Saint Maron lived in the second half of the fourth century on Mount Napo near Cyrrhus, between Antioch and Aleppo. He chose to live outdoors in sacrifice, fasting, and prayer.
The hermit whose disciples gave their name to a people, the monastery of Kfarhay, and the long journey of Saint Maron's relics into modern Maronite memory.
Saint Maron and the Maronites
Saint Maron lived in the second half of the fourth century on Mount Napo near Cyrrhus, between Antioch and Aleppo. He chose to live outdoors in sacrifice, fasting, and prayer.
It also recalled the fame of his holiness, including the letter of Saint John Chrysostom asking for his prayers, and Theodoret of Cyrrhus calling him 'Maron the Divine' because of the healings attributed to his intercession.
After his death, disciples spread his spiritual legacy. Some went into Lebanon, preaching in Byblos, Jebbeh, and Batroun, while others founded communities around northern Syria under the name Beit Maron, the house of Maron.
The page ultimately connected these communities to the election of John Maron as patriarch, the shaping of an autonomous Maronite Church within the Antiochene tradition, and the choice of Lebanon's mountains as a refuge of faith and freedom.
John Maron Monastery - Kfarhay
Before 685
While still bishop of Batroun, John Maron built the monastery at Kfarhay to continue the legacy of Saint Maron's monastery.
685-707
After becoming patriarch, he made the monastery his seat and associated it with the relic called the 'head of our patron' in Syriac memory.
Ottoman era
The monastery suffered repeated vandalism, pillage, and destruction, yet it was renewed many times to preserve its spiritual and national role.
1812
A patriarchal synod transformed the monastery into a school for the formation of priests.
19th-20th c.
The school expanded, endured war, fed the poor during the First World War, and later became a seminary for late vocations before closing in the 1970s.
1986 onward
Bishop Boulos Emile Saade began the effort to return the relics of Saint Maron to the monastery.
The relics of Saint Maron
Early Maronite tradition
John Maron is remembered as having moved the skull relic of Saint Maron from the Asi River monastery to Kfarhay for veneration.
1130
Father Michel of Oppelo received the skull while visiting the Holy Land and brought it to Sassovivo near Foligno.
1490
The relics were transferred to the Cathedral of Foligno and displayed annually in procession on March 10.
1998
Bishop Boulos Emile Saade formally requested the return of the relics, beginning the modern recovery effort.
January 8, 2000
The relics returned to Kfarhay in a major ceremony presided over by Patriarch Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir.
February 9, 2017
Saint Maron Cathedral in Montreal received part of the relics inside an altar joining Lebanese biblical cedar with Canadian cedar.
The relic of Saint Maron remains a source of strength for the Maronite Church and a sign of the bond between Lebanon and Canada.