The Lily of Himlaya
She was born in Himlaya, a small village near Bickfaya (Metn), on June
29, 1832 and was given the name Petronilla as a reminder that she was a
daughter of St. Peter, on whose feast day she entered the world.
The Land of Rafca
The Land of Rafca is Lebanon: a country, torn by four years of war, in
search of peace and tranquillity. The wealthy, big powers have brought
their conflicts there and are trying to resolve them there. The greatness
of that Land lies in the fact that it has always been a land of
refuge. The Land of Rafca is the land of the Canaanites and the
Phoenicians, and is mentioned with enthusiasm and wonder more than sixty
times in Holy Scripture.
Preface
Like Therese of Lisieux, Rafca, "The Little Flower of Lebanon," the
"Purple Rose," the "Silent and Humble Nun", had to tell her life story to
her Mother Superior some months before her death. Obedience to this
request is the reason why today we are able to know something about this
woman who sought for nothing else but to be forgotten by men and live only
for God. However, the perfume of this violet immediately spread after her
death and has attracted the attention of the ecclesiastical
authorities. The Cause for Beatification of the Servant of God, Rafca,
is currently in Rome. It will now be up to the Holy Father to make the
final decision regarding her virtues and the graces obtained through her
intercession, as to whether he will elevate her to the ranks of the
saints. As we anticipate and pray for this glorious day, we submit
ourselves to the decision of the Church and patiently wait.
Bride of the Crucified
Rafca's condition grew more serious. The pain she was enduring in her
eyes became excruciating. Her Superior sent her to Tripoli for treatment.
The treatments were most painful, too, and she lost a great deal of blood.
However, during all of this time, she kept repeating, "With your
sufferings, O Lord, for your glory." ...
The Total Gift
In 1897, a group of nuns from the convent of St. Simeon of the Horn
moved to the new convent of St. Joseph Ad-Daher. Mother Ursula, who was to
be the Superior of the new foundation, asked to have Sister Rafca included
in the group. She wished to have her example before the eyes of the
sisters as they met with the hardships that are always inherent in
establishing a new foundation. Sister Rafca spent the last seventeen
years of her life in this convent which was to be the scene of her
greatest sufferings, as well as of her greatest spiritual joys.
Rafca was not to disappoint Mother Ursula. Her example and assistance
proved invaluable in establishing the new convent. The novices especially
were impressed with the blind nun's spirit of prayer, humility, and
charity. Many years later, after her death, several of Rafca's sisters who
had either come with her to the new foundation, or who had been novices
during the seventeen years that she lived at St. Joseph Ad-Daher and had
never forgotten what they had observed of their sister's life, testified
regarding her holiness...
...Rafca suffered for seventeen years as a blind paralytic. Only God
knew how much she had to endure. Her pain was continuous night and day,
yet the other sisters never heard her murmuring or complaining. She often
told them that she thanked God for her sufferings, "...because I know that
the sickness I have is for the good of my soul and His glory" and that
"the sickness accepted with patience and thanksgiving purifies the soul as
the fire purifies gold."
She was always quiet and calm, smiling, enduring even the greatest pain
with patience, hoping in the Lord who promised to increase the glory of
His faithful servants in heaven (Lk. 21:19).
By her patience, she can be compared to the greatest of the saints.
A Light Shining in the Darkness
A few years before she died, Rafca's Bridegroom granted her two more
favors to show His acceptance of her offering of herself as a Victim of
Love. One day, mother Ursula noticed that Rafca seemed to be suffering
much more than usual and, touched by pity for the poor sister, asked her,
Is there anything else you want from this world? Have you never regretted
the loss of your sight? Don't you sometimes wish you could see this new
convent with all the natural beauties that surround it--the mountains and
rocks, and the forests?"
Sister Rafca answered simply, "I would like to see just for an hour,
Mother--just to be able to see you."
"Only for one hour?" asked the Superior. "And you would be content to
return to that world of darkness?"
"Yes," replied the invalid.
Mother Ursula shook her head in wonder and began to leave Rafca's cell.
Suddenly, the paralyzed nun's face broke into a beautiful smile and she
turned her head toward the door. "Mother," she called, I can see you!"
The Superior turned around quickly and saw the glow on Rafca's face.
