Gabriel ibn al-Qilai

Gabriel ibn al-Qilai was a Lebanese Christian religious figure of the Maronite Church. He joined the Franciscan Order in 1470 and was consecrated bishop of Maronites in Cyprus in 1507. He was particularly devoted to the fight against the Jacobite influences in Lebanon. He converted to Catholicism, due to his belief in Roman Orthodoxy for the Maronite Church. In the eulogy he made with his friend John in Italy when they were often subjected to people who accused the Marite Church of heresy, a vigorous defense of their church was made. In 1492, he was elected in Maronite Patriarch Simeon Hadath, but has not yet sent anyone to Rome to request the pallium (the confirmation of his election) He was sent by the Patriarch to investigate and collect charges against the new primate, Francesco Suriano, who accused him of breaking the union with the papacy; Suriano asked him to justify and renew his membership of the Catholic Church. His death in 1516 was the first recorded death of a Maronite bishop.