Maronite Catholic Eparchy of San Charbel in Buenos Aires ( es, Eparquía de San Charbel en Buenos Aires; la, Eparchia Sancti Sarbelii Bonaërensis Maronitarum) is a

Maronite Church The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic ''sui iuris'' particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. Th ...

ecclesiastical territory or

eparchy Eparchy ( gr, ἐπαρχία, la, eparchía / ''overlordship'') is an ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity, that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. Eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on the ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

. It is a suffragan eparchy in the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sev ...

of the

metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

Archdiocese of Buenos Aires The Archdiocese of Buenos Aires (''Archidioecesis Bonaerensis'') is one of thirteen Latin Metropolitan archdioceses of the Catholic Church in Argentina, South America. The Archbishopric of Buenos Aires is the Primatial see (protocollary first-r ...

, a

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Jo ...

archdiocese. It has a

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...

, the Catedral San Marón, located

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. In 2010 there were 750,000 members. It is governed by Habib Chamieh,

Mariamite Maronite Order , founding_location = Ehden, Lebanon , type = Monastic order of pontifical right for men , headquarters = Couvent Notre Dame de Louaize, Lebanon , membership = 112 members (95 priests) , membership_year ...

History

From July 5, 1901 began to come to Argentina the first Lebanese Maronite missionaries who founded the first mission in the

Lebanese diaspora Lebanese diaspora refers to Lebanese migrants and their descendants who emigrated from Lebanon and now reside in other countries. There are more Lebanese living outside Lebanon (over 4 million), than within the country (4 million citizens). T ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

. The Eparchy of San Charbel was established by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on 5 October 1990, on territory previously without proper ordinary of the particular church. It is named after its

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

, Charbel Makhluf.

Territory and statistics

The jurisdiction of the eparchy extends to all Maronite Catholic faithful living in Argentina. Its eparchial seat is the Argentine capital,

, where is located the Saint Maron Cathedral. It is not exempt, nor a hierarchical part of the Maronite patriarchal ecclesiastical structure, but a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

see in the

Ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sev ...

of the Roman Rite Metropolitan

in Argentina, like its Ukrainian Catholic counterpart, the Eparchy

Santa María del Patrocinio en Buenos Aires Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnigh ...

. The Christians of this diocese are mostly

emigrants Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

and are originally from

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 lie ...

. Their naming is originated from Saint

Maron Maron, also called Maroun or Maro ( syr, ܡܪܘܢ, '; ar, مارون; la, Maron; grc-gre, Μάρων), was a 4th-century Syrian Syriac Christian hermit monk in the Taurus Mountains whose followers, after his death, founded a religious Chris ...

the founder of the Maronite Church. The Eparchy of Saint Charbel of Buenos Aires counted some 750,000 Lebanese Maronite Catholics of prevalent

Arab Christian Arab Christians ( ar, ﺍَﻟْﻤَﺴِﻴﺤِﻴُّﻮﻥ ﺍﻟْﻌَﺮَﺏ, translit=al-Masīḥīyyūn al-ʿArab) are ethnic Arabs, Arab nationals, or Arabic-speakers who adhere to Christianity. The number of Arab Christians who l ...

origin in 2010 and there were four parishes.

Episcopal ordinaries

;Eparchs of San Charbel of Buenos Aires *

Charbel Georges Merhi Charbel Georges Merhi, MLM (born on 12 October 1937 in Edde, Lebanon) was bishop of the Maronite Catholic Eparchy of San Charbel in Buenos Aires from 1990 to 2012. Biography On 29 August 1964 Merhi was ordained priest and became Chaplain of the ...

, Congregation of the Lebanese Maronite Missionaries (M.L.M.) (5 October 1990 – 17 April 2013) * Habib Chamieh,

(O.M.M., Aleppians) (22 November 2019 – present) ** Apostolic Administrator from 17 April 2013 to 22 November 2019

References

;Additional sources * Ecclesiastical Guide of Argentina (AICA), Catholic Argentina Agency.

Sources and external links

GigaCatholic

Lebanese Argentine Eastern Catholic dioceses in Argentina Maronite Catholic eparchies Maronite Church in Argentina Christianity in Buenos Aires Dioceses established in the 20th century Christian organizations established in 1990 {{EasternCatholic-diocese-stub

History

Territory and statistics

Episcopal ordinaries

See also

References

Sources and external links