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Draft:Pietro Sfair

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  • Comment: Two sources, one of which is an offline one cited with insufficient bibliographic detail, the other a blog, is not enough to either establish notability or to support the information. DoubleGrazing (talk) 16:55, 30 June 2024 (UTC)
Pietro Sfair
TitleArchbishop and Ordinarius for the Maronite faithful of Rome
Personal
Born
Pietro Sfeir

February 10, 1888
Klaihat, Keserwan, Lebanon
DiedMay 18, 1974
Rome, Italy
ReligionMaronite Catholic
Organization
ChurchMaronite Church
Senior posting
ConsecrationMay 24, 1953
OrdinationMarch 8, 1913


Pietro Sfair (born February 10, 1888 in Kleiat, Keserwan, Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate, Ottoman Empire; died May 18, 1974 in Rome, Italy) was a Lebanese Archbishop and diocesan bishop (Ordinary) for the Syriac-Maronite Church of Antioch Catholic faithful in Rome.[1] [2] He is the only cleric to date to be named the Titular Archbishop of Nisibis (Nusaybin) by the Maronite Catholic Church.[3] The wikipedia article Nusaybin states that "the Maronite titular see was established as Titular Archiepiscopal see of Nisibis (informally Nisibis of the Maronites) in 1960. It is vacant, having had a single incumbent of the (intermediary) archiepiscopal rank: Pietro Sfair (1960.03.11 - 1974.05.18)". A 695-page biography of Sfair authored by Butrus Fahd is in the collection of both the Library of Congress in Washington DC and the New York Public Library, according to such library's research catalogue.[4]

Sfair was the embodiment of the adage "as learned as a Maronite." He spoke eight languages (Hebrew, Syriac, Greek, Latin, Arabic, French, Italian & English), was a professor of Theology, oriental languages (Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic) and Islamic Law at both the University of Rome and Saint John Lateran University in Rome.[5] [6] [7] He served as the spiritual advisor to the Pontifical Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle Brothers) at the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran.[8] Sfair worked as an Arabic translator for the Vatican's Society for the Propagation of the Faith and celebrated the Maronite mass twice monthly for Vatican Radio,[9] which began broadcasting (with the technical assistance of Guglielmo Marconi) in 1931 during the papacy of Pope Pius XI.

Sfair's views on theological questions were sought out by Pope John XXIII during the Second Vatican Council. He was instrumental during the drafting of the Second Vatican Council document Nostra Aetate to highlight the House of Mary (in Ephesus, Turkey) and Marian devotion as a matter of shared interest between Christians and Muslims.[10] He was a strong advocate for good relations with Judaism and Islam.

Sfair was somewhat of a local celebrity in the 1960s and 1970s in Rome, known for walking all around central Rome without concerning himself with vehicular traffic and having established friendships with Italian Admiral and Senator Angelo Ugo Conz [it], Christian Democracy leader and future prime minister Aldo Moro, and movie star Sylva Koscina, who fondly called him "my grand dad" ('nonno' in Italian).[11] Admiral Conz (Regia Marina) was a decorated veteran of both the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912 and World War One.[12] He was keenly interested in the military history of the Ottoman Empire, as was Sfair. Admiral Conz most likely nominated Sfair for a knighthood of the Order of the Crown of Italy in 1935 and most certainly attended the mass to celebrate Sfair's silver jubilee as a priest in 1938.[13] (Both Admiral Conz and radio inventor and Nobel laureate Guglielmo Marconi served in the Senate together during the Italian monarchy.) In the late 1960s and early 1970s, when he was the Foreign Minister of Italy, Aldo Moro was keenly interested in understanding and containing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and sought Sfair's views.

As for Sylva Koscina, she was one of the most beautiful and sensual women in Italian cinema in the 1950s and 1960s (once posing topless for Playboy magazine and once appearing totally nude in an Italian film) and it is likely that Koscina met Sfair at the Piper Club, a famous dance club in Rome, establishing a platonic friendship. The Piper Club [it] opened in 1965 during the "dolce vita" era and was a destination of choice for the international jet set interested in what was new in art, culture and music (for example, in April 1968 Pink Floyd performed at the club).[14] About the Piper Club, Sfair once remarked "I enjoy working in this world that is in so much need of gospel witness; I like talking to actors, actresses and singers--something of what I say will remain in their consciences" (<Mi piace lavorare in questo mondo che tanto bisogno di una testimonianza evangelica. Mi piace parlare ogli attori, alle attrici y ai cantanti; qualcose i quello che dico rimarra nelle loro coscienze>)[15] In December 1972, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported on the 84-year-old Archbishop's visit to the Piper Club as an invited guest of honor, where he watched a fashion show and awarded a prize to a fur designer.[16]

