Maronite Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Jerusalem and Palestine

Territory and statistics

History

Patriarchal Vicars

• Youssef Mouallem, 1895-1896. He went to America.
• Estephan Hobeish, 1896-1897.
• Boulos Aweiss, 1897-1898.
• Khairalla Estephan, 1898-1901.
• Youssef Mouallem, 1901-1911. For the second time.
• Gerges Doumit, 1911-1928. After his resignation, he became a monk.
• Boulos Aweiss, 1929-1934. For the second time. He died during his homily and is buried on Zion Hill.
• Boulos Eid, 1934-1938.
• Youssef Ghanem, 1939-1941. On 12 April 1939, he was appointed by a Patriarchal Decree as temporary Vicar. On 8 September 1939, a letter from the Patriarch removed him from his office because of serious problems he had caused. The Vicariate remained without an actual titular until 1950 and the Maronite community of Jerusalem was abandoned. Between 23 September 1940 and 4 June 1950, therefore, only one christening took place; this occurred on November 25, 1945 and was performed by a delegate priest. This task was nominally assumed by a priest from Jaffa or Haifa.
• * Boulos Meouchi, 1941-1945. The monk responsible for the monastery of Jaffa. On 25 September 1941, a Patriarchal Decree appointed him president of the Court of First Instance in Jaffa.
• * Francis Moubarac, 1945-1949.
• Elias Ziadé or Ziadeh, 1949-1975. The number of faithful right before the war of 1948 was 800, after which it dropped to about 60. On 11 July 1949, Elias Ziadé was appointed Vicar in Jerusalem by Patriarchal decree. On August 11, another decree extended this office to Transjordan. Father Ziadé stayed in charge until his death on April 23, 1975.
• * Also in 1949, Mr. Michel Edde was appointed as the first "Moukhtar" of the community. On 15 June 1958, the Jordanian Government officially recognized the Maronite Church. On 15 May 1964, Patriarch Meouchi placed Monsignor Elias Ziadé in charge as parish priest of the Maronites in Jordan. A welfare society run by eight members was established and, on 28 July 1964, the society was recognized by the Jordanian Ministry of Interior Affairs.
• Augustin Harfouche, 1975-1996.

  Patriarchal Exarchs

• Paul Nabil El-Sayah
• Moussa El-Hage, OAM,