Sainte Rafqa Ar-Rayes, religieuse
« Soeur Rebecca », Rafqa
Al-Rayès est née en 1832 à Himlaya au Liban. Orpheline, maltraitée par une
belle-mère acariâtre, elle attendit d'avoir atteint vingt et un ans pour entrer
dans la vie religieuse et devenir enseignante dans un institut que venait de
fonder le père Gemayel. En 1860, elle vécut le massacre des chrétiens dans la
montagne. Quand le jeune institut fut dissous, elle choisit d'entrer dans
l'Ordre Baladite, de religieuses maronites libanaises. Elle mourut aveugle et
percluse en 1914, ayant offert à Dieu le sacrifice de sa vie devant tant de
sacrifices dans son peuple.
Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès
(1832 - 1914)
Rafqa à Himlaya (1832-1859)
Rafqa vit le jour le 29 Juin 1832 à Himlaya, village du Meten-Nord près
de Bikfaya (Liban). Elle était fille unique de Mourad Saber al-Choboq al-Rayès
et de Rafqa Gemayel. Elle fut baptisée le 7 Juillet 1832 et reçut le prénom de
Boutrossieh (Pierrette). Ses Parents l'ont élevée dans l'amour de Dieu et
l'assiduité à la prière.
Sa mère mourut en 1839 alors que Rafqa n'avait que sept ans. Ce fut pour
elle une grande peine.
Son père connut la misère et la nécessité. Il décida alors, en 1843, de
l'envoyer à Damas pour travailer chez M. Asaad al-Badawi, d'origine libanaise.
Elle y resta quatre ans.
Rafqa revint à sa maison en 1847 et trouva son père remarié. Rafqa était
belle, de bon caractère et d'une humble piété. Sa tante maternelle voulait la
marier à son fils et sa marâtre à son frère. Alors que le conflit entre les
deux femmes grandissait, Rafqa, à l'écart de ces querelles, cultivait le désir
d'embrasser la vie religieuse.
Rafqa dans la Congrégation des Mariamettes (1859-1871)
Rafqa demanda à Dieu de l'aider à réaliser son désir. L'idée lui vint
d'aller au couvent Notre-Dame de la Délivrance à Bikfaya pour se joindre aux
Mariamettes, fondées par le Père Joseph Gemayel. En entrant à l'église du
couvent, elle sentit une joie intérieure indescriptible. Alors qu'elle priait
devant l'icône de Notre-Dame de la Délivrance, elle entendit une voix qui lui
dit: "Tu seras religieuse".
La mère supérieure admit Rafqa sans l'interroger. En connaissant cette
nouvelle, son père vint, avec sa femme, pour la ramener à la maison. Rafqa
refusa de les rencontrer.
Après la période de postulat, Rafqa reçut l'habit de novice en la fête
de Saint Joseph, le 19 mars 1861. L'année suivante à la même date, elle
prononça ses vœux temporaires.
La nouvelle professe fut envoyée au Séminaire de Ghazir où elle fut
chargée de la cuisine. Parmi les séminaristes se trouvaient le Patriarche Élias
Houayek et l'Évêque Boutros al-Zoghbi.
Durant son séjour à Ghazir, elle profitait de ses moments libres pour
approfondir ses connaissances de la langue Arabe, de la calligraphie et du
calcul.
En 1860, Rafqa fut transférée à Deir al-Qamar pour enseigner le
catéchisme aux jeunes filles. Elle assista durant cette même année aux
événements sanglants survenus au Liban. Il lui arriva de sauver la vie d'un
petit enfant qu'elle cacha dans sa robe. Rafqa passa environ un an à Deir
al-Qamar puis revint à Ghazir.
En 1863, Rafqa rejoignit une école de sa congrégation à Jbeil pour
instruire des jeunes filles et les former aux principes de la foi chrétienne.
Un an après, elle fut transférée à Maad, sous la demande de M. Antoun
Issa. Elle y passa sept ans, durant lesquels elle fonda une école pour
l'éducation des jeunes filles.
Rafqa dans l'Ordre Libanais Maronite (1871-1914)
1. Au monastère Mar Semaan al-Qarn, Alto (1871-1897)
Au cours de son séjour à Maad, vers 1871, une crise secoua la
Congrégation des Mariamettes qui fut aussitôt dissoute. Ce fait troubla Rafqa.
