The Foundation of the Saint-Joseph University of Beirut: The teaching of the maronites by the Second Jesuit Mission in the levant

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Notes

1. The term ‘Syria’ is henceforth used in the text as a geographical entity which includes the Syria and Lebanon of today. The name ‘Syria’ has changed and evolved over time. It is used differently according to the historic context. For the period which is of interest to us, the sources speak of the region of ‘Syria’ whilst the term ‘Lebanon’ does not appear until later.

2. G. Nasser, Les échanges culturels entre les Maronites et L'Europe. Du Collège Maronite de Rome (1584) au Collège de Ayn-Warqa (1789) (Beirut, 1984), 2 Vols.

3. The Jesuits directed the Maronite College from its foundation in 1584 until 1773, the date of the suppression of the Company.

4. Translation of Father P. Raphaël, Le rôle du Collège maronite romain dans l'Orientalisme aux XVIIème et XVIIIème siècles (Beirut: Catholic Printing Press, 1980), pp.181–2.

5. Pope Innocent X (1574–1655). Pope (1644–55). Nuncio in Naples, legate in France and in Spain, Cardinal in 1629, he protested against the religious clauses of the treaties of Westphalia (1648) and condemned the five propositions of Jansenius (bulle cum occasione, 1653).

6. Speech of Pope Innocent X quoted by Monseigneur E. Phares, Les Maronites du Liban. Leur vie et leurs mœurs. Leurs rapports avec la France. Leur situation actuelle (Lille, 1908), p.11.

7. Ibid., p.9.

8. Al-Machriq Review (in Arabic), No.5 (1914), p.762.

9. J. Melia, Chez les chrétiens d'Orient (Paris, 1929), p.84.

10. N. Salhab, La France et les Maronites (Beirut, 1997), p.101.

11. Pius VII (1742–1823). Pope 1800–1823.

12. Ignatius of Loyola (near Azpeita, 1491; Rome, 1556). Saint. Founder of the Company of Jesus. Nobleman who was wounded in the war, he devoted himself to living in a mystical retreat and founded in Paris, together with seven companions, a group which rendered itself to the service of the Pope (1534) and which Paul III transformed into an order, that of the Jesuits, in 1540. He left a guide to systematic meditation: Spiritual Exercises.

13. International Colonial Institute, Comptes rendus de la XXIème session (Paris, 1931), p.158.

14. G. Goyau, La France missionnaire dans les cinq parties du monde (Paris : Librairie Plon, 1948), Vol.2, Book IX.

15. V. Groffier, Héros trop oubliés de notre épopée coloniale[s.l., undated], p.87.

16. For more information on the formation of the indigenous clergy in the Seminary of Ghazir, see: AJV (Archives jésuites de Vanves), Carton RPO 85: Ghazir: Différentes lettres.

17. G. Levenq, SJ, La Nouvelle Mission de la Compagnie de Jésus au Liban et en Syrie, 1831 (Beirut: Catholic Printing Press, 1925), p.10.

18. ‘La Mission de Syrie’, Lettres de Fourvière (Province de Lyon) (Lyon: L. Bascou Printing Press, 3rd series, No.9 of 1936), pp.77–8.

19. Ibid., p.101. See also AJV Carton: RPO8 Dossier: Rapport de Billotet, Rousseau et Bonacina sur les événements de 1860. Also AJV Carton: RPO27 Dossier: Jalabert Louis, SJ, Centenaire de la Mission de Syrie.

20. The College of Ghazir is situated in north-east Beirut, in the Kisrawan on Mount Lebanon.

21. ARSI (Archivium Societas Iesu in Rome), Carton 1005: 1869–90, Mission Syria, Farde Syria 1005-I, Letter no.35 by Father Monnot dating from 1875. Ibid., Farde Syria 1005-VI. Different letters on the transfer from Ghazir to Beirut. Ibid., Farde Syria 1005-XII, Different letters on the transfer from Ghazir to Beirut; APF (Archivium Propaganda Fide in Rome), Carton No.2; 1874–80: Scritture Riferite nei Congressi Siria. Letter: ‘Aperçu du R.P. Monnot, Supérieur Général de la Mission’; AJV, Carton RPO21: Histoire et présentation de la Mission de Syrie, Chemise I: Documents anciens, Numéro II: ‘Mission des Jésuites en Syrie, vue d'ensemble des œuvres entre 1875 et 1880’.

