Michael Fadel

His Beatitude  Michael II Fadel (ميخائيل الثاني فاضل)
Patriarch of Antioch
Church	Maronite Church
See	Patriarch of Antioch
Elected	September 10, 1793
Reign ended	May 17, 1795
Predecessor	Joseph Estephan
Successor	Philip Gemayel
Orders
Consecration	1762 (Bishop) by Tobias El Khazen
Personal details
Born	1710 Beirut
Died	May 17, 1795

Michael II Fadel (1710-1795), (or Mikhail Fadil, Arabic: ميخائيل الثاني فاضل‎), was the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch from 1793 to his death in 1795.

Life

Michael Fadel was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1710.^[1] Ordained priest at 21 years, from 1741 to 1753 he served the community of Acre where he erected a church.^[2] In 1754 he converted to Christianity the fist member of the governing Shihab family. In 1762 Michael Fadel was appointed and consecrated bishop of Tyre and Patriarchal Vicar by Patriarch Tobias El Khazen,^[3] who later appointed him also bishop of Beirut in place of Joseph Estephan.

After 1766, under the patriarchate of Joseph Estephan, Michael Fadel sided with the opponents to the Patriarch led by the Khazen Sheikhes, and he was one of supporters of the suspension of the Patriarch from 1779 to 1784, due to the Hindiyé's issue. Patriarch Estephan, in turn, appointed in 1768 Athanase Scenai and later in 1779 Joseph Najm (or Nujaym) in his place as bishop of Beirut. The solution of the dispute about the see of Beirut occurred only in the synod of 1786 where an agreement was found and Michael Fadel was confirmed as bishop of Beirut.^[4]

Patriarch Joseph Estephan died on April 22, 1793, but because of a pestilence the bishops could meet only in September. On September 10, 1793 Michael Fadel was elected Patriarch, and he choose to reside in the monastery of Dayr Harrash (in Keserwan District). As his predecessors, Michael Fadel asked the Pope to confirm his election. Michael Fadel anyway died on May 17, 1795 at Dayr Harrash, where he was buried,^[5] before the Vatican could confirm him.

Notes

1. ^ Graf, Georg (1960). "108.2 Micheal Fadil". Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur, Volume 3. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. pp. 463. 
2. ^ Louis Wehbe (2001). "The Maronite of the Holy Land". Journal of Maronite Studies (Maronite Research Institute) 5 (2). http://maroniteinstitute.org/MARI/JMS/january01/index.html. Retrieved 23 Febr 2011. 
3. ^ "Portrait of Patriarch Mikhael Fadel". OneFineArt. http://www.onefineart.com/en/artists/moussa_dib/page2.shtml. Retrieved 23 Febr 2011. 
4. ^ de Clercq, Charles (1949). Histoire des conciles d'après les documents originaux, Tome XI Conciles des Orientaux Catholiques. 1. Paris: Letouzey et Ané. p. 283, 302. 
5. ^ Dau, Butros (1984). Religious, cultural and political history of the Maronites. Lebanon. pp. 570. http://books.google.com/books?id=7CbZAAAAMAAJ. 

Persondata
Name	Michael Fadel
Alternative names	Mikhail Fadil
Short description	Maronite Patriarch of Antioch
Date of birth	1710
Place of birth	Beirut
Date of death	May 17, 1795
Place of death