The Massabki Brothers

In the Christian quarter of mid-nineteenth-century Damascus, three brothers of an old Maronite family were known to everyone. Francis, the eldest, was a wealthy silk merchant and the father of eight children, respected by fellow traders for his honesty - and the man the Maronite Patriarch trusted to represent him in Syria's business affairs. Abdel Moati, a father of five, taught at the school attached to the Franciscan parish of St Paul and spent hours each day in prayer. Raphael, the youngest, never married; in fragile health, he helped in Francis's shop and served the sacristan of the parish church.

They were laymen - not monks, not priests. They went to Mass daily, served the poor, and were loved by their Latin-rite Franciscan neighbors as much as by their own Maronite community.

On July 9, 1860, anti-Christian violence that had spread across Mount Lebanon reached Damascus. As fires broke out in the Christian quarter, the Massabki brothers ran with other families to the strongest shelter they knew: the Franciscan convent of St Paul. There, before the exposed Blessed Sacrament, they confessed, received Communion, and waited.

After midnight, the attackers forced their way in through a small side door no one had barred. The brothers were offered their lives if they would renounce their faith. Francis answered from his knees before the altar of Our Lady of Sorrows: he was a Maronite Christian, and in the faith of Christ he would die. He was killed where he prayed. Abdel Moati answered in a clear voice - "I am a Christian, kill me, I am ready" - and was martyred near the door of the church. Raphael, the youngest, was the last to die. Eight Franciscan friars, beginning with their superior Fr Manuel Ruiz, died with them.

The Maronite Church has hermits, monks and nuns on its calendar - Charbel, Nimatullah, Rafqa. The Massabki brothers are different: a shopkeeper, a schoolteacher, a sacristan's helper. Canonized as the first Maronite laymen raised to the altars, they place holiness back where most Christians live it - in a shop, a school, a family, in ordinary life as well as in a moment of persecution.

They also died as they had lived: side by side with Latin-rite Franciscans, they shared the same witness to their Christian faith. Their relics rest together with the friars' to this day - one tomb for East and West, which is why the Church honors all eleven together as the Martyrs of Damascus.

The Franciscans' cause came first - the brothers' names were recovered from the witness record later. When the friars' beatification was set for 1926, the Maronite Patriarch Elias Boutros Hoyek and the whole Maronite episcopate petitioned Pope Pius XI to join the three lay brothers to the friars they had died beside. At the request of the Maronite bishops, a new process was opened - and all eleven Martyrs of Damascus were beatified together on October 10, 1926.

Ninety-eight years later, on October 20, 2024, Pope Francis canonized them in St Peter's Square, together with the Spanish superior Manuel Ruiz Lopez and his seven Franciscan companions. In his homily, the Pope held them up as servants who "remained faithful" - men who served in martyrdom and in joy.

The Roman Martyrology keeps the eleven Martyrs of Damascus on July 10, the day of their birth into heaven; in Damascus they are also celebrated solemnly on the Sunday after July 12. Their relics are venerated in the church of the Conversion of St Paul in Bab Touma, the old Christian quarter of Damascus, where the brothers and the friars rest in one tomb.

Who were the Massabki brothers?

Three Maronite Catholic laymen of Damascus - Francis, a silk merchant and father of eight; Abdel Moati, a parish schoolteacher and father of five; and Raphael, their unmarried younger brother - martyred together on July 10, 1860.

Why were they killed?

During the 1860 massacres of Christians in Damascus, they were offered their lives in exchange for renouncing their Christian faith. Each refused, and they were killed inside the Franciscan convent where they had taken refuge.

When were the Massabki brothers canonized?

Pope Francis canonized them on October 20, 2024, in St Peter's Square - with the eight Franciscan friars martyred beside them, as the eleven Martyrs of Damascus. They had been beatified by Pope Pius XI on October 10, 1926.

Are they the first Maronite lay saints?

Yes - they are the first Maronite laymen to be canonized. Lebanon's other saints, like Charbel, Nimatullah and Rafqa, were monks and nuns.

When is their feast day?

July 10, the day of their martyrdom, in the Roman Martyrology. Damascus also celebrates them solemnly on the Sunday after July 12.

Where are their relics?

In the church of the Conversion of St Paul in Bab Touma, Damascus - buried in one tomb together with the eight Franciscan martyrs.

More witnesses from the same land: St Rafqa, the blind nun of Lebanon; St Nimatullah, Saint Charbel's teacher; the feast of Saint Charbel each July; and the latest from the Church in Lebanon on the news page.

• Pope Francis, Homily at the Canonization Mass, St Peter's Square, October 20, 2024
• Vatican News: Martyrs of Damascus canonization - a sign of hope for Christians (October 2024)
• Bishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay (Maronite Bishop of Australia), The Catholic Weekly: Three brothers become first Maronite laymen to be canonised (October 2024)
• Santi e Beati: Santi Fratelli Massabki - hagiographic record (Borrelli/Flocchini, updated October 16, 2024)