1. Tobia Aoun was a Lebanese Catholic prelate who served as Assistant to the Pontifical Throne, Maronite Archbishop of Beirut, Count of Rome, Knight of the French Legion of Honour, Knight of the Ottoman Order of the Medjidie, and Council Father of the First Vatican Council.
Tobia Aoun was born in December 1803 in a small village along the banks of the Damour River in Lebanon, under the Maronite Patriarchy of Joseph VII Peter Tyan.
Satisfied with his hard work and dedication, the Maronite Patriarch requested that Aoun manage the finances of the Maronite Patriarchy, including the administration of the Maronite colleges and orphanages.
On 31 December 1844, Tobias Aoun was elected Archbishop of Beirut and installed in this archeparchy on February 9,1845.
The Pope suspended this confirmation upon the advice of the Apostolic Delegate, believing that neither Murad nor Tobia Aoun were suitable candidates for the Archbishopric of Beirut.
Bishop Tobia Aoun finally took possession of his chair on June 10,1847.
Tobia Aoun would remain Archbishop of Beirut until his death.
Bishop Tobia Aoun participated in two Maronite synods in electing the Patriarchs of the Maronite Church.
Nine years later, with the death of Patriarch Joseph IX Ragi El Khazen on 3 November 1854, Bishop Tobia Aoun participated in the synod of 12 November 1854 which elected Paul Peter Massad as Patriarch.
Tobia Aoun's eye was small but full of finesse, softness, and sincerity.
Tobia Aoun is one of the most distinguished men that I have met in the Near-East.
Tobia Aoun only speaks Arabic but his superior spirit has him realize the genius of Europe, and it is he who has played the most important role in the political affairs of Lebanon.
Tobia Aoun had once been a monk and led a rebellion against the abbot of the Convent of Saint Anthony.
Rose, writing to Bishop Tobia Aoun, expressed the desire that "we will always be friends".
Tobia Aoun is described as "a real tyrant with small feet, who appears strong only when shielded far away from his enemy".
Bishop Tobias Aoun had five brothers: Abboud, Sleiman, Nasr, Shehdan, Salhab.
On 8 June 1862, Archbishop Tobia Aoun travelled to Rome and joined over 4000 Catholic priests in the canonization ceremony of the twenty-six Catholic martyrs of Japan.
Tobia Aoun was personally received by Pope Pius IX who named him Assistant to the Pontifical Throne, awarding him a gold and silver medal.
In becoming Assistant to the Pontifical Throne, Tobia Aoun immediately entered the Papal nobility as Count of Rome.
In 1862, Bishop Tobia Aoun was received by Emperor Napoleon III in Paris and awarded the French Legion of Honour.
In 1869, Tobia Aoun returned to Rome as Council Father of the Vatican Council called upon by Pope Pius IX.
Tobias Aoun eventually returned home, dying on Holy Week April 4,1871.
Tobia Aoun was responsible for drawing up a petition, signed by the Maronites, that "stated that under no circumstances whatever, would they, the Christians, ever voluntarily consent to be governed by a Turkish governor".
In working towards the creation of a viable government for Mount Lebanon, Bishop Tobia Aoun declared to the Ottoman authorities on 20 March 1844 that the Christian deputies he represented would never "accept the Druze government, that they would rather that their heads should be cut off than accept that Government".
The British Ambassador to the Ottoman Porte Sir Stratford Canning was satisfied by the diplomatic efforts of Bishop Tobia Aoun, stating on 17 September 1843 that "the moderation of the Christian party, as expressed by Bishop Tubia, is highly gratifying to those who take a real interest in the pacification of Mount Lebanon".
On 10 August 1843, Bishop Tobia Aoun assured Sir Hugh Rose that "it was not his wish to ruin the Druzes by any excessive payment, but they should give a reasonable satisfaction to the Christians".
Tobia Aoun writes of him numerous times as the "notorious Maronite Bishop Tobia".
Lord Dufferin, writing to Her Majesty's Secretary of State Lord Russell on 19 December 1860, stated that Tobia Aoun exercised a "sinister influence" in Lebanon, and that his "withdrawal from Beirut was insisted upon as a necessary preliminary to all chance of peace".
Tobia Aoun refutes the notion that the Maronites are "saintly martyrs" but rather "as savage and bloodthirsty in their traditional warfare as their pagan neighbours".
An 1862 publication on the history of Lebanon states that Bishop Tobia Aoun was responsible for the conversion to Catholicism of Medjid Shehab, grandson of the famed Prince Beshir II.