Gabriel ibn al-Qilai (in exact Arabic transcription: Jibrāyīl ibn al-Qilā'i, in Latin: Gabriel Benclaius or Barclaius, was born in 1447 in
Lehfed
Lehfed ( ar, لحفد, also known as ''Lihfid'') is a municipality in the Byblos District of Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate, Lebanon. It is 55 kilometers north of Beirut. Lehfed has an average elevation of 1000 meters above sea level and a total land a ...
, in the
Byblos District, and died in 1516 in
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
. He was a Lebanese Christian religious, belonging to the
Maronite Church. Al-Qilai joined the Franciscan Order in 1470 and was consecrated
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
of the
Maronites in Cyprus
The Maronites in Cyprus, Maronite Cypriots, are an ethnoreligious group and/or members of the Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Cyprus whose ancestors migrated from present-day Lebanon during the Middle Ages. A percentage of them traditionally ...
in 1507.
Biography
Information about Gabriel al-Qilai is mostly found in the work of the historian patriarch
Estephan El Douaihy, which was often relevant to al-Qilai. Patriarch Douaihy protested al-Qilai's conversion to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, due to his beliefs in
Roman Orthodoxy for the Maronites.
Gabriel al-Qilai was son of Butrus al-Qilā'i and was born in the village of
Lehfed
Lehfed ( ar, لحفد, also known as ''Lihfid'') is a municipality in the Byblos District of Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate, Lebanon. It is 55 kilometers north of Beirut. Lehfed has an average elevation of 1000 meters above sea level and a total land a ...
. The word Qilāi refers to a house in a rocky area. According to custom, he was entrusted to a priest named Ibrāhīm ibn Dray to learn from him the Syriac and the reading of the liturgical books. According to the Patriarch Douaihy he was attacked in his youth of ophthalmia which was the cause of his breakup with his fiancee and his withdrawal from society.
Towards 1470, he went on pilgrimage to
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
with another young man named John. In this city he adhered the
Custody of the Holy Land
The Custody of the Holy Land (Latin: ''Custodia Terræ Sanctæ'') is a Custos (Franciscans), custodian priory of the Order of Friars Minor in Jerusalem, founded as the ''Province of the Holy Land'' in 1217 by Saint Francis of Assisi, who had also ...
of the Franciscan order. The recruitment of two young Maronites in the order was assigned by the Flemish brother Gryphon of Courtrai (1405 - died at St. Francis Convent in
Famagusta
Famagusta ( , ; el, Αμμόχωστος, Ammóchostos, ; tr, Gazimağusa or ) is a city on the east coast of Geography of Cyprus, Cyprus. It is located east of Nicosia District, Nicosia and possesses the deepest harbour of the island. Duri ...
on 18 July 1475), attached in 1450 to his death at the Franciscan mission of
Mount Lebanon
Mount Lebanon ( ar, جَبَل لُبْنَان, ''jabal lubnān'', ; syr, ܛܘܪ ܠܒ݂ܢܢ, ', , ''ṭūr lewnōn'' french: Mont Liban) is a mountain range in Lebanon. It averages above in elevation, with its peak at .
Geography
The Mount Le ...
and loaded relations with the Maronites.
The two youth Lebanese complete their last year of novitiate in the convent of
Mount Zion
Mount Zion ( he, הַר צִיּוֹן, ''Har Ṣīyyōn''; ar, جبل صهيون, ''Jabal Sahyoun'') is a hill in Jerusalem, located just outside the walls of the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City. The term Mount Zion has been used in the Hebrew ...
. After their vows, they were sent to
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
to complete their training. Gabriel followed to Italy (in Venice and
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
) to study
liberal arts
Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...
and
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
that lasted at least seven years. He himself said that he stayed in Rome for seven months and performs with his friend Jean theological training at
Aracoeli convent. In the eulogy he made with his friend John in Italy when they were often subjected to people who accused the
Maronite Church from
heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
a vigorous defence of their church. Both were ordained priests in Italy.
They did back to the East probably in 1483/85. Then, until his episcopal consecration in 1507, the life of Ibn al-Qilai took place between Qannoubine (center of the Maronite Church),
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
(where there was a Franciscan monastery, Saint-Sauveur) and
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
(where there was a Franciscan monastery, Mount Zion).
At that time, the Maronite Church was very torn between his long-standing ties with the papacy and the very strong presence in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
of the
Jacobite Church
, native_name_lang = syc
, image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg
, imagewidth = 250
, alt = Cathedral of Saint George
, caption = Cathedral of Saint George, Damascu ...
, of which it was culturally very close (liturgy, use of Western
Syriac). Noah Lebanese Bqoufa (born in
Ehden
Ehden ( ar, إِهْدِن, Syriac-Aramaic: ܐܗܕ ܢ ) is a mountainous city in the heart of the northern mountains of Lebanon and on the southwestern slopes of Mount Makmal in the Mount Lebanon Range. Its residents are the people of Zgharta, as ...
