Blessed Leonard Melki

Leonard Melki (4 October 1881 – 11 June 1915) – born Yūsuf Habīb Melkī and in religion Līūnār of B'abdāt – was a Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. His name is often Romanized in various texts. Melki became a priest before serving as a preacher and teacher in different stations of the Mission of Armenia and Mesopotamia of the Capuchin Order. He eventually became the principal of the school of the Capuchin Order in Mardin where he taught the French language and music. He was later arrested and marched to the Sheikhan Caves in the deserts outside Mardin. On June 11, 1915, as part of a deportation convoy of Armenian and Assyrian Christians; including Catholics, Miaphysite Orthodox, and Protestants, they were massacred at the Sheikhan Caves by a combined force of the Ottoman Army and Ottoman Gendarmerie, during the Armenian and Assyrian Genocides ordered by Ottoman Interior Minister Talat Pasha. Melki's cause for sainthood opened on 3 October 2005 – he was titled as a Servant of God. Pope Francis approved his beatification in 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic halted the beatification plans; he was beatified on 4 June 2022. Yūsuf Habīb Melkī was born on October 4, 1881, as the seventh of eleven children to Habīb Awaiss Melkī (1840–1906) and Noura Bou Moussi Kanaan Yammine (1845–1917). His siblings were: Daoud (b. 1870), Oueiss (b. 1873), Mariam (b. 1873), Kalim (1875–77), Kalimé (1875–1955), Mansoura (b. 1878), Youssfié (b. 1881), Khalil (1883–1959), Zayné (1890–1903) and Farés (1893–1967). Yūsuf was baptized in the local Maronite parish church of Notre Dame on October 8, 1881, by the parish priest, Father Hanna Labaki, and his godfather was Assaad Raji Labaki. He attended the Notre Dame church near his home with his siblings. His father, who was known for his talented voice, aided the priest during Mass by singing hymns.