22. For more information on the history of Saint-Joseph University of Beirut, see R. Herzstein, ‘Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth: Fondation et Fonctionnement de 1875 à 1914’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of Haifa, Department of Middle Eastern History, 2002); R. Herzstein, ‘Une réconciliation entre Paris et la Compagnie de Jésus au Levant (1875–1914) Faux-fuyant ou nécessité ponctuelle?’, Mémoire Spiritaine: Histoire, Mission, Spiritualité, No.22 (2nd semester 2005), pp.99–113.

23. For more details on the activity of the Protestant missionaries in the region, see, among other works: A. Abu-Ghazleh, American Missions in Syria. A Study of American Missionary Contribution to Arab Nationalism in 19th Century Syria (Vermont, 1990); A. Al-Latif Tibawi, American Interests in Syria 1800–1901 (Oxford, 1966); F. Schreier-Zachs, ‘From Communal to Territorial Identity: The Emergence of “The Concept of Syria”, 1831–81’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of Haifa, Department of Middle Eastern History, 1997).

24. For more details on the development of the Maronite church throughout history, see I.F. Harik, ‘The Traditional Organization of the Maronite Church’ (Chap.IV) and ‘The Reform Movement and the Church Bureaucracy’ (Chap.V), in Politics and Change in a Traditional Society Lebanon, 1711–1845 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1968). Since 451 (the Council of Chalcedon) and even before, the Maronites have been Christian. The Papal recognition of the Maronites was on 10 Feb. 518 (Pope Hormisdas).

25. On the transfer of the Seminary of Ghazir to Beirut in 1875 see: ARSI Carton 1005: 1869–90, Mission Syria, Farde Syria 1005-I, letter No.35 of Father Monnot dating from 1875. Ibid, Farde Syria 1005-VI: Different letters on the transfer of Ghazir to Beirut. Ibid., Farde Syria 1005-XII, Different letters on the transfer of Ghazir to Beirut; APF Carton No.2: 1874–80: Scritture riferite nei Congressi Siria. Lettre: ‘Aperçu du R.P. Monnot, Supérieur Générale de la Mission’; AJV, Carton RPO21: Histoire et présentation de la mission de Syrie, Chemise 1: Documents anciens, No.II: ‘Missions des Jésuites en Syrie, vue d'ensemble des œuvres entre 1875 et 1880’.

26. For more information on the formation of indigenous clergy in the Seminary of Ghazir, see: AJV, Carton RPO 85: Ghazir, different letters.

27. The new Maronite ‘urban bourgeoisie’ was formed in the second half of the nineteenth century by an immigrant population in the mountains in the area of the coastal towns, such as Beirut, for socio-economical reasons. Reverend Father M. Jullien, La Nouvelle Mission de la Compagnie de Jésus en Syrie (Tours: Alfred Mann & Sons, 1898), Vol.2, p.47.

28. J. Hajjar, Le Vatican-La France et le Catholicisme orientale (1878–1914) (Paris: Bibliothèque Beauchesne et Editions Beauchesne, 1979), p.506.

29. Ibid., p.512.

30. M.B. Khairallah, ‘La formation du clergé séculier dans l'église maronite contemporaine (1934–74)’ (Ph.D. thesis, Catholic Institute of Paris, Sept. 1984), Vol I., p.494.

31. Ibid., p.206.

32. According to Antonios Bashshur Munir, an active American Protestant mission was established in Beirut since 1820: A.B. Munir, ‘The Role of the Two Western Universities in the National Life of Lebanon and the Middle East: A Comparative Study of the American University and the University of Saint-Joseph’ (Ph.D. thesis, the University of Chicago, March 1964), p.43.

33. ‘L'imprimerie catholique de Beyrouth et son œuvre en Orient (1853–1903)’, Fascicule Supplémentaire des Relations d'Orient (Brussels : Polleunis, Ceuterick et Lefebvre Printing Press, 1903), p.17.

34. Hajjar, Le Vatican-La France, p.463.

35. B. Labaki, Education et mobilité sociale dans la société multicommunautaire du Liban, approche socio-historique (Deutsche Institut für Internationale Pädagogische Forschung, 1988), p.71.

36. Hajjar, Le Vatican-La France, p.512.

37. ARSI, Carton 1004. Syria, Mission. Farde No.4, letter 2: AMDG: ‘Etablissement de St. Joseph à Ghazīr au Mont Liban dirigé par les PP. de la Compagnie de Jésus. Prospectus de 1869’.

