Youakim Moubarac

Youakim Moubarac
Youakim Moubarac.
Born	Jul. 20, 1924 Kfarsghab, Lebanon
Died	May 24, 1995 Montpellier, France
Occupation	Priest, Professor and Researcher
Parent(s)	Father: Antoun Moubarac, Mother: Fafrounia Samyia.

Youakim Moubarac (July 20, 1924 – May 24, 1995) was a Lebanese French erudite. He was an Islamologist, an Arabist and a disciple of the Orientalist Louis Massignon and of philosopher Louis Gardet. A Maronite priest, Moubarac dedicated his life and major works to interfaith dialogue between Christianity and Islam, to Arab and Lebanese causes, to the unity of the Church and to the Maronite Church Antiochian heritage.

Youakim Moubarac was born in Kfarsghab, Zgharta, Lebanon in a Maronite family of long sacerdotal tradition. His Father, Antoun, and Grandfather, Youssef, were Maronite priests serving their community in one of the holiest locations of the Eastern Christianity in the Middle East, the Qadisha Valley. His maternal grandfather Nemtallah Samia was also a priest.

After ecclesiastic studies in the Maronite Seminary of Ghazir and the Université Saint-Joseph, Beirut, Lebanon, young Youakim was sent in October 1945 to France by his superiors. Once his studies ended in the Seminary of Saint Sulpice, Paris, he was ordained priest on June 29, 1947 in Lebanon. In 1948, he was authorized by the Maronite Patriarch to continue his studies at the Institut Catholique de Paris. In that same year, he is appointed at the service of the Church of Saint Séverin in the Quartier Latin, Paris where he stayed for 18 years.