Gabriel Acacius Coussa
Encyclopedia
Gabriel Acacius Coussa (August 3, 1897 – July 29, 1962) was a Syrian Melkite Catholic
Melkite Greek Catholic Church
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See as part of the worldwide Catholic Church. The Melkites, Byzantine Rite Catholics of mixed Eastern Mediterranean and Greek origin, trace their history to the early Christians of Antioch, Syria, of...
archbishop, expert in canon law
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
and cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
. He served as secretary of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches and was the first Eastern Catholic to hold this position.
Early life
Léon Gabriel Coussa was born in AleppoAleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
in 1897 to Rizcallah Coussa and his wife, Suzanne. He had two brothers, Georges and Nsri. His primary and part of his secondary education was at the Franciscan and Jesuit schools in Aleppo. Coussa joined the Order of St. Basil of the Melkites of Aleppo at the monastery of Saint-Georges Deir-es-Chir in 1911. When admitted to the novitiate in 1912, he took the name Acacius. He was then sent to Rome to Collège Saint-Atanase.
Coussa made the simple profession on November 21, 1914 in the church of the Navicella. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
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 November 9, 1916 thanks to the intervention of the Holy See with the Italian government. He continued his studies at the Pontifical Urbanian Athenaeum and resided at the Pontifical Greco-Roman College.
He made the solemn profession on July 6, 1918 at the church of the Navicella, and received the minor orders. On July 11, 1920, he was ordained a deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
. He then obtained a doctorate in both canon and civil law on November 4, 1922. Coussa was ordained a priest of the Basilian Aleppian order on December 20, 1920 in Rome by Isaïe Papadopoulos, titular bishop of Grazianopoli, assessor of the Sacred Congregation of the Oriental Church.
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 December 19, 1925 to May 20, 1934. While in that role he also acted as Superior of the monastery of Deir-es-Cheir 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 March 21, 1933; when the commission was charged with the redaction of the Code of Oriental Canon Law, he became its secretary, July 16, 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 March 3, 1946 Father Coussa was appointed Secretary of Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law for the Roman Curia. He was an acquaintance of Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, who later was elected Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII
-Papal election:Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, Roncalli was elected Pope, to his great surprise. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although archbishop...
. Coussa was elected Assessor of the Sacred Commission for the Oriental Church on January 15, 1953.
On February 26, 1961 he was consecrated titular Archbishop of Hierapolis/Gerapoli for the Melkite Church. Coussa was consecrated bishop April 16, 1961 in the Sistine chapel
Sistine Chapel
Sistine Chapel is the best-known chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. It is famous for its architecture and its decoration that was frescoed throughout by Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio...
, by Pope John XXIII, assisted by Giovanni Mele, bishop of Lungro, for the Italo-Albanians of Continental Italy, by Giuseppe Perniciaro, titular bishop of Arbano, auxiliary and vicar general of the apostolic administrator of Piana degli Albanesi, by Archmandrite Théodore Minisci, higoumène of the Italo-Greek monastery of Grottaferrata, and by Archmandrite Ambroise Kassis, superior general of the Basilian Order of Aleppo. He was then named Pro-Secretary of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches
Congregation for the Oriental Churches
The Congregation for the Oriental Churches is the dicastery of the Roman Curia responsible for contact with the Eastern Catholic Churches for the sake of assisting their development, protecting their rights and also maintaining whole and entire in the one Catholic Church, alongside the liturgical,...
on August 4, 1961.
In March 1962 Coussa was elevated to Secretary of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches and appointed Cardinal-Priest of Saint Atanasio
Sant'Atanasio
The Church of Saint Athanasius is a Roman Catholic titular church in Rome, built for use of a Greek College for the formation of Catholic clergy in the Eastern Rite, upon the formation of the Congregation of the Greeks by Pope Gregory XIII. In 1872 the church was entrusted to the Congregation for...
. He was the first Eastern Catholic to serve as the head of the Congregation. His tenure, however, was short. Coussa died unexpectedly in Rome due to peritonitis caused by appendicitis on July 29, 1962, just as the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
was opening. His remains were transferred to the church of S. Atanasio
Sant'Atanasio
The Church of Saint Athanasius is a Roman Catholic titular church in Rome, built for use of a Greek College for the formation of Catholic clergy in the Eastern Rite, upon the formation of the Congregation of the Greeks by Pope Gregory XIII. In 1872 the church was entrusted to the Congregation for...
, Rome, his cardinalitial title, in May 1963.