Maronite Patriarch of Antioch. Born in Beirut to a prominent Maronite family, Youssef Tyan was sent to Rome at an early age in order to receive his education at the Maronite College. Ordained priest in 1784, in two years' time he was consecrated bishop of Damascus, becoming patriarchal vicar in 1788. Elected Patriarch of Antioch on April 28, 1796, his election was confirmed by Pope Pius VI in July of the following year. When Napoleon Bonaparte besieged Akka - present day Acre in Israel - in 1798, Tyan asked Prince of Lebanon Bashir II to rally the Napoleonic troops with his Lebanese soldiers. Receiving no reply from Bachir's end, the Patriarch urged the Maronites to volunteer with the French troops, sending ammunition and supplies to the latter. When Napoleon failed to capture Akka, Tyan abdicated the patriarchate, informing the Holy See of his decision through a letter in 1807. With bishop Yuhanna El-Helou elected as his successor, Tyan retired to the hermitage of Saint Ephrem in Dar'un, Kesrawan, and later to the then newly established seminary college of St. John Marun in Kfarhaye, Batrun, where he taught theology. Passing away at the Patriarchal Seat of Qannubeen, his body was found incorrupt a hundred years after his death and remains preserved to this day in the Maronite monastery of Kadisha Valley.
Maronite Patriarch of Antioch. Born in Beirut to a prominent Maronite family, Youssef Tyan was sent to Rome at an early age in order to receive his education at the Maronite College. Ordained priest in 1784, in two years' time he was consecrated bishop of Damascus, becoming patriarchal vicar in 1788. Elected Patriarch of Antioch on April 28, 1796, his election was confirmed by Pope Pius VI in July of the following year. When Napoleon Bonaparte besieged Akka - present day Acre in Israel - in 1798, Tyan asked Prince of Lebanon Bashir II to rally the Napoleonic troops with his Lebanese soldiers. Receiving no reply from Bachir's end, the Patriarch urged the Maronites to volunteer with the French troops, sending ammunition and supplies to the latter. When Napoleon failed to capture Akka, Tyan abdicated the patriarchate, informing the Holy See of his decision through a letter in 1807. With bishop Yuhanna El-Helou elected as his successor, Tyan retired to the hermitage of Saint Ephrem in Dar'un, Kesrawan, and later to the then newly established seminary college of St. John Marun in Kfarhaye, Batrun, where he taught theology. Passing away at the Patriarchal Seat of Qannubeen, his body was found incorrupt a hundred years after his death and remains preserved to this day in the Maronite monastery of Kadisha Valley.
Bio by: Eman Bonnici
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