Family

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Sfair's birth name in Arabic is Butros Javad Sufayr. Sfair's father was Georges Sfeir and his mother was Philoumene Sfeir (for background on the family history, see Sfeir). The names of some of his siblings were Salim, Chaia, Maria, Racquel, Antoun. Emile (Emilio) and Isaie. He received his primary and secondary education in Lebanon, first at St. Gergoes's School in Kleiat, Keserwan District (founded by an illustrious ancestor Abi-Dagher Sfeir) and then at St. Joseph's School in Cornet Chawan, Matn District. Beginning in 1903, when he was 15 years old, he studied in Italy at the Collegio Maronita di Roma. He would reside in Rome for the next 72 years of his life.

Entering into the religious life was a Sfeir family tradition. A great uncle of Sfair was Michel Sfeir (1854-1920), a Maronite priest and scholar who catalogued thousands of ancient Arabic and Syriac manuscripts found in Lebanese monasteries. A cousin was Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East. Other family members, however, were engaged in worldly pursuits.

One of Sfair's younger brothers was Emilio Sfeir, a hero of Bolivian counter-intelligence during the Guerra del Chaco (Chaco War) against Paraguay.[17] [18] Nelly Sfeir Gonzalez was his niece. Bolivian secretary of energy, petroleum executive and football-soccer promoter Mauricio Gonzalez Sfeir is a great nephew; he met his great uncle on a visit to Rome in 1970. Swiss-Lebanese banker Salim Sfeir may be the grandson of Sfair's older brother Salim. In 2017, Salim Sfeir donated funds to renovate the library at the Maronite College in Rome.[19]

Although Sfair passed away in Rome, where a funeral mass was celebrated for him at the Maronite College Chapel of St. Anthony in the Piazza San Pietro in Vincoli, his earthly remains were shipped to Beirut, where they were received by all the Lebanese bishops, civil authorities and the faithful. A second funeral mass was celebrated for him in his hometown of Kleiat, Lebanon at St. George's, the church of the Sfeir family convent (couvent des Sfeir). He was buried in Lebanon in accordance with his Last Will and Testament. At the time of Sfair's death, only three siblings remained alive--his brothers Chaia (from Horsh Tabet, Sin el Fil, Beirut) and Isaie (from Kleiat) and one of his two sisters.[20]

Religious life

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After ten years of preparation at the Collegio Maronita di Roma, Pietro Sfair was ordained to the priesthood on March 8 1913. He pursued graduate studies from 1913 to 1916 at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.[21]

On March 11, 1953 Pope Pius XII appointed Sfair Titular Bishop of Epiphania in Syria (Hama) and Ordinary for the Maronite faithful of Rome. Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, Eugène Cardinal Tisserant, consegrated Sfair a Bishop on May 24, 1953; Co-consecrators were Vice Regent for the Diocese of Rome, Luigi Traglia, and the Auxiliary Bishop of the Ostia and Porto und Santa Rufina, Pietro Villa FSCJ. Pope John XXIII appointed Sfair on March 11, 1960 as Titular Archbishop of Nisibis Nisibis dei Maroniti[22]

Pietro Sfair participated in all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council as a Council Father.[23]

In the early 1970s, Sfair served as the Rector of the Maronite College in Rome (Collegio Maronita di Roma-- Pontificio Collegio dei Maroniti) and his Vice Rector was the future Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi. Sfair's assistant in Rome was a young Maronite Catholic seminarian and deacon Faouzi Elia, who went on to become pastor of St. Sharbel Church in Peoria, Illinois and Chorbishop of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon in Los Angeles, California.[24]

Awards and Honors

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In Rome on May 11, 1935, His Majesty Vittorio Emanuele III, King of Italy, conferred upon Sfair the title of Cavaliere dell'Ordine della Corona d'Italia (Knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy).[25]

Monsignor Sfair was also a Prelate of Honour of His Holiness (Domestic Prelate).[26]

Sfair was the Honorary Rector of the Accademia Universale Guglielmo Marconi in Rome.[27]

Selected Writings

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Sfair was a prolific writer and scholar. In addition to writing about the theology and religious practices of the Maronite Antiochene Rite and the lives of Catholic saints, Sfair occassionally wrote about migrant literature and political satire in Lebanon and Syria. Among his published works are the following:

Popular Songs about Social and Political Satire of Lebanon and Syria (1931)[28]

The Antiochene Maronite Rite (1933)[29]

Emigration and Love of Country in the Poetry of the Lebanese Dialect (1942) [30]

The Syriac-Maronite mass, annotated (1946)[31]

Biography of St. Abraham of Clermont (1962)[32]

Syriac-Maronite traditions regarding the martyrdom of Saint Peter (1969)

References

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  1. ^ "Nelly Sfeir Gonzalez". Champaign-Urbana News Gazette. December 12, 2020.
  2. ^ Fahd, Butros (1974). Arciescovo Pietro Sfair grande orientalista e predicatore, vita e opere [Archbishop Pietro Sfair great orientalist and preacher, life and work] (in Italian). Rome: Matabi al-Karim al-Hadithath.
  3. ^ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1)
  4. ^ "Pietro, Sfair 1974". New York Public Library Research Catalogue. Retrieved July 9, 2024.
  5. ^ Fahd, Butros (1974). Arciescovo Pietro Sfair grande orientalista e predicatore, vita e opere [Archbishop Pietro Sfair great orientalist and preacher, life and work] (in Italian). Rome: Matabi al-Karim al-Hadithath.
  6. ^ Martinez Sanchez, Santiago (2013). "Conversacion en Pamplona con Jose Luis Illanes" [Conversation in Pamplona with Jose Luis Illanes] (PDF). Anuario de Historia de la Iglesia (in Spanish). 22: 359–402. ISSN 1133-0104. Retrieved August 2, 2024. page 371, footnote 51
  7. ^ Gabrieli, Francesco (1975). "Gli Studi Arabo-Islamici Nella Universita Di Roma" [Arabic-Islamic Studies at the University of Rome]. Oriente Moderno (in Italian). 55 (1/2): 1–7. Retrieved August 17, 2024. page 7
  8. ^ Fahd, Butros (1974). Arciescovo Pietro Sfair grande orientalista e predicatore, vita e opere [Archbishop Pietro Sfair great orientalist and preacher, life and work] (in Italian). Rome: Matabi al-Karim al-Hadithath. p. 62.
  9. ^ Fahd, Butros (1974). Arciescovo Pietro Sfair grande orientalista e predicatore, vita e opere [Archbishop Pietro Sfair great orientalist and preacher, life and work] (in Italian). Rome: Matabi al-Karim al-Hadithath.
  10. ^ George-Tvrtkovic, Rita (Autumn 2017). "Merye Ana Evi, Marian Devotion and the Making of "Nostra aetate" 3". The Catholic Historical Review. 103 (4): 755–781. doi:10.1353/cat.2017.0186. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  11. ^ Fahd, Butros (1974). Arciescovo Pietro Sfair grande orientalista e predicatore, vita e opere [Archbishop Pietro Sfair great orientalist and preacher, life and work] (in Italian). Rome: Matabi al-Karim al-Hadithath.
  12. ^ "Admiral Conz in New York--Italian Officer Arrives on Battleship Conte di Cavour". The New York Times. September 15, 1919.
  13. ^ Fahd, Butros (1974). Arciescovo Pietro Sfair grande orientalista e predicatore, vita e opere [Archbishop Pietro Sfair great orientalist and preacher, life and work] (in Italian). Rome: Matabi al-Karim al-Hadithath.
  14. ^ Popham, Peter (October 24, 2006). "La dolce vita (with thanks to Pete and Kate)". The Independent newspaper. London, United Kingdom: The Independent Company. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  15. ^ Fahd, Butros (1974). Arciescovo Pietro Sfair grande orientalista e predicatore, vita e opere [Archbishop Pietro Sfair great orientalist and preacher, life and work] (in Italian). Rome: Matabi al-Karim al-Hadithath. p. 18.
