The hill of Deir El-Qamar

The hill of Deir El-Qamar is a historical one, rich in monuments and milestones, located at an altitude of almost thousand meters above the sea with a distance of about 85 km away from Beirut. It overlooks the sea and most of Lebanon’s mountainous and coastal villages in Shouf and Metn areas. In the past, it has obtained the nickname “Fortress of Tire”, because from there, the view stretches towards the city of Tire.

After the Cross was erected on our Lady of the Sea Church – Jal El Dib in 1925, Abouna Yaacoub wanted to raise another Cross on one of the high hills of Deir El-Qamar, in Chouf, considered one of the most prestigious hills in Lebanon …

The idea occurred to Abouna Yaacoub in 1929, after he discovered a burial ground where martyrs of the 1860 massacres were buried, because he wanted to construct a cross memorial in memory of these martyrs. After obtaining permission from his superiors, and after donations were provided, Abouna Yaacoub began work on the summit above a piece of land with an area of around eight thousand square meters offered by Bishop Boustany, Pastor of the dioceses of Sidon and Deir El-Qamar at the time. Work was completed in the summer of 1932, and the road was paved from Deir El-Qamar to the hill, which was inaugurated in September 13 of the same year in a majestic ceremony attended by around ten thousand people coming from everywhere, praying and glorifying the Lord… That day, Abouna Yaacoub wished that the Cross day will become a national holiday for all the Lebanese…

Today, after this strategic hill had been restored, following the consequences of recent wars and the relocation of military troops, a ten-meter iron Cross with a French-made Crucifix was erected on an architecturally shaped cement base of four inclined, interdependent pseudo-arcade pillars, eight meters high. The face of the Crucifix is turned toward the towns and villages of Druze brothers, more precisely towards the locality of Baakline, as if it appealed to its inhabitants and neighborhood to love each other, to unite and to live in heart of the mountain as in the Heart of God. 

The Cross and the base, supplied with lighting, offer night viewers an illuminated mass, as if it is a star suspended hanging in the sky. More precisely, at the edge of the forecourt, the hill is surrounded by the fourteen stages of the Way of the Cross. 

To the south, lies the church, which bore the name of Abouna Yaacoub, following his beatification in 2008. In fact, it is a sort of an old cellar of about thirty meters, which was used in the past, as warehouses for supplies and water, and of which the secular order of Saint Francis made a place of rest for their long nights of meditation.

Three major celebrations interspersed with masses and processions, are celebrated on the hill: February 1 of each year, in commemoration of the date of birth of Abouna Yaacoub, June 26 of each year, in memory of his death, and the night of September 13 of each year, feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

In these three occasions, thousands of believers and participants flock from the region and the neighborhood to attend the event, just as Abouna Yaacoub had once wished, that he wanted the Cross of Deir El-Qamar to rise in order to revive the spirit of faith in the hearts of Christians in these lands.