Gabriel Acacius Coussa
His Eminence Gabriel Acacius Coussa Reference style | His Eminence | |
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Spoken style | Your Eminence | |
Informal style | Cardinal | |
See | Sant'Atanasio |
Gabriel Acacius Coussa,
Early life
Léon Gabriel Coussa was born in
Coussa made the simple profession on 21 November 1914 in the church of the Navicella. During World War I he fled to Switzerland because he was a Turkish citizen. He spent eighteen months in the Benedictine monastery of Einsiedeln, where he continued his theological studies. He returned to Rome on 9 November 1916 thanks to the intervention of the Holy See with the Italian government. He continued his studies at the Pontifical Urban University and resided at the Pontifical Greco-Roman College.
He made the solemn profession on 6 July 1918 at the church of the Navicella, and received the minor orders. On 11 July 1920 he was ordained a
Priesthood and episcopal service
Coussa served as director of the Melkite Scholasticate in Beirut from 1921 to 1925. He was then chosen as assistant general of his order, a position he occupied from 19 December 1925 to 20 May 1934. While in that role he also acted as Superior of the monastery of Deir-esh-Chir in 1929.
In late 1929 he left for Rome, where he was the delegate of the Melkite hierarchy in the commission for the preparatory studies for the codification of the Oriental canon law. While in Rome he also assumed the position of professor of canon law at the Pontifical Roman Athenaeum from 1932 until 1936. Coussa began service as the assistant to the Pontifical Commission for the Preparation of the Oriental Canon Law on 21 March 1933; when the commission was charged with the redaction of the Code of Oriental Canon Law, he became its secretary, 16 July 1935. From 1936 until 1953 he served as professor of the Latin Code of Canon Law, at the Pontifical Institute "Utriusque Iuris", Rome. Beginning in 1946 he served as dean of the faculty of canon law at the university. On 3 March 1946 Father Coussa was appointed Secretary of Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law for the Roman Curia.
On 26 February 1961 he was elected titular Archbishop of Hierapolis/Gerapoli for the Melkite Church. Coussa was consecrated bishop 16 April 1961 in the
On 13 August 1961, Coussa was appointed Pro-Secretary of the
See also
- Maximos IV Sayegh, Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch
- Joseph Raya
References
- ^ Catholic Hierarchy, retrieved May 2007
- ^ Sabrina Arena Ferrisi. Reaching to the East. Catholic.net, retrieved May 2007
- ^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. LIII. 1961. p. 575. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
- ^ Cardinal Title S. Atanasio GCatholic.org
- ^ Miranda, Salvador. "COUSSA, B.A., Gabriel Acacius (1897-1962)". The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Florida International University. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
- ^ "The Melkite Church at the Council". www.Melkite.org, retrieved May 2007