Leonard Melki

The Vatican record

• 8 August 2015 — Decree of the Dicastery (decree list, 2015)

Who they were

Leonard Melki was born at Baabdath, Lebanon, around the turn of September–October 1881, entered the Capuchins in 1895, made his profession on 2 July 1900 and was ordained on 7 December 1904. He was sent to the Mesopotamian missions at Mardin, where he taught in the mission school, preached and gave the sacraments with his fellow friar Thomas Saleh.

Caught up in the genocide of the Armenians, the two friars were told to choose between death and conversion to Islam. They stayed firm in the Christian faith and were savagely killed with axes and scimitars.

The miracles

As a martyr, beatified without a miracle.

Why that counted as sanctity

A Lebanese Capuchin who chose death rather than deny Christ.

Connected on this site

• Tommas Saleh Blessed
  “He tended to the missions and worked with his peer Leonard Melki; he dedicated himself to the mission school and was a noted preacher.” — Wikipedia