GARWEH, IGNAZIO MICHELE. - Syrian Catholic patriarch. Born on 3 Jan. 1731 in Aleppo of Jacobite parents, he was ordained priest in 1757 and shortly afterwards secretly converted to Catholicism. He vainly sought to convert the Jacobite patriarch Giorgio II, by whom he was consecrated bishop of Aleppo, where he continued to work for union. He subsequently declared himself openly Catholic with his flock and received from Pope Pio VI jurisdiction over Aleppo.
He suffered many persecutions and was repeatedly imprisoned through the actions of the Jacobites and their patriarch Giorgio III, after whose death he was elected to succeed him by the majority of the Jacobite bishops in 1781. He accepted only after they allowed him to become Catholic. In 1783 G. was consecrated patriarch in the convent of Deir Safran near Mardía. Pope Pio VI approved the election on 1 Sept. of the same year. However, a Jacobite rival, elected by a minority, was the only one recognized by the Turkish sultan: G. had to flee to Lebanon, where he took up residence at Sarfet. He died on 4 Sept. 1800. With him begins the uninterrupted series of Syrian Catholic patriarchs.