Germanos Mouakkad

Background

Germanos Mouakkad was born in the beginning of April 1853, son of Issa Mouakkad and his wife Marie Kayata.

Education

Up to the age of twelve, he attended a Christian school in his home parish, after which he worked as an assistant to a merchant.

Career

At sixteen he became - against the fierce resistance of his mother - a novice in the monastery of the Holy Savior, where a monk named Ignace accepted him. After spending some years with Joseph Bakos studying philosophy, he was ordained by Clément Bahous priest and served as chaplain in Cairo and Damascus. From 1880 to 1886 Mouakkad was Patriarchal Vicar of the Melkite Patriarch of Jerusalem.

On 16 March 1886, he received the episcopal ordination and was - now called Germanos - Bishop of the Eparchy of Baalbek.

Germanos Mouakkad died on February 11, 1912 in a French hospital in Beirut from the effects of long-term illness. In 2014 a Lebanese stamp was issued with his picture.

Achievements

• In 1896 Mouakkad received during his stay in Rome by Pope Leo XIII"s permission, a medal for missionary priests and in 1903 established a missionary company to priests called Missionary Society of Saint Paul in Harissa, Lebanon.