| Type: | patriarch |
| Honorific-Prefix: | Blessed |
| Istifan al-Duwayhi | |
| Church: | Maronite Church |
| See: | Patriarch of Antioch |
| Patriarch of Antioch | |
| Elected: | 20 May 1670 |
| Ended: | 3 May 1704 |
| Ordination: | 25 March 1656 (Priest) |
| Ordained By: | John Safrawy |
| Consecration: | 8 July 1668 (Bishop) |
| Consecrated By: | George Rizqallah Beseb'ely |
| Predecessor: | George Rizqallah Beseb'ely |
| Successor: | Gabriel of Blaouza |
| Birth Date: | 2 August 1630 |
| Birth Place: | Ehden, Lebanon |
| Death Place: | Qannoubine, Lebanon |
| Parents: | Father: Mikhayil Moussa El Douaihy, Mother: Mariam El Douaihy. |
| Beatified Date: | 2 August 2024 |
| Beatified Place: | Bkerké, Lebanon |
| Beatified By: | Cardinal Marcello Semeraro |
| Venerated: | Catholic Church |
| Feast Day: | May 3 |
Istifan al-Duwayhi or Estephan El Douaihy (Arabic: اسطفانوس الثاني بطرس الدويهي / ALA-LC: Isṭifānūs al-thānī Buṭrus al-Duwayhī; French: Étienne Douaihi; Latin: Stephanus Dovaihi; Italian: Stefano El Douaihy; 2 August 1630 – 3 May 1704) was the 57th Patriarch of the Maronite Church, serving from 1670 until his death. He was born in Ehden, Lebanon.
He is considered one of the major Lebanese historians of the 17th century and was known as “The Father of Maronite History”, “Pillar of the Maronite Church”, “The Second Chrysostom”, “Splendor of the Maronite Nation”, and “The Glory of Lebanon and the Maronites”. After his death, he was declared a Servant of God by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.[1] On 3 July 2008 Pope Benedict XVI declared him Venerable.[2] On August 2, 2024, he was beatified at a ceremony held in Bkerké, Lebanon.[3]
El Douaihy was born to a noble family (El Douaihy). At the age of sixteen, recognized as a brilliant young talent, he was sent to the Maronite College (Seminary) in Rome.[4] He studied there for fourteen years, from 1641 to 1655, being cured of a serious condition that almost led to blindness. El Douaihy believed that the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary was responsible for his cure. While in Italy, he traveled as widely as possible seeking manuscripts dealing with Maronite history and liturgy. When he returned to Lebanon at the age of 25, he continued his research.
On 25 March 1656 he was ordained priest by Patriarch Safrawy. In 1658, he was sent to serve the Maronite parish in Aleppo. He was appointed apostolic visitor in countryside Lebanon, and later he served in the parish of Ardeh. In 1662, he was again sent to Aleppo, where he remained until 21 May 1668. On his return, he went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.[5] On 8 July 1668 he was appointed and consecrated bishop of the Maronite Diocese of Cyprus by Patriarch George Beseb'ely.[6] He travelled to Cyprus for a pastoral visit in 1669.
As bishop, and later as Patriarch, he undertook reforms of the Maronite Church and its monks. El Douaihy was elected Patriarch on 20 May 1670, when he was only 40 years old, but was confirmed by Rome only on 8 August 1672. This is universally seen as an acknowledgment of his personal moral qualities, his extraordinary learning, and his keen appreciation of the issues the Maronites faced. He paid particular attention to the traditions of the Maronite Church, and favoured a de-Latinisation of rites and ceremonies. He was hounded by Ottoman authorities, who resented his principled appeals for justice for the Maronites. In particular, they were frustrated by his resistance to their oppressive taxation policies: policies which saw the abandonment of many villages by peasants unable to pay their taxes. It was also a period when Maronites and, in particular, their clergy, were liable to sudden arrest, assault and murder. The Patriarch was not exempt, being assaulted himself. He was accordingly obliged to move from place to place, however he maintained his writing.
El Douaihy traveled throughout the Maronite world, including Cyprus and Aleppo. This is partly because Aleppo was at that time a focus for the international overland trade, the only trade where the Ottoman Empire had any opening, given the European domination of the sea routes.
Almost immediately after his death, on 3 May 1704 in Qannubine, Kadisha Valley, he was considered by many Maronites of Lebanon, but particularly in North Lebanon and in Zgharta, Ehden to have been a saint. The Congregation of the Causes of Saints issued the decree of nulla osta for his beatification cause on 5 December 1996. The Patriarchate of Antioch of the Maronites proceeded with the diocesan investigation and, at its culmination, submitted the results to congregation, which validated the proceedings with a decree dated 8 November 2002. The Positio for the beatification cause was published in 2005 and it received the approval of the Historical Commission of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints on 24 January 2006. On 3 July 2008 Pope Benedict XVI authorised the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to draw up a decree on the heroic virtues of Patriarch al-Duwayhi who will be referred to as Venerable from the moment of publication of the decree. Some of the miracles attributed to him have been collected by M.S. El Douaihy.[7]
A miracle attributed to his intercession was investigated and was subject to a diocesan investigation; the miracle received formal ratification from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on 30 January 2014. Pope Francis approved the miracle required for his beatification on 17 March 2024, and he was beatified on August 2, 2024 in Bkerke, Lebanon.
Al-Duwayhi strongly believed in the social importance of education and science (being an amateur scientist himself). Given the importance of learning, and his experience in how far European education exceeded Oriental, he pursued a successful policy of sending as many Maronites to Rome as possible, to become capable of returning to the villages in which the Maronite peasantry lived, and raising the level of general education. Al-Duwayhi established a college in Aleppo, which became the base for the development of renewed monastic orders. As with his educational policy, his monastic renewal was a success, and still bears fruit today.
Of the many works of Patriarch al-Duwayhi, the vast bulk are still available only in Arabic. A selection has been translated into French by Youakim Moubarac in Pentalogie antiochenne/domaine Maronite.[8] That selection focusses upon his discussion of the rites and ceremonies of the Maronite Church. However, his major work is a general history book, Tarikh Al Azminah, available in several versions.