  16. ^ "Personalien: Gerhard Frey, Pietro Sfair, Walter Scheel, Achim Niehuss, Hans Friderichs, Carol Doda" [Personalities: Gerhard Frey, Pietro Sfair, Walter Scheel, Achim Niehuss, Hans Friderichs, Carol Doda]. Der Spiegel 53/1972 (in German). Germany: Spiegel Politik. December 24, 1972. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  17. ^ Mejillones-Quispe, Guillermo (March 2017). "La Exitosa Operacion Sfeir en la Guerra del Chaco" [The Successful Operation Sfeir during the Chaco War].
  18. ^ Mejillones-Quispe, Guillermo (March 2017). El Servicio de Inteligencia Entre 1927-1938: El Espionaje, Contraespionaje de Bolivia Durante la Guerra del Chaco [The Intelligence Service Between 1927-1938: Bolivian Espionage and Counterespionage during the Chaco War] (Licenciatura thesis). La Paz, Bolivia: Universidad Mayor de San Andres Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educacion Carrera de Historia. pp. 121–128. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  19. ^ "Inauguration de la Bibliotheque Salim Sfeir pour le patrimoine maronite a Rome" [Inauguration of the Salim Sfeir Library for the Maronite heritage in Rome] (in French). Beirut, Lebanon: L'Orient-Le Jour newspaper. February 14, 2017.
  20. ^ Fahd, Butros (1974). Arciescovo Pietro Sfair grande orientalista e predicatore, vita e opere [Archbishop Pietro Sfair great orientalist and preacher, life and work] (in Italian). Rome: Matabi al-Karim al-Hadithath.
  21. ^ "Pontificium Institutum Biblicum: Vita functus". Biblica. 56. St. Martin's Press: 288. 1975. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  22. ^ Fahd, Butros (1974). Arciescovo Pietro Sfair grande orientalista e predicatore, vita e opere [Archbishop Pietro Sfair great orientalist and preacher, life and work] (in Italian). Rome: Matabi al-Karim al-Hadithath.
  23. ^ Melloni, Alberto (January 27, 2021). Atlante Storico del Concilio Vaticano II [Atlas of the Second Vatican Council] (in Italian). Milan: Editoriale Jaca Book. ISBN 978-88-16-60510-7.
  24. ^ Willems, Jennifer (July 27, 2016). "1,700 Maronite Rite Catholics Visit Peoria For Feast of St. Sharbel Celebration". The Catholic Post. Diocese of Peoria, Illinois. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  25. ^ Fahd, Butros (1974). Arciescovo Pietro Sfair grande orientalista e predicatore, vita e opere [Archbishop Pietro Sfair great orientalist and preacher, life and work] (in Italian). Rome: Matabi al-Karim al-Hadithath.
  26. ^ Fahd, Butros (1974). Arciescovo Pietro Sfair grande orientalista e predicatore, vita e opere [Archbishop Pietro Sfair great orientalist and preacher, life and work] (in Italian). Rome: Matabi al-Karim al-Hadithath.
  27. ^ "Testimonial Letter from Emilio Ambron". www.sannyas.wiki. The Sannyas Wiki. October 3, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2024. Rettore "Honoris Causa" Mons. Pietro Sfair Primate nel Libano Arciescovo di Nisibi
  28. ^ Sfair, Pietro (April 1931). "Canzoni Popolari di Satira Sociale e Politica del Libano e della Siria" [Popular Songs about Social and Political Satire of Lebanon and Syria]. Oriente Moderno (in Italian). 11 (4). Istituto per l'Oriente C. A. Nallino: 196–216. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
  29. ^ Sfair, Pietro, ed. (1933). Disciplina Antiochena Maroniti [The Antiochene Maronite Rite] (in Italian). Rome: Tip. poliglotta vaticana. p. 1296.
  30. ^ Sfair, Pietro (December 1942). "Emigrazione e Amor di Patria Nella Poesia Dialettale del Libano" [Emigration and Love of Country in the Poetry of the Lebanese Dialect]. Oriente Moderno (in Italian). 22 (12). Istituto per l'Oriente C. A. Nallino: 518–534. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
  31. ^ Sfair, Pietro (1946). La Messa Siro-Maronita annotata cenno storico sui maroniti [The Syro-Maronite Mass annotated with historical background of the maronites] (in Italian). Rome: Segretariato generale dell'ottavario.
  32. ^ Sfair, Pietro (1962). "Sant'Abramo di St-Cirgue". Enciclopedia dei Santi - Bibliotheca Sanctorum (in Italian). Vatican City: Edizioni Citta Nuova. 57320. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
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