Image: Bird Eye News (source article)
Jbeil buries Father Samir Daou as bishop thanks security forces for swift arrest
Bishop Michel Aoun led the funeral at Saint Peter's Cathedral in Jbeil for the 68-year-old priest killed in his home in Ain Jrain, with the patriarch and the army commander represented.
The Maronite Diocese of Jbeil bid farewell on Sunday to Father Samir Daou, the priest killed in his home in Ain Jrain last Wednesday. Bishop Michel Aoun presided over the funeral at Saint Peter's Cathedral in Jbeil, according to reports by Hona Lebanon and Bird Eye News.
Bishop Mounir Khairallah of Batroun represented Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai. Bishop Youssef Soueif of Tripoli, MP Salim Sayegh and Brigadier General Abdel Hamid al-Akkawi, representing army commander General Rodolphe Haykal, attended with local officials and the family.
In his homily, Bishop Aoun said the 68-year-old priest had served for 33 years and died “suddenly, at a time no one expected, after a criminal and brutal assault”. He thanked the judicial and security services for arresting the suspect “in record time” so that he would face punishment. A Syrian national who worked for the priest is in custody, the reports said.
The bishop recalled a life of quiet devotion: seminary studies in Ghazir, marriage to Rogette in 1986, years of work in Canada to support his three daughters and his son, then ordination in 1993. For 28 years he served the parishes of Hsoun and Ferhet, and later Ain el-Delbeh as well.
“Death, in the light of Christ's resurrection, is not the end of love but its fulfilment in God,” the bishop said. Father Daou was buried in the cemetery of Our Lady of the Assumption church in Mechan, near his village.
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