Stéphanos II Ghattas

Stéphanos II Ghattas CM (Arabic: إسطفانوس الثاني غطاس‎) (January 16, 1920 – January 20, 2009), was an eparch of the Coptic Catholic Church. From 1986 to 2006 he served as the Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria.[1] He was also a Cardinal.

His Beatitude and Eminence
Servant of God

Stéphanos II Ghattas
إسطفانوس الثاني غطاس

CM
Cardinal Patriarch Emeritus of Alexandria
ChurchCoptic Catholic Church
DioceseAlexandria
SeeAlexandria
Appointed8 June 1986
Term ended27 March 2006
PredecessorStéphanos I Sidarouss
SuccessorAntonios I Naguib
Orders
Ordination25 March 1944
Consecration9 June 1967
by Stéphanos I Sidarouss
Created cardinal21 February 2001
by Pope John Paul II
RankCardinal-Bishop Patriarch
Personal details
Birth nameAndraos Ghattas
Born16 January 1920
Cheikh Zein-el-Dine, Girga Governorate, Egypt
Died20 January 2009 (aged 89)
Cairo, Egypt
BuriedCathedral of Our Lady of Egypt, Cairo
NationalityEgyptian
DenominationCoptic Catholic Church
Previous post
  • Bishop of Luxor (1967–1986)
  • Bishop of Alexandria (1986–2006)
Sainthood
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
Title as SaintServant of God

Biography

Ghattas was born Andraos Ghattas in the village of Cheikh Zein-el-Dine in the Girga Governorate (now part of the Sohag Governorate), Egypt.[2] Feeling called to serve as a priest, as a teenager he entered the minor seminary of the Coptic Church in Cairo, then did studies at a Jesuit secondary school in the city. He then went to Rome, where he studied at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, earning doctorates in both theology and philosophy. He was ordained there on March 25, 1944. He then returned to Egypt where he taught at Coptic seminaries in the country, first at Tahta, then at Tanta.[3]

In 1952 Ghattas entered the Congregation of the Mission, doing his year of novitiate in France. He then served in the Lebanon for six years, after which he was sent to Alexandria, where he was the Superior of the Vincentians in Egypt.[3] He was chosen to be the Coptic Bishop of Luxor on 8 May 1967 and consecrated on 9 June 1967 in Alexandria by Cardinal Stéphanos I Sidarouss, Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria. He was elected patriarch himself on June 8, 1986. Pope John Paul II granted him the ecclesiastica communio on June 23, 1986.[3]

Pope John Paul II named him a cardinal of the Catholic Church in 2001.[2] As he was past the legal age of 80 at the time, however, he was unable to participate in the Conclave of 2005.

Ghattas retired from the patriarchal office in March 2006, and his successor, Antonios Naguib, was elected on March 30, 2006.[4]

Ghattas died in Cairo, where he had retired, on January 20, 2009, four days after his 89th birthday,[5] and was buried in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Egypt in Cairo.[3]

See also

Notes
  1. UCIP: وفاة الكاردينال أسطفانوس الثاني بطريرك الكاثوليك السابق Archived 2012-03-31 at the Wayback Machine (in Arabic)
  2. "Stéphanos II (Andraos) Cardinal Ghattas, C.M." Catholic Hierarchy.
  3. "Cardinal Ghattas". The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-04-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/23223.php?index=23223&lang=en%5B%5D
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Isaac Ghattas		 Bishop of Luxor
1967-1986		 Succeeded by
Aghnatios Elias Yaacoub, S.J.
Preceded by
Stéphanos I Sidarouss		 Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria
1986–2006		 Succeeded by
Antonios I Naguib
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