Patriarch Jeremiah al-Amshiti

He was the first Patriarch to make an official visit to Rome in 1213. He assisted at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. A painting depicting a miraculous event which occurred while he celebrated the Divine Liturgy in Rome showed the consecrated Host hovering above his head. It was displayed in St. John Lateran for many centuries. In a Bull addressed to the Maronites in 1215, and reiterated by subsequent Popes, Pope Innocent III encouraged Latin practices, such as having the Bishop alone as the minister of Confirmation, and decreeing that nothing other than olive oil and balsam should be used in the preparation of Chrism.

He also called for the use of bells to discern the hours and to call the people to church. Pope Innocent also sent the Maronites church ornaments and vestments conforming to the Latin usage. Rome kept contact with the Maronites in the 13th century through visitations by Dominican and Franciscan friars. The Franciscans opened monasteries in Antioch, Tripoli, Tyre and Sidon.

The peace that Maronites enjoyed during this period was relative and intermittent. The mouqaddimin were not always able to protect their compatriots from the tyrannical measures that were decreed. In a report sent from Qannoubine to the Holy Father in 1475 by the Papal legate, Brother Alexander of Arioste states: "In the midst of this nation [Maronite] live the Saracens . . . Their tyranny knows no rest; also, in parts of Lebanon, there is only desolation, provoking tears. Under the pretext of raising a certain tribute that they call gelia, they [the agents of the authority] despoil the poor mountain people of all that they have; afterwards, they beat them with rods, inflicting all sorts of torments to extort from them what they do not have. Against these vexations, there is only one recourse possible, apostasy. Many might have fallen if it had not been for the charity of their pious Patriarch [Peter ibn Hassan] who came to their aid. Dismayed at the peril to the souls of his sheep, he gave over all the revenues of his churches to satisfy the greed of the tyrants. The door of the patriarchal monastery was walled up; sometimes he was obliged to hide in caves hollowed out of the earth.

Patriarch David

Oftentimes it was the patriarchs who were the focus of persecution. Patriarch David of Hadsheet was put to death by Sultan Qalaoun in 1282.

Patriarch Gabriel (1300's)

Patriarch Gabriel of Hajoula was burned at the stake near Tripoli in 1367.

Patriarch Simon (1500's)

In a letter to Pope Leo X of March 8, 1514, Patriarch Simon declares: "We pray to God that during your days, we are liberated from the jurisdiction of the infidels who devour us, crush us and inflict on us taxes, very heavy tributes, affronts, persecutions and blows."