That alone was enough to tell her that her daughter was not teasing, but
she wanted to be certain that the phenomenon was actual and not just a
trick of the mind of the poor nun who had been blind for so many years.
Desperately trying to conceal her emotions, she walked back to the
bedside.
"If it is as you say," she queried, "tell me what is lying on the
wardrobe." Sister Rafca turned her face toward the little closet and
answered, "The Bible and the Lives of the Saints--she could hardly contain
her excitement. But, she reasoned, perhaps Rafca knew that these were the
only two books in her cell as she had no need for others and the sisters
who read to her usually only used these two titles--knowing that the
invalid loved them best.
Another test would have to be tried and this time, witnesses were
called in the testify to the miracle.
There was a lovely multi-colored cover on Rafca's bed. Mother Ursula
called her attention to it and began to point to the colors one by one,
asking the newly-sighted nun to call out the names of the colors as she
pointed to them. The three sisters who assisted the Superior in the test
verified that Sister Rafca named each color correctly.
As she had requested, though, this new sight lasted only for one hour
during which time she conversed with Mother Ursula and looked around her
cell, at her siters, and through the window to catch glimpses of the
beauties outside.
After this time, she fell into a peaceful sleep. The Mother Superior
remained at Rafca's side for a short time and then decided to waken the
nun to see if she would be able to see again...
From the Dust of the Earth
Charify Khoury, widow of Saad Peter Khoury, Mayor of Mazraat Ram
(Batroun) declared on November 23, 1925:
My son, Peter, who was three years old, became very ill when his
body began to store up uric acid. The quantity of acid increased to such
an extent that his body became swollen and his eyes were closed. Dr.
Elias Anaissi forbade him to eat anything except milk, but the child did
not like milk and refused to take it. We used to put rose water in the
milk and force it into his mouth, but he would just vomit it back up and
finally refused to take any more. The doctor insisted that the only
medicine for his condition was milk and advised that if he didn't take it,
he would die, so we kept forcing him to drink the milk. I was very
frightened. This situation continued for thirty or forty days and Peter
was close to death.
I had heard about the miracles of Rafca, so I made her a conditional
vow: "If my son gets well so that I can feed him any kind of food without
hurting him, I will visit the Convent of St. Joseph with him."
That very night I saw in my dreams an old lady with a cane in her hand.
She told me, "Do not be afraid for your son. Give him whatever he wants to
eat. He will not die". I realized that this was Rafca. |
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* Saint Rafca - Blessed Rafka, A Lebanese Maronite Nun |
Born about the year 1832, Blessed Rafka was first known by her
baptismal name Boutrossieh (Pierrette or Petronila in French). Before
dying, Blessed Rafka told of her life to Sister Ursula, superior of the
monastery in which she died, “There is nothing important in my life that
is worthy of being recorded … my mother died when I was seven years old.
After her death my father married for a second time.” When Blessed Rafka was 14 years old her stepmother wanted her to marry
her brother, and her maternal aunt wanted her to marry her son. Rafka did
not want to marry either of the men and this caused a great deal of
discord in her family. After overhearing her stepmother and aunt exchange
insults, Rafka asked God to help her deal with the problem. She then
decided to become a nun and went straight to the convent of Our Lady of
Liberation at Bikfaya.
This decision was not just to escape the problem of her marriage but a
response to a true calling. As Rafka recounts, “When I entered the Church
I felt immense joy, inner relief and, looking at the image of the Blessed
Virgin, I felt as if a voice had come from it and penetrated the most
intimate part of my conscience. It said to me: You will be a nun.”
Rafka’s father and stepmother did try to take her back home but she did
not want to go. “I asked the mistress of novices to excuse me from seeing
them and she agreed. They returned home, saddened, and since then I never
saw them again…”
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Fr. Joseph Gemayel and his family founded a new religious institute for
women that provided them with full- time education as well as religious
instruction. Blessed Rafka’s name, Pierina, was listed last among the
first four aspirants of “Daughters of Mary of the Immaculate Conception”
(“Mariamettes”, in French) in Fr. Gemayel’s notebook dated January 1,
1853. She was 21.
On February 9, 1855, the Feast of St. Maron, Rafka commenced her
novitiate in Ghazir convent and chose the name Anissa (Agnes). She took
her first vows in 1856 that were renewable every year. She was first “in
charge of the kitchen and was studying in preparation for teaching the
rudiments of culture … She was placed in charge of the workers and had the
task of giving them religious instruction in a spinning mill in
Scerdanieh, where she remained for two months.” After her final vows,
Rafka was sent to the Jesuit founded Eastern seminary of Ghazir.
