Howayek and the Elevation of Lebanese Women’s Role (3/4)

From an early age, Elias Howayek was keenly aware of the hardships faced by the rural communities where he had grown up. After becoming a bishop, he realized he had a responsibility to address the unequal access to education for girls from modest families in his native region. His letters and writings show that he viewed the education of young women as the cornerstone of family life, convinced that providing women with a solid education meant safeguarding the moral, civic, and social future of Lebanese society.

On August 15, 1895, Elias Howayek founded the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family in Jbeil with Mother Rosalie Nasr and Sister Stéphanie Kardouche, whom he had, on the advice and with the approval of their superiors, released from their convent in Nazareth in the Holy Land.

Mother Rosalie Nasr (1840-1899) was a remarkable woman and an experienced religious sister who had held senior leadership positions within her original congregation, the Sisters of Our Lady of Nazareth, as well as with the Sisters of the Rosary. She met Elias Howayek in what proved to be a providential encounter while he was still a bishop, and he shared with her his vision for the new congregation. After obtaining the consent of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, she devoted herself entirely to “the work,” alongside Sister Stéphanie Kardouche, her former student, who had accompanied her from Nazareth.

The choice of the name “Holy Family” reflected both an educational and a spiritual purpose: the sisters were to embody the virtues of the Holy Family of Nazareth in order to support and preserve a threatened family unit and a threatened society, part of which was surrendering to the pleasures of the postwar period, to dances and to games of chance.

The congregation was confronted with challenges from an early stage, most notably the tragic death of Mother Rosalie in 1899. The tragedy unfolded during the night of August 22-23, 1899, when a young woman considered “mentally ill” and dismissed from the convent as unsuited to religious life returned and stabbed her to death. On a warm, moonlit night, familiar with the layout of the small convent, she made her way to Mother Rosalie’s room on the ground floor, climbed through an open window, approached her bed, and plunged a knife into her heart. Mother Rosalie died shortly afterward.

Archbishop Howayek responded without delay. On August 30, 1899, just one week after Mother Rosalie’s death, the founder appointed Sister Stéphanie Kardouche – Mother Rosalie’s companion and spiritual daughter – as the congregation’s new superior. Barely 30 years old, yet already shaped by responsibility, Sister Stéphanie ensured the continuity and stability of the congregation’s mission with remarkable determination, sustained by her vision and by her conviction that the work was guided by Providence.

Today, the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family remains a symbol of that pioneering vision, bringing together spirituality, education, and social development. The congregation’s motherhouse in Ibrine, near Batroun, houses the mortal remains of Patriarch Howayek, whose body appears to have decomposed only slowly, as well as a fine museum devoted to the many facets of the man who shaped the soul of Lebanon.

An Architect and a Builder

Patriarch Howayek is also remembered for his architectural achievements, which include such emblematic landmarks as the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa, as well as the patriarchal residences in Bkerke and Dimane. His work also extended to the congregation’s motherhouse in Ibrine, whose church is adorned with delicate stained-glass windows that he personally selected. His appreciation for beauty appears to have been cultivated through his encounters with the churches and monuments of the Eternal City.

The Harissa shrine was erected in honor of the “Immaculate Conception,” the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was conceived free from “original sin.” The Jesuit fathers, who at the time were in charge of the Ghazir seminary, helped install a monumental bronze statue of the Virgin Mary overlooking the spectacular Bay of Jounieh. Harissa has since become a national pilgrimage site and much more. Pilgrims from Lebanon and across the Middle East come there to seek the intercession of a woman revered by Christians as the Mother of God and by Muslims as “the purest of women.”

Patriarch Howayek also consolidated the patriarchal residence of Bkerke, which had replaced Dimane in 1830 as the seat of the patriarchate, after the demographic center of the Maronite community shifted toward central Mount Lebanon. The patriarch had the old patriarchal residence replaced with a new one. From that period onward, Bkerke became what it remains today: the administrative and spiritual center of the Maronite Church, while also serving as a strategic base for its political and diplomatic activities – toward France and the League of Nations in Howayek’s time, and toward the wider world today.

As was only fitting, Dimane, near the Cedars, became the summer residence of the Maronite patriarchs. The patriarch’s achievements also extended beyond Lebanon’s borders, reaching France, Egypt, Jerusalem, and Rome. They reflected the fusion of his spiritual commitment and political vision, reinforcing both the authority of the Maronite Church and the project of a Lebanon that was free and pluralistic, modern and united.

Read also:

“Love of the Homeland,” Patriarch Howayek’s Spiritual Testament (2/4)

Patriarch Howayek, Prophet of Coexistence (1/4)