The Pope authorized the issuance of six decrees issued by the Department for the Causes of Saints, declaring the martyrs of Santander and the Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Elias Howayek blessed. Also elevated to the rank of “Honored” were the Salesian missionary Costantino Vendrame, the Cameroonian Carmelite monk Brother Jean Thierry, the Spanish nun Maria Anna Alberde Echezarreta, and the Capuchin monk Nazareno da Paula. The miracle that will lead to the beatification of Patriarch Howayek dates back to the year 1965, and is represented by the recovery of army officer Nayef Abu Assi, a Muslim from the Druze Unitarian sect, from chronic “bilateral spondylolysis,” after he woke up completely healthy after seeing Patriarch Howayek in a dream. Patriarch Howayek was born on December 4, 1843 in the Lebanese town of Halta, and entered the seminary at the age of sixteen, before moving to Rome to study theology, where he was ordained a priest in 1870. After his return to Lebanon, he founded, in cooperation with Mother Rosalie Nasr in the town of Ebrin, the “Association of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family,” which is the first women’s monastic order with an apostolic life in the Maronite Church. Al-Howayek was elected Patriarch in 1899, and devoted thirty years to developing the clergy and educating the believers. He also became a national reference for the Lebanese seeking independence from the Ottoman Empire, defending his people and establishing relationships with the authorities. During World War I, he opened monasteries and patriarchal edifices to feed the hungry and those affected by the war from various sects and religions, which prompted the Ottoman authorities to sentence him to exile, before he was spared thanks to the intervention of the Pope and Austro-Hungarian diplomacy. He also played a fundamental role in the birth of the State of Greater Lebanon in 1920 through his participation in the negotiations related to its declaration. Patriarch Howayek died in 1931 in Bkerke, after he was known as a man of dialogue, pastoral love, and evangelical poverty. He enjoyed the love and appreciation of the Lebanese people until he was called “the Great Father of Lebanon.”