, in the heart of the Maronite country) was Patriarch of Antioch of the Jacobites from 1493 to 1509. There were no less than two convents in the region of Ehden that were occupied by Ethiopian monks members of the
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chris ...
, in the same communion that the
Syriac Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = syc
, image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg
, imagewidth = 250
, alt = Cathedral of Saint George
, caption = Cathedral of Saint George, Damascus ...
). Also a muqaddam (local chief) named Abdel Min'im Ayyub († 1495) had joined the Jacobite cause.
Ibn al-Qilai was particularly devoted to the fight against the Jacobite influences (who won, apparently, his native village of Lehfed and of his relatives) to secure the Maronites to the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.
On November 23, 1494, the Franciscan friar Francesco Suriano, then
custos {{Wiktionary, custos
''Custos'' is the Latin word for guard.
Titles
* Custos rotulorum ("keeper of the rolls"), a civic post in parts of the United Kingdom and in Jamaica
* Custos (Franciscans), a religious superior or official in the Fran ...
of the Holy Land, sent an unfriendly letter to Maronite Patriarch Simeon Hadath: he marveled that he was elected in 1492 but has not yet sent anyone to Rome to request the
pallium
The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : ''pallia'') is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropolit ...
(the confirmation of his election); "enemies" of the new primate, grouped in Cyprus where the Maronite Church was well established, accused him of breaking the union with the papacy; Suriano asked the Patriarch to justify and renew in writing, with the bishops, priests and lay leaders of the Maronite nation, their membership of the Catholic Church. Then Gabriel ibn al-Qilai was sent by Suriano to investigate charges and collect the new act of faith of the patriarch and his people.
Ibn al-Qilai devoted himself to this task in Lebanon until at least 1499. In 1507, the bishop of the Maronites of Cyprus Joseph Kasaphani died and he was elected to succeed him. He first lived in the Saints Nuhra and Anthony convent of Nicosia, the traditional seat of the Maronite bishops, and then transferred the seat to Saint-Georges Convent of Tala.
Relations between the Maronite and Latin hierarchies in Cyprus were appalling: in 1514, Ibn al-Qilai wrote to
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X ( it, Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521.
Born into the prominent political an ...
to complain about the nuisance that the Latin bishops to property inflicted the great Maronite monastery of Saint John Khuzbandu. The pope replied in 1515, confirming the rights of the Maronites and sent two other letters on this subject, to the Latin archbishop and the Venetian governor of the island.
Bishop al-Qilai died in 1516 in Cyprus.
Work
Gabriel ibn al-Qilai authored abundant literary works, mixing treated in prose and poetry, making him the first modern Maronite writer. The Maronite historians of the 17th and 18th centuries (Antoine Faustus Nairon,
Estephan El Douaihy and
Giuseppe Simone Assemani
Giuseppe Simone Assemani (Classical Syriac : ܝܵܘܣܸܦ ܒܲܪ ܫܸܡܥܘܿܢ , ( ar, يوسف بن سمعان السمعاني ''Yusuf ibn Siman as-Simani'', en, Joseph Simon Assemani, la, Ioseph Simonius Assemanus; July 27, 1687–January 13 ...
) were largely dependent on him.
In addition he translated into Arabic many texts in Latin or Italian from the Latin Church, introducing the literature of the latter among Maronites.
Prose Treaties
* Kitab 'an' ilm al-ilāhīyāt partial Arabic translation of the Compendium theologicae veritatis Dominican
Hugh Ripelin of Strasburg
Hugh Ripelin of Strasburg (c. 1205 – c. 1270) was a Dominican theologian from Strasbourg, Alsace. He is now considered to be the author of the ''Compendium theologiae'' or ''Compendium theologicae veritatis''. On account of its scope and style, ...
(v-1205 v 1270.);
* Kitab al-Idah'īmān (Book of the explanation of the faith), an introduction and four pounds (dated by the patriarch Douaihy 1494);
* Kitab an-Namus (Book of Law) collection of several treatises on the sacraments;
* Kitāb year Iman al (book on faith), Treaty Collection on the Nicene Creed and dogma of Chalcedon;
* Zahrat an-Namus (Flower of the law), instructions on the sacraments and daily prayer;
* Kitāb mijmā'ī qawl min al-al-Ahyar qiddīsīn (Book collecting the words of the blessed saints), life of the collection of devout sermons and theological treatises;
* Kitāb 'iẓāh (Book of Sermons);
* Speech about holy sacrament, collection of four speeches on the subject;
* Mass Treaty and its sections;
* Explanation of sacred confession;
* Apocalypse of St. John (translation of this book in the
Vulgate
The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible.
The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...
Latin to Arabic transcribed in
Garshuni Garshuni or Karshuni ( Syriac alphabet: , Arabic alphabet: ) are Arabic writings using the Syriac alphabet. The word "Garshuni", derived from the word "grasha" which literally translates as "pulling", was used by George Kiraz to coin the term "gars ...
);
* Comment of the prologue of the Gospel according to St. John;
* Art Writ of
Ramon Llull
Ramon Llull (; c. 1232 – c. 1315/16) was a philosopher, theologian, poet, missionary, and Christian apologist from the Kingdom of Majorca.
He invented a philosophical system known as the ''Art'', conceived as a type of universal logic to pro ...
(translation of this text in Arabic);
* The Book of Five Elders of
Ramon Llull
Ramon Llull (; c. 1232 – c. 1315/16) was a philosopher, theologian, poet, missionary, and Christian apologist from the Kingdom of Majorca.
He invented a philosophical system known as the ''Art'', conceived as a type of universal logic to pro ...
(idem);
* Philosophy, astrology and other subjects;
* Treaty on the calendar attributed to
Eusebius
Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...
of Caesarea (Treaty of computation in a mixture of Syriac and Arab transcribed in Garshuni);
* Excommunication against the Melkites (translation of a Latin text directed against the Greek Church);
* I'tiqād Sa'b Marun (Faith of the people of St. Maron), collection of treaties against Thomas Kfartab a
monophysite
Monophysitism ( or ) or monophysism () is a Christological term derived from the Greek (, "alone, solitary") and (, a word that has many meanings but in this context means "nature"). It is defined as "a doctrine that in the person of the incarn ...
in the 11th century;
* Collection of papal bulls addressed to the Maronites (translated from Latin into Arabic).
Letters
* Letter against the Jacobites (refutation of a Noah Bqoufa's text then Jacobite bishop of Homs);
* Letter to a Maronite priest (a priest of Jebbet Bcharré accused by Ibn al-Qilai of being a crypto-Jacobite);
* Letter to the inhabitants of Lehfed;
* Letter to the Patriarch Simeon Hadath (dated November 16, 1494, making the history of relations between the Maronite and Latin Churches);
* Letter to Bishop David (dated December 23, 1495, addressed to a native Jacobite bishop of Lehfed);
* Letter to George al-Rami (a Maronite priest joined to the Jacobites);
* Letter to the people of St. Maron (dated on 7 May 1499);
* Letter to the inhabitants of Mount Lebanon;
* Spiritual Testament (written to his family since Cyprus at the end of his life).
Poems
* The life of Mary and Jesus (741 to two half-lines of twelve syllables each, the poem addressed to pilgrims visiting Jerusalem);
* Mary Magdalene (19 to two half-lines of twelve syllables each);
* Palm Sunday (56 to two half-lines of twelve syllables each);
* Constantine and the Cross (500 to two half-lines of twelve syllables each);
* St. Alexis (90 couplets, or 180 to every two to seven syllables each hemistiches; form called "éphrémienne melody");
* St. Lucius (or Nuhra) (133 couplets or 266 verse, "éphrémienne melody"; story of a saint martyred under
Diocletian
Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...
, revered by the Maronites);
* Holy Euphrosyne (230 couplets, or 240 verse, "éphrémienne melody");
* St. Simeon Stylite (375 to each of two half-lines; this is Simeon the Elder, but the author sometimes confused with Symeon the Younger);
* The spheres (269 to 12 + 12, inspired by the poem Sphaera Tractatus de Johannes de Sacrobosco);
* The science (179 couplets or 358 verse, "melody éphrémienne" praised studious people);
* Zodiac, the planets and the movable feasts (122 to 12 + 12, poem on the computation);
* Medicine and the influence of the stars (82 couplets, or 164 verse, "éphrémienne melody"; the influentia planetarum in ancient medicine);
* About the four councils (147 couplets or 294 verse, "éphrémienne melody"; the first four ecumenical councils of Nicaea to Chalcedon, with a passage on the origin of the Maronite Church);
* Eulogy of John, drowned dead (zajal elegiac, 21 quatrains, or 84 verse, "éphrémienne melody"; his old companion John, became bishop of Aqura after 1492, drowned in a shipwreck on his way by sea a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre)
* Against those who sowed weeds among the Maronites (poem transmitted incompletely, by "melody éphrémienne" organized in couplets, which subsist on about 350 to 243; the struggle of Ibn al-Qilai against the Jacobites);
* Mount Lebanon (295 couplets or 590 verse, "éphrémienne melody", the best known text of Ibn al-Qilai poem telling the story of the Maronite nation, ending with the following stanza: "These events . written in tears / And are from the books of History / They cover six hundred years, / Who correspond to the era of Maron in Mount Lebanon ", a text that has played a big role in the formation of Maronite identity).
