Saint Jude Maronite Parish celebrates patron's 1,600th anniversary

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Saint Maron, a 5th-century priest, is the founder of the Maronite Church. This year is the 1,600 anniversary of the church's founding.

MURRAY— Saint Jude Maronite Catholic Church invites parishioners, friends and neighbors to a celebration in honor of Saint Maron’s 1,600th anniversary Feb. 9. The celebration will be an evening prayer with Father Abdalla Zaidan from Our Lady of Mt. Lebanon in Los Angeles, Calif.

Fr. Zaidan will share a message about the synod he attended in Rome this past year.

Although many think the Maronite Church is named after the Virgin Mary, it is in fact named after St. Maron, a 5th-century priest who later became a hermit monk. "After his death he was followed by a religious movement that became known as the Maronites," said Pam Watkins, St. Jude Parish secretary.

St. Maron’s life began somewhere around 350, not very long after the life of the apostles and the beginning of the Holy Catholic Church. He died in about 410.

"St. Maron was well known because of his austere life as a monk and his great loyalty to the life of Christ," said Father Bill Bonczewski, pastor of St. Jude Maronite Church, who prefers to be called Fr. Bill. "For the holy people of that time period, Christ was of such great value that all the earthly things were not of value; they wanted nothing less than the Lord. They believed the promises of the world would not work because only God could fulfill those promises and satisfy life. Their life was focused on the Lord."

At that time many hermits lived in Antioch, Egypt and Syria. Maron was exemplary in his life of fasting, prayer and poverty, said Fr. Bill. "Maron did not have a dwelling, he lived in the open air until he started to have a great following. People would come to him for advice and blessings. When they received his advice, they didn’t want to leave. Single men and families were drawn to imitate his austerity and great life of prayer and lived around him. So Maron and the monks who followed him took over a pagan temple in the region of Antioch. When Maron died, it is said, there were about 600 monks living there. They became the family of Maron and known as the Maronites. Their testimony and commitment to the Lord was their faithfulness to the Catholic Church. Their faithfulness was also clear by how they obeyed Peter and his successors."

Not long after Maron’s death, heretics were denying Jesus, his divinity and humanity, said Fr. Bill. "The Maronites were so firm in their belief in the teaching and the mystery that Jesus, the one who came to us, was truly man and truly God; he’s divine and human and they were persecuted because they accepted such a truth. Eventually, as other enemies to the faith increased and tried to overcome the Christians, they fled from Syria, around the Orontes River, to Lebanon to hide in caves just to preserve the sacraments and the truth of the faith. They lived there a long time. In the whole history of the Maronites, they never left the life of the Catholic Church."

Following the talk by Fr. Abdallah Zaidan Feb. 9, all are invited to a reception in St. Jude Parish Hall, 4893 Wasatch St., Murray. RSVP by calling St. Jude Parish at 801-268-2820 by Feb. 5. The celebration will continue Sunday, Feb. 13 with Divine Liturgy at 10:30 a.m. followed by a family-style dinner. All are invited to bring a covered dish to share.