks from
Kfarsghab. Between 1850 and 1875, things changed dramatically. In this period, more
than 23 monks from Kfarsghab took their vows. Apparently, from 1830 and
onwards, there was a surge in the number of births in Kfarsghab. The baby-boomers
of the 1830 - 1840's started joining massively the Order due most
probably to the lack of economic perspectives. Also, the opening of a school
in the neighboring village of Bane in 1806 by the Lebanese Maronite
Order for the basic instruction of the children of Kfarsghab and Bane
could have served as a channel of detection and recruitment of talents
for the Order.
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From 1875, the emigration to the Americas and
Australia gave a new outlet for the young people of Kfarsghab. Between 1875 and
1900, only 3
vocations were recorded for Kfarsghab. Vocations from Kfarsghab
ceased on 17 December 1898 when Br Ephraim Saliba Abood II joined. Brother Ephraim died on 9 April 1947. Overall,
the Lebanese Maronite Order attracted 43 young people from Kfarsghab, making
of this village the 15th most important contributor to the Order, among the
382 villages that counted monks
(4). Still
in 1900, Kfarsghab counted 13 monks among its sons, representing 4% of the
adult male population compared to 0.8% for the average of the region of Jebbet
Bcharri.
(5)
Our monks
When we take a look at the names and the monasteries of the monks from
Kfarsghab, we see that 75% of them were assigned to monasteries located in
North Lebanon, most of them being in Qozhaya. The objective of the reform that
took place after the revolt of Qozhaya in 1875 was to assign the monks in a
different region from their region of origin. 4 monks of Kfarsghab
participated in the 1875 revolt, one of them, brother Boutros, being among its
leaders. As a result, the power of Qozhaya was broken, its lands divided
between several monasteries and its monks (around 200 at its height)
distributed in different Monasteries. It is possible, according to some
historians
(6), that this reform could
have had a negative impact on the vocations from Jebbet Bcharri whose monks
were known to be hard-headed and independent. Hadn't they beaten the
Mutassarif, Rustum Pasha, and conducted guerilla-type operations to free the
monks taken prisoners to Beiteddine after the revolt. Hard-headed, yes, they
are. But this is what gave them the courage to build an impressive Order at
the service of the country : monasteries, schools, churches, farms,
universities ... spreading over the five continents. The Lebanese Maronite
Order is the Heart of the Maronites.
Below, you will find the names of 43 of our monks.
(1) - For Information on the Lebanese
Maronite Order, see - Histoy of the Lebanese Maronite Order
(2) - See on this website, see - Bishops
& Superiors
(3) - in Reverend Maroun Karam -
"Monks of Our Village" - Editor Kaslik - 1975 - p. 163
(4) - in Reverend Maroun Karam -
"Monks of Our Village" - Editor Kaslik - 1975 - General Table
N2
(5) - in Dr
Jean Nakkhoul - Historical Demography of Nahiyat Bcharri from end 19 Century
till beginning of 20th Century - Published in the Accounts of the First
Congress on Jebbet Bcharri History - National Committee of Gibran - 1998 - p.
158
(6) - Information taken from the book "Mar Antonios Qozhaya Monastery" by Fr. Antoine Mokbel - Private editor Ghazir - October 2000
