Joseph Peter Hobaish
| Joseph VIII Peter Hobaish (يوسف الثامن بطرس حبيش) |
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|---|---|
| Patriarch of Antioch | |
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| Church | Maronite Church |
| See | Patriarch of Antioch |
| Elected | May 25, 1823 |
| Term ended | May 23, 1845 |
| Predecessor | John Helou |
| Successor | Joseph Ragi El Khazen |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | January 30, 1820 (Bishop) by John Helou |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 23, 1787 Sahel Aalma, Lebanon |
| Died | May 23, 1845 (aged 58) Dimane, Lebanon |
Joseph VIII Peter Hobaish (born April 23, 1787 in Sahel Aalma, Lebanon – died on May 23, 1845 in Dimane, Lebanon), (or Youssef Hobaish, Yusuf Hubaysh, Hubais, Hobeish, Hobaich, Arabic: يوسف الثامن بطرس حبيش), was a former bishop of the Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Tripoli and 68th Maronite Patriarch of Antioch from 1823 until his death in 1845.
Joseph Peter Hobaish was born in the village of Sahel Aalma, near Jounieh, in the Keserwan District, Lebanon on April 23, 1787. He studied at the seminary of 'Ain Warqa and was ordained priest on June 26, 1814, and later he was consecrated bishop of Tripoli on January 30, 1820 by Patriarch John Helou.
Patriarch John Helou died on May 12, 1823, and Joseph Peter Hobaish was elected Patriarch on May 25, 1823 by the patriarchal synod in the monastery of Santa Maria of Qannubin. On May 29, 1823 took place his ceremony of enthronement. Pope Leo XII confirmed his election on May 3, 1824 even if there were some canonical irregularities in the election detected by the Propaganda Fide: actually Hobaish didn't reach the two-thirds majority of votes, nor he was already forty.
As Patriarch, Joseph Hobaish urged improving the formation of priests. The Maronite College in Rome no longer existed after 1808, but his attempts to reorganize it were unsuccessful. However popes Pius VIII and Gregory XVI were willing to accommodate students in the Maronite Pontifical Urban College. Hobaish thus reorganized the seminary 'Ain-Warka and opened two new seminaries, Mar 'Abda Harharaia in 1830 and Mar Sarsik et Bakhos in 1832. In 1840 he founded a religious congregation of missionaries. He introduced a modified liturgical ritual book which included many latinizations, and he took measures to limit the increasing Protestant missionary activity. Joseph Hobaish further definitively implemented two of the more controversial decrees of the Maronite Synod of 1736: the separation of monasteries where both men and women lived, and the definition of a fixed episcopal residence into each Maronite diocese.
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