In 1860 she went to Deir-el-Qamar, in southern Lebanon. She recounted,
“That year there were the well known battles and bloody massacres.” In
less than two months the Druse sect, goaded by the Turks, killed 7,771
people and destroyed 360 villages, 560 churches, 28 schools, and 42
convents. Blessed Rafka saved one child’s life by hiding him in her skirt
as he was being chased by some soldiers.
Two years later, Rafka was transferred to Gebail where she remained for
one year before going to Ma’ad at the request of Antoun (Anthony) Issa, a
local dignitary who was married but had no children. Rafka lived in their
home while teaching Christian doctrine and supervising religious practice.
One of her students of six years described Sister Anissa as “always
tranquil, serene, sensitive and smiling in her humility…she never raised
her voice and…never used corporal punishment.”
In 1871, the “Mariamettes” religious institute dissolved. Blessed Rafka
decided to join the Baladita Order, the monastic order now named “The
Lebanese Maronite Order of St. Anthony, founded in 1695 and told Antoun
Issa of her decision. He asked her to stay on until the end of the year
promising to leave her property and money but refused. Realizing her
resolve, he offered to pay the dowry demanded by the Order for her.
That same night, Blessed Rafka dreamed of three men. One with a white
beard, one dressed like a soldier and the third was an old man. One of the
men said to her, “’Become a nun in the Baladita Order.’ I woke up very
happy … and went to Antoun Issa, bursting with joy … and I told him about
my dream.” Antoun identified the men as St. Anthony of Qozhaia (St.
Anthony Abbot) of whom the order was inspired, the soldier was St. George,
to whom the church in Ma’ad was dedicated and the third could only be a
Baladita monk. Rafka decided to leave immediately for the monastery of St.
Simon in Al-Qarn. Antoun gave her the money as promised as well as a
letter of recommendation to the archbishop.
On July 12, 1871, at the age of 39, Blessed Rafka began her novitiate
into the new monastery and then on August 25, 1873, she “professed her
perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in the spirit of the
strict Rule of the Baladita Order.” Her new name was that of her mother’s,
Rafka, (Rebecca), the name of Abraham’s great granddaughter and wife of
his son Isaac. Rafka remained in the monastery until 1897.
In 1885, at the age of 53, Blessed Rafka decided not to join the nuns
for a walk around the monastery. In her autobiographical account she
wrote, “It was the first Sunday of the Rosary. I did not accompany them.
Before leaving each of the nuns came and said to me, ‘Pray for me sister.’
There were some who asked me to say seven decades of the Rosary … I went
to the Church and started to pray. Seeing that I was in good health and
that I had never been sick in my life, I prayed to God in this way, ‘Why,
O my God, have you distance yourself from me and have abandoned me. You
have never visited me with sickness! Have you perhaps abandoned me?’”
Blessed Rafka continued in her account to her superior, the next night
after the prayer “At the moment of sleeping I felt a most violent pain
spreading above my eyes to the point that I reached the state you see me
in, blind and paralyzed, and as I myself had asked for sickness I could
not allow myself to complain or murmur.”
“The symbolic daughter of a country which for over a decade has been in
the world headlines because of its suffering,”1 Blessed Rafka (Rebecca)
suffered many years because of her desire to share in the passion of Jesus
Christ.
One sister accompanied Rebecca to Tripoli for a medical visit for her
eyes. “The doctor explored, poking one eye, then the other. Blood gushed
out and… [Rafka] remained calm and smiling, repeating, ‘In communion with
your suffering, Jesus!’…Two or three days later, the sore became inflamed
and for about a month there was a copious discharge of pus.”
For two years, Blessed Rafka suffered. She went to several doctors who
all agreed that there was nothing they could do. Upon the persuasion of
Fr. Estefan, Blessed Rafka consulted an American doctor who strongly
suggested that the eye be removed. Fr. Estefan recalls, “Before the
operation I asked the doctor to anesthetize the eye so that Rebecca would
not feel any pain but she refused. The doctor made her sit down and pushed
a long scalpel … into her eye … the eye popped out and fell on the ground,
palpitating slightly … Rafka didn’t complain … but only said, ‘in
communion with Christ’s Passion.’” The pain was then all concentrated to
her left eye and nothing could be done.
Gradually her left eye shrunk and sunk into the socket and Rafka became
blind. For about thirty years both sockets hemorrhaged two to three times
a week. She also suffered from frequent nosebleeds. “Her head, her brow,
her eyes, her nose were as if they were being pierced by a red hot needle.
Rafka did not let this pain isolate her from the community. She continued
to spin wool and cotton and knitted stockings for the other sisters; she
participated in choral prayer.
Due to the harsh winters at the monastery of St. Simon, Rafka was
allowed to spend the coldest months on the Lebanese coast as a guest of
the Sisters of Charity and then of the residence of the Maronite Order.
Unable to observe the Rule at these locales, Blessed Rafka asked to be
taken to the monastery of St. Elias at El Rass, which belonged to her
order.
In 1897, Blessed Rafka, out of obedience, was able to permanently move
to the monastery St. Joseph of Gerbata in Ma’ad along with Sister Ursula,
where she remained for the last 17 years of her life. It was here that her
suffering increased.
In 1907, she confided to Sister Ursula that she felt a pain in her
legs, “as if someone were sticking lances in them and pain in my toes as
if they were being pulled off.” This began the long list of sufferings and
pains Blessed Rafka withstood for the last seven years of her life.
Based on direct evidence and on the autopsy of Rafka’s remains in 1927,
she became paralyzed due to “the progressive disarticulation of her bones.
She kept intact only her brain, her tongue, her ears and her wrist and
finger joints while the pain continued in her head, her devastated eye
sockets and her nosebleeds … completely immobile her lower jaw touched her
benumbed knee.”
Even in this state, Blessed Rafka was able to crawl to the chapel on
the feast of Corpus Christi to the amazement of all the sisters. When
asked about this, Blessed Rafka replied, “I don’t know. I asked God to
help me and suddenly I felt myself slipping from the bed with my legs
hanging down; I fell on the floor and crawled to the chapel.”
On a separate occasion, when asked by her superior if she would like to
see, Blessed Rafka responded, “I would like to see for at least an hour,
to be able to look at you.” In an instant the superior could see Rafka
smile and suddenly said, “Look, I can see now.” Not believing her, Sister
Ursula put her to the test asking her to identify several objects. Shortly
thereafter, Rafka fell into a deep sleep for about two hours. Sister
Ursula became worried and tried repeatedly to awaken her. Upon waking,
Rafka explained that she had entered a large, beautifully decorated
building with baths full of water and people crowding to enter them; she
went with them. Sister Ursula asked her why she came back; why she didn’t
continue to walk. Blessed Rafka explained, “You called me, and I came.”
Blessed Rafka’s obedience and love for her superior is quite evident in
this account. For a nun, the superior, “as the Rule puts it, represents
Christ and is owed respect, obedience and love. Despite her condition,
Rafka did nothing without the Superior’s permission.”
Three days before her death, Rafka said, “I am not afraid of death
which I have waited for for a long time. God will let me live through my
death.” Then on October 23, 1914, four minutes after receiving final
absolution and the plenary indulgence, she died.
On June 9, 1984, the eve of Pentecost, in the presence of the Holy
Father John Paul II, the decree approving the miracle of Elizabeth Ennakl
who was completely cured of uterine cancer in 1938 at the tomb of Rafka,
was promulgated.
On November 16, 1985 His Holiness Pope John Paul II declared her a
Blessed and on June 10, 2001 the same Holy Father will elevate her to the
rank of Saints at a solemn ceremony in the Vatican.
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* Saint RafKa |
Boutrosiya (Pierina) Shabaq al-Rayes, the only child of her parents,
was born on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the 29th of June 1832 in
Hemlaya, Lebanon. Her father was Mourad Saber Shabaq al-Rayes and her
mother was Rafqa Gemayel. She was orphaned upon her mother's death six
years later. After working as a maid in the house of her father's friend
in Syria from 1843-1847, she returned to Lebanon. In 1853, she entered the
convent of Our Lady of Liberation in Bikfaya and became a nun in the
Marian Order of the Immaculate Conception (Saadé 1986: 11-12).
Boutrosiya recounted that "As I entered the church of the convent, I
felt immense joy, inner relief; and looking at the image of the Blessed
Virgin, it seemed as if a voice had come from it and entered the most
intimate part of my conscience. It said to me: 'You will become a nun' (A
Message 1985: 7)
She became a novice on Saint Maron's day, the 9th of February 1855. In
1856, she pronounced her monastic vows and took the religious name of
Anissa (Agnes). While serving in Deir-el-Qamar in 1860, she witnessed the
massacres of the Christians in the Chouf Mountain and was greatly affected
by the suffering of her people.
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In 1871, her order united with the order of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
to form the Order of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. The nuns were
given the free choice of joining the new order or another existing order,
or resuming lay status after being dispensed from their vows.
This was a very difficult time for the nuns of both orders who were not
involved in the original decision to unite. Sister Anissa was teaching in
Ma'ad in the Batroun region in North Lebanon. When she learned of the
decision and the new situation, she went to Saint George's Church to pray.
While in prayer, she cried because of her great distress. She fell asleep
and felt the presence of someone who told her, "I will make you a
religious" (A Message 1985: 11).
That night she dreamed of a man with a long white beard carrying a
staff shaped like a "T" at the tip. He told her twice: "Become a nun in
the Baladiya Order (The Lebanese Maronite Order)" (A Message 1985: 12).
Sister Anissa did enter. Through interpretation of her dream, Sister
Anissa learned that the old man in her dream was Saint Anthony the Great,
who carries a baton with a T-shape tip, made from a branch of a tree.
Saint Anthony is the model of monastic life for the Baladiya Order.
On the 12th of July 1871 when she was 39 years old, she entered the
novitiate again but it was at the monastery of St. Simon in El-Qarn as a
member of the Baladiya Order. Her new religious congregation was
cloistered. The nuns prayed, meditated, worked in the monastery and lived
a life of asceticism. Her novitiate was documented in the records of that
monastery as follows; "Sister Rafqa, whose name was Boutrosiya from
Hemlaya, began her novitiate on the 12th of July 1871 at the age of 39"
(Saadé 1986: 119). Two years later, on the 25th of August 1873, she made
the solemn profession of her perpetual vows of obedience, chastity and
poverty in the spirit of the strict Rule of the Baladiya Order. In the
records of St. Simon's monastery we read "Sister Rafqa received her
angelic cowl (the hood) from Father Superior Ephrem Geagea al-Bsherrawi
during the administration of Sister Zyara al-Ghostawiye, Superior of the
monastery on the 25th of August 1873" (Saadé 1986; 119). She took her
mother's name Rafqa (Rebecca) as her religious name.
The Lebanese Maronite Order has its roots in the early monastic life in
the East. However, it became an institution in the modern sense of the
word in 1695. Pope Clement XII approved the monastic rules of the Order on
the 31st of March 1732 (Shehwan 1996: 499). In 1736 at the Lebanese Synod,
the women's branch of the Order was organized under the same rules (Azzi
& Akiki 1995: 36). Their relationship with the men's branch was
spiritual and administrative (Shehwan 1996: 505). Their monastic life was
that of an Oriental solitary type, which stresses prayer, contemplation
and asceticism (Shehwan 1996: 502).
Life as an enclosed (semi-cloistered) nun of the Baladiya or the
Lebanese Maronite Order was not easy, and not everyone could observe the
strict, rigorously observed rules. The Order followed the monastic
spiritual and idealistic values of "following and imitating Christ;
communal, fraternal life; emulating the martyrs; under Christ's banner,
fighting against evil; spiritual expatriation (Ghourba: absence from our
"heavenly home"); and waiting for the Second Coming with eternal life in
the Divine Presence (Azzi & Akiki 1995: 49-50). The Order also follows
the monastic practical and living values of "obedience, chastity, poverty,
prayer, work, mission, and communal living" (Azzi & Akiki 1995:
50-52).
The nuns followed the basic monastic principle: pray and work. Their
monastic daily life was divided as follows: prayer, chanting the office,
meditation and Holy Mass, during the three hours from 4-7 A.M. Then came
work from 7 to 10 A.M.
At 10 A.M. the nuns would sing the Breviary and this was followed by
breakfast. Then they worked in the convent, paused to pray the Breviary
once again, read from spiritual works and engaged in pious conversation as
a community. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon they recited Vespers and this
was followed by supper. Half an hour after sunset, they conducted the
evening prayers from the Breviary, followed by the "great silence" when
the nuns retire to their respective cells to meditate and rest until
midnight. At that time (midnight), they leave their cells to join together
in singing the first part of the Breviary. That would ordinarily
last one and a half hours but during lent and Holy Week would last two
hours. Back in their cells, they would be called again at four in the
morning. Many of the nuns would stay in church to pray and meditate
waiting for the four o'clock call to begin their day again [i.e. some nuns
remained in chapel, and not in their cells, at prayer from midnight until
7 A.M.]. (A Message 1985: 15-16).
Rafqa lived her monastic life in great joy. On the feast of the Holy
Rosary in 1885, seeing that she was blessed with health, Rafqa asked our
Lord to let her share in the suffering of His crucifixion. Sister Rafqa
prayed "Why, O My God, why have you distanced yourself from me and
abandoned me? You have never visited sickness upon me! Have you perhaps
abandoned me?" (A Message 1985: 17).
Blessed Rafqa was born in Lebanon at a time when suffering was the
daily bread. She witnessed and experienced distress. For her to ask for
more suffering is beyond comprehension. But Rafqa so requested. She
believed that suffering is the path to salvation and a source of joy.
Emulating Christ's love, she prayed asking to share in the suffering of
Jesus and her people.
Her prayers were answered. From that night on her health began to
deteriorate, yet she rejoiced in being made worthy to participate in the
suffering of Our Lord. She began feeling pain in the optic nerves. The
doctor who was treating her pierced through and destroyed her right eye in
a barbaric manner. During bleeding and unbearable agony, Rafqa
said only: "In communion with Christ's passion." Her other eye
deteriorated and she became totally blind. Rafqa continued to
suffer optic hemorrhage daily. She was left with no strength or energy.
Blind and in pain, she continued to work by spinning wool and cotton
and knitting stockings for the other sisters. She took part in common
prayer, chanting the psalms and reciting the Breviary -- all of this from
memory. Even when blind and weak, she often begged the mother superior to
let her share in the daily work of the other sisters. Refusing to eat what
was considered the good food, Rafqa often chose to eat the leftovers.
In 1897, Sister Rafqa was transferred to the monastery of Mar Youssef
of Grabta (Saint Joseph) with Sister Ursula Doumit, the superior, and
three other sisters. In this monastery, Sister Rafqa's earlier request of
suffering continued to be granted. In 1907 she told her superior about the
intolerable pain. Rafqa soon became totally paralyzed, with complete
disfunction of the joints.
In a 1981 medical report based upon the evidence presented in the
Canonical Process, three specialists in ophthalmology, neurology and
orthopedics diagnosed the most likely cause as tuberculosis with ocular
localization and multiple bony excrescencies. This disease causes the most
unbearable pain.
Rather than ever complain of her pains, she prayed unceasingly, saying:
"In communion with Your suffering, Jesus", "With the wound on Your
shoulder, Jesus," "With Your crown of thorns, Jesus," "With the sufferings
caused by the lance… by the thorns… by the nails of the Cross, my Lord
Jesus."
Under obedience, the superior, Sister Doumit ordered Sister Rafqa to
tell her life story since she did not wish to do so because she was
humble. On the 23rd of October 1914, Sister Rafqa asked for final
absolution and the plenary indulgence. She died in peace and received a
humble monastic burial in the tombs of the monastery.
Four days after her death, Sister Ursula Doumit experienced a miracle,
which took place through the intercession of Sister Rafqa. For eight
years, Sister Ursula Doumit had been suffering from a lump in her throat
that prevented her from even drinking milk. On the fourth night after
Rafqa's death, after having asked the other sisters to let her rest
undisturbed, she heard a knock at the door of her cell and heard someone
say, "Take sand from Rafqa's grave and swab your throat with it. You will
be cured." (A Message 1985: 281). Sister Ursula thought that one of the
sisters had come to her about community affairs, so she asked to be left
alone and went back to sleep. Again there was a knock and she heard the
same message. She answered "I will get the sand when morning comes." In
the morning, after learning that none of the nuns had knocked on her door,
she went to Rafqa's grave and took some sand. Though still in wonder about
what had happened during the previous night, she mixed the sand in water
and swabbed the lump. The lump disappeared immediately.
