Discovering Armenian Catholic affiliation
In the final paragraph of his cover letter, dated May 2001, which accompanied the Berouti family tree, the late Antoine Gelat wrote in jest: “There have been stories of the Beroutis being of Armenian descent, but that has never been proven. It was an anecdote of a certain Berouti, noted for his ‘jokes,’ and who shall remain nameless.”
What might have been an inside joke in its time is getting closer to being established as fact. The archives of Jaffa’s St. Anthony’s Latin Church leave no room for doubt: Nicolas Yacoub Berouti was Armenian Catholic. Below are two examples from the records where he is explicitly noted as belonging to the “Armenian Catholic rite.”
Death record for Marie Berouti, Nicolas Yacoub Berouti and Marie Regina Farajallah’s firstborn child, who died at 14 months. The record indicates that parents were of Armenian Catholic rite.
Gabriel Berouti’s baptism record. His parents, Nicolas and Regina Yacoub Berouti are indicated as being of Armenian Catholic rite.
Numerous other records—baptisms, marriages, and deaths—refer to Armenian Catholic origins within the Berouti family. While I won’t list all of them here, I am happy to share further details with anyone interested. You can also see them all in the section: “St-Anthony Latin Church”, under Archives.
Another document that, when added to Jaffa’s church records, solidified the Armenian Catholic affiliation of Nicolas Yacoub Berouti was his marriage certificate, retroactively filled out in September of 1948. Although missing many information, the document, provided by the Armenian Catholic church of Saint-Elie in Beirut, indicated that Nicolas Yacoub and Marie Regina Farajallah wedded in the Armenian Catholic rite.
Nicolas Yacoub and Marie Regina Farajallah’s retroactive marriage certificate from Saint-Elie Armenian Parish in Beirut, September 1948.
This discovery raised an intriguing question: does Armenian Catholicism necessarily imply Armenian ethnicity? My instinct was that it likely did, particularly in the historical context of that era: strong and ancient Armenian presence in the major cities of the Levant, and the use of Armenian during mass, which would have required a certain comfort with the language. However, I wasn’t able to find additional evidence to substantiate this claim. Further research is needed, though I’m not sure where to begin—especially since this would involve going back to the 1700s, when archival evidence is likely to be scarce and difficult to locate.