BEIRUT: Members of the Maronite Church and other Lebanese representatives opened a restored library at the Pontifical Maronite College in Rome. The ceremony, held on the eve of Mar Maroun’s Day last Thursday, was attended by Patriarch Beshara Rai, and the chairman and CEO of the Bank of Beirut, Dr. Salim Sfeir. Several Vatican and diplomatic representatives were also present.

“Every person has a role to play in his church, his community and his country,” Sfeir said in a speech, according to a statement from the Bank of Beirut. “It is his duty to take the initiative to preserve what belongs to him and what time has destroyed.”

To honor Sfeir’s contribution to the library’s restoration, a doorplate bearing his name was placed at the entrance of the building.

The college was originally founded in 1584 by Pope Gregory XIII and moved to its current location in 1904. It holds numerous historical and religious manuscripts brought to Rome by Maronite priests sent to study across Europe.

The nucleus of the collection was a series of documents written by monks and hermits living in Lebanon’s Qadisha Valley. In the 1700s, the library was known for having one of the largest and most significant collections of Syriac, Aramaic, and Hebrew texts.

According to the institution, the first book printed in Arabic, a copy of the Old and New Testaments, was edited and translated by the Pontifical College in 1621.

Much of the work done ahead of Thursday’s opening consisted of restoring damaged books that had been long off display to the public or researchers. “Time and neglect have damaged thousands of books that are seeing the light again today,” Monsignor Tony Gebran, vicar of the Procurator of the Maronite Patriarchin Rome, said at the ceremony according to the statement.

Cardinal Rai closed the ceremony by thanking those who had contributed work to the restoration of the library. “The history and heritage of the Maronites were, and still are, alive in the children of the church who are keen on preserving their faith and belonging,” he said.

Following the ceremony, Pope Francis honored Marie Claude Sfeir, Salim Sfeir’s wife, with the Commendatore Pontifical Order of Saint Sylvester in recognition of her humanitarian and educational efforts in Lebanon and elsewhere.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on February 14, 2017, on page 3.