The eparchy dates back to the seventeenth century, but was canonically erected in the Maronite
Synod of Mount Lebanon in 1736 as
Arch?Eparchy (Arch?diocese) of Tripoli / Tripoli del Libano (Curiate Italian) / Tarabulus / Tripolitan(us) Maronitarum (Latin). Initially it included all the coastal territory from Tripoli to
Latakia. • In 1840 it acquired a dozen of villages from
Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Byblos, by order of the
Propaganda Fide. Joseph Assemani, Archbishop of Tripoli, attended the
First Vatican Council in 1869–1870, called upon by
Pope Pius IX. Assemani, of the famous family of Maronite clerics, was born in Hasseroun on 31 March 1821. Well versed in Italian and Latin, he was sent to Rome to the
Pontifical Urban University to study theology and French. He was ordained a priest in Rome by
Cardinal Fransoni, Prefect of the
Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. He returned to Lebanon, where he was appointed confessor to the Maronite Patriarch. He was a professor of Italian, Latin and philosophy before being named Vicar General of the Maronite Patriarchy in Tripoli. He was named Maronite
Chorbishop of Tripoli in 1856. With the assistance of the French Consul, Mr. Planche, he was able to obtain from
Fuad Pasha a plot of land to establish a Maronite cemetery and hospital. He established in Tripoli the Brotherhood of the Immaculate Conception, repaired the Church of the Virgin Mary, and obtained an Ottoman
firman to build a church in Tripoli, the first of its kind since the Crusades. According to his biography, he suffered numerous vexations while representing the Maronites in Tripoli. In 1860, his home was attacked and pillaged during the night. He was arrested twice and often attacked, before being exiled by the Ottoman governor in 1867. In 1869 he joined the Maronite delegation attending the
First Vatican Council in Rome, serving as the Maronite delegation's official interpreter due to his knowledge of Latin, French and Italian. • On April 16, 1954, the Arch?Eparchy gave a part of its territory to Syria in favor of the erection of the
Apostolic Administration of Latakia. • ? On September 5, 1965, the Eparchy of Tripoli was elevated to the rank of Archeparchy by
Pope Paul VI. ==Archeparchial hierarchs==