Patriarch Joseph Tyan communicated his resignation to the Maronite bishops on September 24, 1808, which was accepted by the Holy See on November 19 of the same year, and consequently Aloisio Gandolfi, who was appointed Apostolic visitor in the Maronite Patriarchate since 1807, summoned a meeting of all the bishops in Harissa.

[5] As demanded by Pope Pius VII with the brief of November 18, 1816, Patriarch John Helou tried to implement two of the more controversial decrees of the Maronite Synod of 1736: the separation of monasteries where both men and women lived, and the definition of a fixed episcopal residence into each Maronite diocese.

[7] Pius VII then commanded the patriarch to convene a synod, to resolve these outstanding issues.

With this intent he summoned a synod in the church of Our Lady of Louiaze[8] in Zouk Mosbeh, near Harissa, which was held on April 13 and 14, 1818.

This synod made some changes with the decree Cum for litteras of 15 March 1819; the document was finally approved by Pius VII with the papal brief Quod de constants of May 25, 1819,[9] but they were implemented only by Helou's successor, Patriarch Joseph Peter Hobaish.