Flavianus Michael Malke


Flavianos Michael Melke, born Ya'Qūb Melkī; was an Eastern Catholic prelate of the Brothers of Saint Ephrem of an Assyrian background. He became the Syrian Catholic eparch of Gazarta. Malke was killed in Gazarta during the Assyrian Genocide after he refused to convert to Islam.
On 8 August 2015, Pope Francis approved his beatification after he determined that Malke was killed in hatred of the faith. He was beatified on 29 August 2015, the centenary of his martyrdom.

Biography

Malke was born in Kalat’ül Mara, a village to the east of Mardin, Turkey, in the Ottoman Empire. He belonged to an Assyrian family which hails from Kharput. In 1868 Malke joined the Saffron Monastery where he studied Aramaic, Arabic and Turkish beside theology. He was consecrated a deacon in 1878 and a secretary of the library and a teacher in the monastery's school.
He leaned towards Catholicism and subsequently joined the Syriac Catholic Charafe Monastery school spending four years. He was ordained a priest in Aleppo on 13 May 1883 and was assigned to various villages in Tur Abdin. His church and house were sacked and burned during the massacres of 1895 which also led to the murder of many members of his parish including his mother. The following years he served as a visiting priest in several sacked villages in Tur Abdin where he helped with the rebuilding efforts. Due to his works, Malke was ordained Chorbishop in 1897 and vice bishop of Mardin and Gazarta. In 19 Januari 1913 he was consecrated a bishop together with the future patriarch Gabriel Tappuni in Beirut.
In the summer of 1915, during the height of the Armenian Genocide, in the rural region Tur Abdin, Malke, who was in Azakh at the time, returned to Gazarta upon hearing news of an impending massacre against the Christians there and refused to flee despite being advised so by local Muslim leaders. He was arrested by Ottoman authorities on 28 August 1915, alongside the Chaldean bishop of the city, Philippe-Jacques Abraham. According to Muslim eyewitnesses they were given choice between death or conversion to Islam the next day, upon their refusal, Jacques Abraham was immediately shot dead, Michael Malke was beaten until he became unconscious and was afterwards beheaded.

Beatification

In 2010 the Syriac Catholic Patriarch launched a request for the beatification of Michael Malke. He was declared Servant of God by the Holy See, which is the first step towards sainthood.
On Sunday, 30 September 2012, a report was submitted to Rome by the Syriac Catholic Patriarch for Mar Michael Malke's beatification.
On 8 August 2015 his beatification was approved after Pope Francis determined that Melki was killed in hatred of his faith. Cardinal Angelo Amato - on behalf of the pope - presided over the beatification in Lebanon on 29 August 2015.