On Sunday, September 19, 2021, Friar Nicolas ABOU ANNY, from the Provincial Custody of the Orient and the Holy Land, was ordained to the diaconate at the Conventual Franciscan church of St. Francis of Assisi in Zahlé, Lebanon.
Those attending the celebration included the Custos, Friar Anton BULAI, relatives of Friar Nicolas, all of the friars from the Friary of St. Francis in Zahlé, and the faithful of the Church of St. Anthony of Padua in Beirut. The ordination was conferred through the imposition of the hands and the consecratory prayer of the Most Reverend César ESSAYAN, OFM Conv., Vicar Apostolic of Beirut.
Bishop ESSAYAN addressed Friar Nicolas in a warm and paternal manner, encouraging him to sow freely in the service of his ministry, without expecting to reap the fruits of his own labor himself.
The Friary of St. Francis was founded in 2010, and is perched amid the hilly vineyards of Zahlé, above the Bekaa Valley. It was here that Friar Nicolas was first welcomed by the Conventual Franciscans, including Bishop ESSAYAN, who was the Custos at the time. The young friar Nicolas continued his formation there for several years. He made his perpetual vows on October 3, 2020, in the new parish church, whose construction was completed the same year.
The Custody itself was founded in 2010, as a Jurisdiction of the Province of St. Joseph, Spouse of the B.V.M. in Romania.
May our newly ordained confrere carry out his diaconal ministry configured to Christ Jesus, the Servant.
Friar Andrew Jeylan HOCHSTEDLER
