Draft:Pietro Sfair

Pietro Sfair (born February 10, 1888 in Kleiat, Keserwan, Lebanon, Ottoman Empire; died May 18, 1974 in Rome, Italy) was a Lebanese clergyman, Archbishop and diocesan bishop (Ordinary) for the Maronite Catholic faithful in Rome. He is the only cleric to date to be named the Titular Archbishop of Nisibis (Nusaybin) by the Maronite Catholic Church. The wikipedia article Nusaybin states that "the Maronite titular see was established as Titular Archiepiscopal see of Nisibis (informally Nisibis of the Maronites) in 1960. It is vacant, having had a single incumbent of the (intermediary) archiepiscopal rank: Pietro Sfair (1960.03.11 - 1974.05.18)". A 695-page biography of Sfair authored by Butrus Fahd is in the collection of both the Library of Congress in Washington DC and the New York Public Library, according to such library's research catalogue.

Sfair was the embodiment of the adage "as learned as a Maronite." He spoke eight languages (Hebrew, Syriac, Greek, Latin, Arabic, French, Italian & English), was a professor of Theology, oriental languages (Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic) and Islamic Law at the Lateran University in Rome, and Honorary Rector of the Accademia Universale Guglielmo Marconi in Rome. He also served as the spiritual advisor to the Pontifical Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle Brothers) at the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

Sfair's views on theological questions were sought out by the Pope during the Second Vatican Council. He was instrumental during the drafting of the Second Vatican Council document Nostra Aetate to highlight the House of Mary (in Ephesus, Turkey) and Marian devotion as a matter of shared interest between Christians and Muslims. He was a strong advocate for good relations with Judaism and Islam.

Sfair was somewhat of a local celebrity in the 1960s and 1970s in Rome, known for walking all around central Rome without concerning himself with vehicular traffic and having established friendships with film star Sylvia Koscina, who fondly called him "my grand dad" ('nonno' in Italian), Italian Admiral and Senator Angelo Ugo Conz, and Mayor of Rome Aldo Moro. In December 1972, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported on the 84-year-old cleric's visit to a popular discotheque in Rome (the Piper Club).

Family
Sfair's birth name in Arabic is Butros Javad Sufayr. Sfair's father was Georges Sfeir and his mother was Philomene Sfeir. The names of some of his siblings were Salim, Chaia, Maria, Racquel, Antoun. Emile (Emilio) and Isaie. He received his primary and secondary education in Keserwan, Lebanon, first at St. George's School in Kleiat and then at St. Joseph's School in Cornet Chawan. Thereafter, he studied in Italy at the Collegio Maronita di Roma.

A cousin was Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East. One of Sfair's younger brothers was Emilio Sfeir, a hero of Bolivian counter-intelligence during the Guerra del Chaco (Chaco War) against Paraguay. Nelly Sfeir Gonzalez was his niece. Bolivian petroleum executive and football entrepreneur Mauricio Gonzalez Sfeir is a great nephew. Swiss-Lebanese banker Salim Sfeir may be the grandson of Sfair's older brother.

Religious life
Pietro Sfair was ordained to the priesthood on March 8 1913.

On March 11, 1953 Pope Pius XII appointed Sfair Titular Bishop of Epiphania in Syria (Hama) and Ordinary for the Maronite faithful of Rome. Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, Eugène Cardinal Tisserant, consegrated Sfair a Bishop on May 24, 1953; Co-consecrators were Vice Regent for the Diocese of Rome, Luigi Traglia, and the Auxiliary Bishop of the Ostia and Porto und Santa Rufina, Pietro Villa FSCJ. Pope John XXIII appointed Sfair on March 11, 1960 as Titular Archbishop of Nisibis Nisibis dei Maroniti

Pietro Sfair participated in all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council as a Council Father.

In the early 1970s, Sfair served as the Rector of the Collegio Maronita di Roma (Pontificio Collegio dei Maroniti) and his Vice Rector was the future Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi. Sfair's assistant in Rome was a young Maronite Catholic seminarian and deacon Faouzi Elia, who went on to become pastor of St. Sharbel Church in Peoria, Illinois and Chorbishop of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon in Los Angeles, California.

Awards and Honors
In Rome on May 11, 1935, His Majesty Vittorio Emanuele III, King of Italy, conferred upon Sfair the title of Cavaliere dell'Ordine della Corona d'Italia (Knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy).