a member of a body of Uniates living chiefly in Lebanon, who maintain a Syriac liturgy and a married clergy, and who are governed by the patriarch of Antioch.
Also called Maronite Christian.
Origin: 1505–15; < LL Marōnīta, named after St. Maron, 4th-century monk, founder of the sect; see -ite1
1511, from L.L. Maronita, from Maron, name of the founder; a sect of Syrian Christians (4c.), originally Monothelites, subsequently (1216) united with the Catholic Church.
[mar-uh-nahyt] 