Sister Ursula had been miraculously cured! Since then, she advised all
who came come to her with an illness to do the same.
On the 23rd of December 1925 and during the tenures in office of
Maronite Patriarch Elias Howayek, the Superior General of the Lebanese
Maronite Order Abbot Ignatius Dagher, and Pope Pius XI, the Lebanese
Maronite Order presented Rafqa's cause for beatification to Rome. The
causes of the future Blessed Hardini and Saint Sharbel were submitted at
the same time.
Many physical and spiritual healings have been attributed to Rafqa's
intercession such as the miracle of Joseph Ibrahim Fayyad, a child who was
cured from a cancer at the right side of his neck in 1925, the miracle of
Kafa Youssef Gerges, a child who was cured from paralysis in 1924, the
miracle of Linda Philippe Hanna Sakr, a child who was cured from acute
hemorrhage in 1924, the miracle of Mariam Hatem who was cured from nervous
disorders in 1925, the miracle of Dona Youssef Abdallah who was cured from
a skin disease in his leg in 1924, the miracle of Fahd, a boy who was
cured from paralysis in 1925, the miracle of a woman from Ain Kfaa who was
cured from ear pains in 1925, the miracle of Rachel Mahmoud el-Khazen who
was cured from nervous disorders in 1935, the miracle of Michel Elias
Sarrouf who was cured from an unknown disease that prevented him from
speaking, the miracle of Marian Habbour who was cured from colon cancer in
1952, and the Miracle of Basma Youssef el-Khoury who was cured from skin
cancer in 1966.
However, the miracle put forward for the Beatification of Sister Rafqa
was the instantaneous, complete, definitive and scientifically
inexplicable curing of a Lebanese woman named Elizabeth En-Nakhel from
Tourza in northern Lebanon, who was suffering from uterine cancer.
Elizabeth was cured, through Rafqa, in 1938 and lived for 28 years more.
She died from a completely different illness in 1966.
On the 9th of June 1984, the eve of Pentecost, in the presence of the
Holy Father John Paul II, the authenticity of the miracle experienced by
Elizabeth En-Nakhel was publicly announced. This was necessary for
beatification which took place on the 17th of November 1985. She was then
called Blessed Rafqa. Her feast day is celebrated on the 23rd of March.
The Miracle of Celine Rubeiz was the miracle that confirmed Rafqa's
Saintliness.
The story starts in October 1984, when one-year old Celine slept
abnormally for 24 hours before being taken to hospital. After suffering
from hemorrhage and swollen belly, Celine's tests showed she had a tumor
in her kidney that had to be removed.
Soon after the surgery, Celine's little body was ravaged by cancer. She
was bleeding from her nose and ears. Doctors gave her 24 hours.
In November 1985, Celine grandmother read an article about blessed
Rafka and believed that some sand from Rafka's tomb was the only cure. So
she brought some sand and gave them to Remonda, Celine's mother, who mixed
the holy sand to a Mhallbieh plate to feed it to Celine who had stopped
eating for a while.
Celine ate the first plate and a second plate, them she woke up and
started walking around in the hospital. Nurses and doctors could not
believe their eyes. Today Celine leads a perfectly normal life.
Celine's miracle was the latest proof awaited by the investigation
committee for the saintliness of Rafka and it has finalized the Rafka
case. Saint Rafqa's Miracles continue to this day and Shadi Estephan
Kayyal was cured from a generalized cancer in 2000.
Rafqa is like the bride of the Song of Songs who listened to the calls
of her beloved: "Come from Lebanon, my promised bride, Come from Lebanon,
come on your way. Look down from the heights of Amanus, From the crests of
Senir and Hermon, The haunt of lions, The mountains of leopards. The scent
of your garments Is like the scent of Lebanon. She is a garden enclosed,
My sister, my promised bride; a garden enclosed A sealed fountain Fountain
of the garden, Well of living water, Streams flowing down from Lebanon!"
Excerpts from the Song of Songs 4:1-15
Miracles continue to be granted through her intercession. Thousands of
believers visit her tomb at Saint Joseph's monastery in Grabta. Saint
Rafqa was canonized on June 10, 2001.
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