كنيسة سيدة الحارة للموارنةMaronite Church of Our Lady of the Neighbourhood

It was formerly known as the Church of Our Lady of the Hara after it was located in Haret al-Hasarneh, which is now known as Haret al-Sayyida, a neighborhood in Tebbaneh.

Count Philippe de Tarazi stated that it dates back to the sixteenth century. His Excellency Bishop Jubayr, the Maronite bishop of Tripoli, suggests that it dates back to the first Christian generations, around 200 AD. He also mentioned that the Jacobites claimed it, so the Maronites contacted the governor of the Levant or the High Door and established their right to it.

This church had many endowments, which were identified by Antoine Zakar in 1812 as follows: "Three cellars topped with layers, the cellar of Ibn Rahim's house, a layer of Gerges Rizk's house, a mulberry grove next to the church, two cellars above the church intended for the monks and the servant, a cellar next to the church with two rooms, and seventy-two olive trees.

According to historical sources, there was a dispute between the Maronites and Syriac Catholics over the ownership of Our Lady of the Hara Church and its endowments in the early nineteenth century, as a result of which the Maronites seized the agricultural lands belonging to the church's endowments for three years, so the Syriac Catholic patriarch turned to Prince Bashir al-Shihabi to intercede with the Maronite patriarch to prevent the latter from encroaching on the church's endowments, so Prince Bashir addressed the following letter to the Maronite patriarch:

"Honorable Patriarch Hanna, may God grant him peace:

First, we long to see you in good health and well-being, and after that we tell your love, our dear Bishop Antoine the Syriac offered us that the church in the land of Tripoli has olives. Our dear Patriarch Joseph, your predecessor, disbursed them and gave them disbursement papers in the church and endowment. Their agent did not leave the church until the time of the siege, and now they claim your love for them because the owners of the endowment have become Maronites. In fact, the endowment belongs to the church and a partial article was not mentioned. We want you to identify the one who has the olives in his hand, who disposes of them and gives them their yields for the past three years..."

Bashir Shihab"

From this letter, it is clear that the church of Our Lady of the Hara and its endowments were Syriac-Catholic. When its endowment agent fled Tripoli after the siege intensified, the Maronites seized its endowments. It is also understood from the document that the Maronites' argument in this regard was based on the fact that the people who had endowed some lands for the Church of Our Lady of the Hara were Syriac Catholics who converted to the Maronite faith and became remorseful for what they had done and wanted to recover what they had endowed for the Syriac Church and attach it to the Maronite Church. We also note the beginning of the conversion of the Syriac Catholics in Tripoli to the Maronite faith.

However, the Maronite Patriarch Youssef Tian (1796-1809) refused to do so because it would infringe on the Syriac Catholics, and he wrote a declaration in 1812, the text of which reads as follows

The Maronite Patriarch Youssef Tian (1796-1809) refused to allow the Syriac Catholics to take over the olive trees belonging to the endowment of Our Lady of the Hara, which belongs to the Syriacs in the district of Tripoli, which was previously encroached upon by the members of our community who wished to follow it to our church's endowment, and the matter was brought to our attention. By the power of this notification, we make it clear that these olives belong to the Syriacs and not the Maronites, and for the sake of redemption, we released this notification by the hand of the person to whom it belongs on February 1, 1812:

Signed: The despicable Patriarch Youssef Tian"

This declaration clearly confirms that the Church of Our Lady of the Hara was owned by the Syriac Catholic community in 1812.

After that, the Maronites succeeded in attracting large numbers of Syriac Catholics to their sect, and the number of Syriac Catholics in Tripoli decreased. The Syriac-Catholic patriarch, Ignatius Peter VII Jarwah (1820-1851), issued a license for the Maronites to use the Church of Our Lady of the Hara and exploit its endowments and income, which they still have to this day.