Flavianus Michael Melki
Syriac Catholic bishop of Gazireh, martyr (in the world Jacob), of the Congregation of the Brothers of Saint Ephrem
Who they were
Flavianus Michael Melki, called Jacob in the world, was born at the end of 1858 in the village of Kalaat Mara near Mardin, into a Syriac Orthodox family; he was sent in 1868 to the monastery of Saint Ananias at Zaafaran, was made a deacon in 1878 and became its librarian and teacher, and then, against his family's resistance, entered the Catholic Church and went to Lebanon to complete his formation. He became a member of the Congregation of the Brothers of Saint Ephrem and bishop of Gazireh of the Syrians, and on 29 August 1915 he was taken in chains with his fellow prisoners to the bank of the Tigris, stripped and shot, after he had refused outright the demand that he become a Muslim.
Pope Francis declared his martyrdom on 8 August 2015, and he was beatified on 29 August 2015.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
The Acta Apostolicae Sedis decree records that he was killed for his faith in Christ and the Church, having refused to renounce it.
The cause
The cause continues. No postulation address is published here yet. Favours received through this person’s intercession, and offers of help, are best sent to the religious order or congregation they belonged to, or to the diocese where the cause was opened; either will pass them to the postulation.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - beatifications of 29 August 2015
- Acta Apostolicae Sedis 110 (2018), p. 1188 - decree on martyrdom
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.