Nerses Bedros XIX ( hy, Ներսէս Պետրոս ԺԹ. Թարմունի) (17 January 1940 – 25 June 2015) was the patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church. He was the second son and the fifth of eight children born to Elias Taza and Josephine Azouz. He completed his primary and secondary studies at the College of the

Brothers of the Christian Schools french: Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes , image = Signum Fidei.jpg , image_size = 175px , caption = , abbreviation = FSC , nickname = Lasallians , named_after = , formation ...

(''Frères des écoles chrétiennes'') in Cairo.Armenian Catholic Church
He felt a vocation for the priesthood very early in life and thus was sent to the Armenian Leonine Pontifical College in Rome in 1958 where he studied Philosophy and Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. His Bishop,

Raphaël Bayan Monsignor Raphaël Bayan (28 February 1914 – 21 September 1999) was Armenian Catholic Bishop Emeritus of Iskandariya of the Armenians (Egypt). Born in Zgharta in 1914, he was ordained on 1 November 1937 as a priest. On 12 December 1958, aged ...

ordained him as a priest in Cairo on 15 August 1965. In Heliopolis he was known as Father Pierre Taza. He served the parish of the Armenian Catholic Cathedral of the Annunciation in Cairo from 1965 to 1968 with the Rev John Kasparian who, in 1982, became

Catholicos-Patriarch Catholicos, plural Catholicoi, is a title used for the head of certain churches in some Eastern Christian traditions. The title implies autocephaly and in some cases it is the title of the head of an autonomous church. The word comes from ancient G ...

under the name of Hovhannes Bedros XVIII (John Peter XVIII Kasparian). From 1968 to 1990, Pierre Taza was

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

of the parish of St Therese of Heliopolis in Cairo. On 18 February 1990, he was ordained bishop of the Eparchy (Diocese) of Alexandria for Egypt and

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

by the laying on of hands of Jean Pierre XVIII. From 1992 to 1997, as member of the Catholic

Hierarchy A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...

of Egypt, he was the General Secretary of the Pastoral Council of the Catholic Church of Egypt. As a member of the

Synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''wikt:synod, synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin ...

of the Bishops of the Catholic Armenian Patriarch Church, he was: *Member of the Council of the three Bishops to direct the Patriarchal Curie from 1993 to 1995 *President of the Patriarchal Commission for the Vocations from 1993 to 1995 *Member of the Permanent Synod as of 1994 In October 1999, he was elected by the Bishops of the Holy Synod of the Catholic Armenian Synod,

Catholicos-Patriarch of Cilicia This is a list of the Armenian Catholic catholicos patriarchs of Cilicia, officially the Catholicos Patriarch of Cilicia of Armenian Catholics. The Armenian Catholic Patriarchate of Cilicia was established in 1740 following a schism within the A ...

of Armenian Catholics and took the name Nerses Bedros XIX. He remained in this position until his death on June 25, 2015.

References

External links

Biography on official site of the Armenian Catholic Church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nerses Bedros XIX 1940 births 2015 deaths 21st-century Eastern Catholic bishops 20th-century Eastern Catholic bishops Armenian Catholic Patriarchs of Cilicia Armenian Eastern Catholics Egyptian Eastern Catholics Egyptian people of Armenian descent Clergy from Cairo Pontifical Gregorian University alumni Eastern Catholic bishops in Africa

See also

References

External links