Notre Dame de la Délivrance, HbalineEntrance of village-Nader Family House, Hbaline
Hbaline (
Arabic: حبالين) is a small village in
Byblos-
Lebanon located 44 km north of Beirut and at an altitude of 540 meters, just above
Amsheet and Gherfine and before BeitHabbak. Hbaline is located on a small hill. Its eastern side overlooks the
Mediterranean Sea.
History
Other names include Habbalin, Habbālīn, Hbālīn, Hbêlîne, Hebline, Hbaline, Habalin, Hbaleen, Habālīn, Hbeline, Hbalîne, Hbaïline.
The Nader family's presence in Habline dates from 1516 when their ancestor
Hajj Khalil established himself.
In 1516, following the Marj Dabek battle when the
Ottomans defeated the
Mamluks and invaded
Lebanon and
Syria, Hajj Khalil with his two brothers Hajj Younane and Hbeich fled from
Deir el Ahmar to seek refuge in
Yanouh (The Hajj title was given to
Christians who had completed a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem).
From
Yanouh, Hbeich went to Ghazir in the
Keserwan District where he served the emirs and got rewarded with the
Sheikh title, while Younane went to a village called
Edde near
Byblos and named himself after the village in order to hide his original identity fearing conflict with the
Shia tribes present in the
Byblos area. Hajj Khalil moved to the outskirts of Hbaline where he established a farm, his descendants then moved to Hbaline.
Two families in the village of Arbaniyeh (Baabda District) trace their Ancestry to Hbaline. The Aoun and Asmar families left Hbalin sometimes in the early 17th century. The Asmar, Hbeich and Edde families are said to have been one family which originally inhabited the village of
Deir el Ahmar.
Some part of the population has emigrated to
Latin America. Many has left in the 20th century to
Ecuador as issa and farhat family's and Mansour family’s
Churches
There are three chapels in the village:
Sainte Sophie, a small chapel located downhill in the eastern part of the village.
Notre Dame de la Délivrance, a small church which can host 80 persons, located in the central square of the village. It dates from the beginning of the 19th century. One can notice its small entrance doors which are typical of churches in the area. These were designed to prevent
Ottoman cavaliers from bursting inside with their horses.
The priest responsible for the Hbaline Churches is Father Joseph Khoury.