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Abouna Yaacoub El Kabbouchi
The
Venerable Khalil (Father Jacques) HADDAD was born on 1 Feb 1875 in
Ghazir, Lebanon. He was ordained on 1 Nov 1901 in Beirut, Lebanon.
He died on 26 Jun 1954 in Lebanon. Father Jacques attended school in
Ghazir, and then at the "College de la Sagesse" in Beirut, studying
Arabic, French, and Syriac.
In 1892 he went to Alexandria,
Egypt to be a teacher of Arabic in the Christian Brothers' College.
Itinerant preacher form 1903 to 1914, he walks all over Lebanon
proclaiming God's word. They call him "the Apostle of Lebanon", but
he will be seen also preaching in Syria, Palestine, Iraq, and
Turkey.
In 1919, he buys land on the hill of Jall-Eddib, 7
miles north of Beirut. He builds a chapel there which he dedicates
to Our Lady of the Sea. On a nearby rock, he raises a great Cross 30
feet high. In the 1920's he forms the "Franciscan Sisters of the
Cross of Lebanon" who help the sick and poor.
The modest
work of Father Jacques aroused the people's admiration. Soon the
Lebanese Government becomes interested and begins to send to the
Cross all sorts of ill and infirm; the deat, mute, blind,
paralytics, the mad, incurables who are all accepted pell-mell.
From 1950 on, the Cross will be exclusively a psychiatric
hosptial, one of the most modern of the Near East, where pioneer
work is done in psychotherapy. The movement of charity begun at Jall
Eddib spread throughout Lebanon. Father Jacques and his sister
multiplied their works of social assistance. At Deir el-Kamar
(1933) the House of the Sacred Heart is a girls' orphanage, later
transformed into an asylum for the chronically ill. At Antelias
(1948) the Hospital of our Lady welcoms the aged and chronically
ill, the paralyzed.
At Dora
(1949) St. Joseph's Hospital has become one of the most
important medical centers of the capital. In Beirut (1950)
St. Anthony's House for beggars and vagabonds whom the police
found in the streets, and Providence House for girls who were
without a family. At Tibnine (1969) a military hospital.
At Kabr-Chemoun (1971) a government hospital in a region
where medical service has been quite deficient. At Baabda
(1974) a large government hospital. At Zghorta (1975) a
hospital established during the war. At Beit Chebab (1977)
a center for the war handicapped. Also a rest center in
Bcheele, a social center at Jdabra, and a center for the
mentally handicapped at Chartoun.
Parallel to
their hospital mission, Father Jacques and his Sisters carried
on an important work of education. at Jall-Eddib, the
School of Saint Francis (1919) at Broummana (1950) the
School of Saint Elie, with an orphanage of 200 girls at
Hrajel (1950) the School of Our Lady.
Father
Jacques' body was worn out by vigils, fatigue, and travels.
Suffering numberous ills, almost completely blind, stricken
with leukemia, he did not stop blessing God and
working...Right to the end he kept his head clear. His last
hours were an uninterrupted series of prayers and invocations
of the Cross and the Virgin Mary. The cause for his
beatification was introduced in February, 1979. On
February 24th, 1979, His Holiness Pope John Paul II signed the
decreee of introduction of the cause for beatification. The
first session of the apostolic process took place in Lebanon
on November 28, 1979.
Source: "Father Jacques Hadddad".
1980. Written by Father Selim Rizacallah. Arab Printing Press:
Beirut, Lebanon. |
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كثيرون من
الكهنة عاصروا "أبونا يعقوب" وتحدثوا عن مآثره:
المونسنيور
فيليب نجيم الذي عاصر الأب يعقوب، قال: "أتذكر أنه كان مثالا صالحا في
كل أعماله وخصوصاً في خدمة الفقراء. وكان يتجول مشياً من بيروت الى
كفرتيه وبسكنتا والشمال ويوزع على مَن يلتقيهم صوراً للعذراء وأيقونات
وسبحات، وكان تقياً وورعاً ". وروى المونسنيور نجيم أنه خدم في كنيسة
الوردية القريبة من مبنى جريدة "النهار" في الحمراء ، وكان الزملاء
فيها وفي "الأوريان لوجور" يحضرون القداس خلال الحرب وخصوصاً خلال حرب
السنتين. وكان يحضر أيضاً استاذ غسان وأستاذ سامي وأساتذة آخرون مثل
فرنسوا عقل وجوزف نصر، للمشاركة في القداس بسبب عدم تمكنهم من اجتياز
المعابر إلا نادراً، كذلك كان يحضر سياسيون ووجهاء وبينهم العميد ريمون
إده، وينتقلون بعد القداس لشرب القهوة في صالون
الكنيسة.
الأخت ماري دميان قالت: "شو ما حكينا عن أبونا
يعقوب قليل. حياتو سكوت وأمانة ومحبة للصليب". وتضيف أنه زار بلدتها
العبادية (قضاء بعبدا) مشياً ونام ثلاثة أيام في بيت العيلة وعمّد
أولاد أختها.
الأم بترونيل مبارك قالت أن "الاب يعقوب"
رسمها راهبة عام 1943 وهي ترى فيه صورة الله.
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من أقوال الأب يعقوب الكبوشي |
أكبر جُرْم في عصرِنا هوَ
الإبتعاد عن القربان.
إزرعوا برشاناً تحصدوا
قدّيسين.
"أنموا واكثروا" ملأت الأرض بشراً وهذا
هو جسدي "ملأت الأرضَ يسوعا" صنعَ القربان ليمكُث
معنا.
تأكل الخبز فيقودُكَ إلى القبر، تأكل جسد
الربّ فيعطيكَ الحياة |
الموتُ ولا العيشُ نصف
مسيحي لا تُمسك الجريدة الرديئة إنّها تُسَوّدُ
الأصابع، وهكذا قراءتُها فهي تُسَوِّدُ عقول البشر
وقلوبهم. إنّ نشرَ الكتابة الجيّدة هو أهمُ
عملٍ وأنفعُه في الأيام الحاضرة |
لبنان تكريمُ الصليب وديعةٌ
فلأنتَ كنتَ لحِفظِها المختارا فارفعْ صليبَك فوقَ
أرزِكَ فاخرا فكفاك مجدا أن يكونَ
شعارا
كلّنا للصليبْ للعُلى للسّما كلّنا
للحبيب لأمّه مريما | |
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Cardinal Jose Sarajeva
Martinez on Sunday declared in the name of Pope Benedict XVI
father Jacob Haddad Kabouchi a venerated. Kabouchi's
beatification ceremony was held in downtown Beirut and
attended by President Michel Suleiman, Parliament Speaker
Nabih Berri and Premier-Designate Fouad
Saniora.
Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir also
attended the ceremony, regarded a national event in Lebanon
being the first of its
kind.
Naharnet
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