Poems of uncertain attribution
* Poem about Abraham (92 couplets in "éphrémienne melody");
* Poem about St. Chayna (21 couplets);
* Poem about Beau (564 couplets, 1128 to be in "tune éphrémienne" on the story of Joseph, son of Jacob);
* Poem about St. Anthony the Great (250 couplets);
* Poem about Holy Beard (53 couplets);
* Poem about science and the stars (to 143);
* Poem about the Virgin standing under the Cross (10 couplets);
* Poem about the Trinity (92 couplets).
* Thirty other poems have been attributed to Ibn al-Qilai however they are arbitrary or improbable.
Editions
* Several texts were edited by Father Ibrahim Harfouche in the journal Al-Manara:
[ eriodic Review was founded in 1930 by the Congregation of Maronite Lebanese Missionaries./ref> vol. 2, 1931, pp. 805–813, 901-907; flight. 3, 1932, pp. 99–106, 177-184, 260-263 (letter to the patriarch Simeon Hadath), p. 264-268 (poem on Palm Sunday), p. 268 (poem about the Virgin standing under the cross); flight. 7, 1936, pp. 653–663, 767-779 (poem about Constantine and the Cross). The same publisher in the magazine ]Al-Machriq
''Al-Machriq'' (Arabic: ''The East'') was a journal founded in 1898 by Jesuit and Chaldean priest Louis Cheikhô, published by Jesuit fathers of Saint Joseph University in Beirut, Lebanon. The subtitle was ''Revue Catholique Orientale. Sciences, ...
, vol. 14, 1911, p. 433-437, poem about the fall of Tripoli
Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to:
Cities and other geographic units Greece
*Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...
and taken from the hands of the Crusaders.
* Boutros Gemayel
Boutros Gemayel (29 June 1932 – 21 August 2021) was an emeritus Maronite Archbishop of the Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Cyprus.
Life
Boutros Gemayel received on 12 April 1959 the sacrament of ordination to the priesthood.
On 11 June 1988 h ...
(ed.), Zajaliyyāt (= popular poems) Gabriel Ibn al-Qilā'ī, Beirut, 1982 (whose poem On Mount Lebanon; Arabic text only).
* Ray Jabre Mouawad (ed.), Letters to Mount Lebanon by Gabriel Ibn al-Qilā'ī (XV century), published and translated with a historical presentation of Mount Lebanon at the time, Paris, Geuthner 2001.
Sources
* Hector Douaihy, a Maronite theologian ibn al-Qilā'i Gibra'il, Library of the Holy Spirit University, No. 31, Kaslik, 1993.
* Paul Rouhana, The vision of the religious origins of the Maronites between the XV and XVIII centuries since the bishop Gabriel ibn al-Qila'i († 1516) to the patriarch Estephan El Douaihy (1670-1704), 3 theft thesis. PhD, Institut Catholique de Paris, 1998.
* Ray Jabre Mouawad, "The Ethiopian monks in Mount Lebanon (late XV century)" underground Lebanon, No. 5, March 1998, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik
The Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (french: Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik (USEK); ar, جامعة الرّوح القدس – الكسليك, ''Jāmiʿah al-Rūḥ al-Quddus – al-Kaslīk''), is a private, not-for-profit Catholic univer ...
, p. 188-207.
* Elias Kallas, "Ibn al-Qila'i (XV - XVI centuries), a pioneer of neo-Christian Arabic literature of Mount Lebanon" Quaderni di Studi Arabi 18, 2000, p. 221-230.
* Fouad El-Hage, The Kitab al-Namus Ibn al-Qilā'ī in the legal history of marriage among Maronites, Library of the Holy Spirit University, No. 34, Kaslik, 2001.
* Hoda Nehme-Matar, "Ibn al-Qila'i Gibra'il of Lehfed (1450-1516)," Studia Orientalia Christiana, Collectanea 35-36, 2003, p. 137-216 (Arabic), 217-256 (French).
* Iskandar Bcheiry, "L'attività nel Ortodossa Siro-Mont nella seconda metà del Libano secolo XV", Word of the East, vol. 23, 2003, p. 609-658.
* Joseph Moukarzel, Gabriel Ibn al-Qila'i († 1516): biographical approach and study of the corpus, PhD in History, University of Paris-IV, 2005 (Library and of the Holy Spirit University, No. 51, Kaslik, 2007).
References
{{Authority control
1447 births
1516 deaths
15th-century historians
Friars Minor
16th-century Maronite Catholic bishops
15th-century Roman Catholic theologians
15th-century Arabic poets
Historians from the Mamluk Sultanate
16th-century historians