Simon Aouad

Simon Aouad

Simon Aouad was elected the new Patriarch in the following day without informing the absent bishops. Simon humbly refused that honor. The bishops, then, elected Elias Mouhasseb as a new Patriarch. But Bishop Toubia Khazen, who was absent during the election, refused to recognize the election of Mouhasseb and was elected by his group as the new Patriarch. Facing this situation, Rome stepped in and annulled both elections, reinstating Simon Aouad as the new Patriarch. Both parties accepted Rome’s decision and Simon Aouad was inaugurated as the new Maronite Patriarch in Harissa.

The persecutions that were carried out in Northern Labanon by the Ottomans and the Hamadeh family pushed Patriarch Simon to leave the Patriarchal convent in Quannoubine and settle in the convent of Our Lady of Machmoucheh, the one he built when he was a bishop of the region. The importance of Patriarch Simon Aouad, in addition to his religious position, lies in his books which are still hand-written. Among them are: “Patriarchs of the Orient”, “Proofs of Christian faith”, “Explanations of the 4 Gospels”, “Life of Patriarch Stephan Doueihy” and others.

In 1730, Bishop Simon Aouad came to the Jezzine area as a delegate to his uncle Patriarch Jacob Aouad (1705-1732) to be the head of the parishes spreading from Palestine to Sidon. He felt the need to establish a permanent residency in the area. Therefore he chose the land called Ain EL Jaouze near Machmoucheh to be his place. He bought the land from its owners: Kabalan Harmouche from Semkanieh in the Chouf area and the wife of Emir Melhem Chehab mother of Emir Sayyed Ahmad Chehab.