38. Hajjar, Le Vatican-La France, p.512.

39. J. Brun, L'école catholique au Liban et ses contradictions (Publications of the University Cultural Centre, Collection Hommes et Sociétés du Proche-Orient, No.5) (Beirut: Dar El-Machreq editors, 1973), p.200.

40. Ibid., pp.202–3.

41. Ibid.

42. J. Hajjar, ‘Rapport secret du Cardinal Benoit-Marie Langenieux au Pape Léon XIII’, p.464.

43. For more details on the subject see: ARSI, Carton: 1004. Syria, Mission. Farde No.4, letter 2: AMDG: ‘Etablissement de St. Joseph à Ghazīr au Mont Liban dirigé par les PP. de la Compagnie de Jésus. Prospectus de 1869.’

44. ‘L'imprimerie catholique de Beyrouth et son œuvre en Orient (1853–1903)’, p.137.

45. Leon XIII (1810–1903). Pope from 1878 to 1903. He advocated in France the rallying of the Republic (1892) and, in a series of Papal letters on modern society, encouraged social catholicism and the religious penetration of the working classes (Rerum Novarum, 15 May 1891). We also owe to him the renewal of exegetical, historical and theological (neothomismal) studies.

46. Father I.A. Khalife SJ, ‘Léon XIII et l'Orient’, Saint-Joseph University, Theological Faculty. Livre d'or, 1881–1956 (Beirut: Catholic Printing Press, 1956), p.91.

47. Brun, pp.202–3.

48. Ibid., p.222.

49. M. Barrès, Une enquête aux pays du Levant (Paris, 1924), p.36.

50. Participation in the Maronite population is also achieved by other means, imposing a multitude of constraints. That of language is important and obliges the Fathers to take part in long apprenticeships. Others concern dress and appearance: the Fathers seem to do their utmost to comply with local rules and many photographs show them appearing, for example, with long beards. See on this subject the numerous sources consulted in the archives: ACG of Beirut in Nantes (Les Archives du Consulat général de Beyrouth conservées au Centre des archives diplomatiques de Nantes), AE (Les Archives du ministère des Affaires étrangères in Paris, le Quai d'Orsay), AJV in Vanves, ARSI in Rome and ASV (the Secret Archives in the Vatican). It is also important to refer to the knowledge that the Fathers had of the society into which they had plunged, the way in which they took a stand, at the same time as foreigners (those who had appeared with a privileged statute) and also connected to the region, a Maronite population.

51. Barrès, p.36.

52. Labaki, p.71.

53. C. Mayeur-Jaouen, ‘Les chrétiens d'Orient au XIXème siècle: un renouveau lourd de menaces’, in J.-M. Mayeur (ed.), Histoire du Christianisme (Paris, 1995), p.819.

54. A. Tallal, ‘L'enseignement au Liban au XIXème siècle. Rôle des Jésuites dans la formation de l'élite’ (Ph.D. thesis, René Descartes University Paris V, Human Sciences – Sorbonne, Nov. 1979), pp.241–2.

55. Report of the Reverend Father Angeli, ‘ Appendice. L 'éducation populaire au Liban’, in Le Père M. Chopin SJ, France et Syrie. Souvenirs de Ghazir et de Beyrouth (Tours: Alfred Mame and Sons, 1890), pp.353–54.

56. Father Khalife SJ, p.91.

57. For more details on the creation of the Maronite College in Rome, see: Nasser, 2 vols.

58. Father Khalife SJ, p.92.

59. ‘Feuilleton. L'Université Saint-Joseph à Beyrouth’, Les Missions Catholiques (Bulletin hebdomadaire illustré de l'œuvre de la Propagation de la Foi), Lyon, Paris, Brussels, Vol.8 Jan.–Dec. 1876, pp.506–7.

60. For more details on the subject see Asher Kaufman: ‘When Greater Lebanon was established in 1920, the first functionaries of the Lebanese State were chosen primarily among the Saint Joseph graduates. Thus, a strong link was established between the Jesuits of Saint Joseph and the new Lebanese State’ (A. Kaufman, ‘Phoenicianism: The Formation of an Identity in Lebanon in 1920’, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.37, No.1 (Jan. 2001), p.177). For more information on the relations between the Saint-Joseph University of Beirut and the Lebanese State, see D.A. Kerr, ‘The Temporal Authority of the Maronite Patriarchate’ (Ph.D. thesis, St. Antony's College, Oxford, 1973), p.151; I. al-Riyashi, Ru'asa’ Lubnan Kama ‘Araftuhum (Beirut, 1961), p.15.