Elle entra à l'église Saint Georges pour prier le Seigneur et Lui demander de
lui montrer la bonne voie. Elle entendit une voix disant: "Tu resteras
religieuse".
Le soir même de sa prière, Rafqa rêva et vit en songe trois Saints:
Saint Georges, Saint Siméon le Stylite et Saint Antoine le Grand, Père des
moines, qui lui dit à deux reprises: "Entre dans l'Ordre Libanais
Maronite". M. Antoun Issa lui facilita le transfert de Maad au monastère
de Mar Sémaan al-Qarn à Aito (Liban-Nord), où elle fut immédiatement acceptée.
Le 12 Juillet 1871, elle reçut l'habit de novice et le prénom de sa mère Rafqa.
Elle fit sa profession solennelle le 25 août 1872.
Elle passa 26 ans au monastère Mar Sémaan al-Qam, Aito. Elle était un
exemple vivant pour les moniales par son observation des Règles.
Le premier dimanche d'octobre 1885, en la fête de Notre Dame du Rosaire,
Rafqa entra à l'église du monastère et se mit à prier, demandant au Seigneur de
la faire participer à sa Passion Rédemptrice. Sa prière fut immédiatement
exaucée. Le soir, avant de dormir, elle sentit un mal insupportable à la tête
qui, par la suite, atteignit ses yeux.
Tous les soins utilisés étaient sans résultats. On consulta un médecin
américain qui décida d'opérer Rafqa dans l'immédiat. Elle refusa l'anesthésie
durant l'opération, au cours de laquelle le médecin lui arracha
accidentellement son œil qui tomba par terre en palpitant. Rafqa ne se plaignit
pas et lui dit:
"Pour la Passion du Christ. Que Dieu bénisse tes mains et te
récompense". Puis le mal ne tarda pas à passer à l'œil gauche.
2. Rafqa dans le monastère Saint Joseph al-Dahr Jrabta (1897-1914)
L'Ordre Libanais Maronite décida de fonder le monastère de Saint Joseph al-Dahr
à Jrabta-Batroun en 1897. Six moniales furent transférées du monastère Saint
Simon al-Qarn au nouveau monastère Saint Joseph à Jrabta. Parmi elles, figurait
Sainte Rafqa, car les sœurs étaient très attachées à elle et espéraient la
prospérité de leur monastère grâce à ses prières. Mère Ursula Doumit,
originaire de Maad, fut nommée Supérieure.
En 1899, Rafqa devint complètement aveugle puis paralysée. Ses
articulations se disloquèrent, son corps devint aride et sec: un squelette peu
à peu décharné. Elle passa les sept dernières années de sa vie étendue
seulement sur le côté droit de son corps. Sur son visage rayonnant et paisible,
se lisait un sourire céleste.
Selon le jugement des médecins, Rafqa était atteinte d'une tuberculose
ostéo-articulaire.
Rafqa vécut 82 ans, dont 29 dans les souffrances qu'elle supportait avec
joie, patience et prière pour l'amour du Christ.
Le 23 mars 1914, Rafqa demanda la Sainte Communion puis remit son esprit
en appelant Jésus, la Vierge Marie et Saint Joseph.
Enterrée au cimetière du monastère Saint Joseph-Jrabta, une lumière
splendide apparut sur son tombeau pour deux nuits consécutives. Par
l'intercession de Sainte Rafqa, Notre Seigneur a fait beaucoup de miracles et a
accordé largement ses grâces.
Le 10 juillet 1927, la dépouille de Rafqa fut transférée dans un nouveau
tombeau, dans l'église du monastère. La cause de sa Béatification a été soumise
au Vatican le 23 décembre 1925.
Sa Sainteté le Pape Jean-Paul II déclara Rafqa: Vénérable le 11 février
1982; Bienheureuse le 17 novembre 1985; un modèle à suivre dans la dévotion au
Saint Sacrement pour le Jubilé 2000.
SOURCE : http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20010610_rafqa-choboq_fr.html
Sainte Rafqa Ar-Rayes
moniale de l'Ordre
libanais maronite (✝ 1914)
Sainte Rébecca de
Himlaya, Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès (1832 - 1914)
Rafqa Al-Rayès est née à Himlaya au Liban. Orpheline, maltraitée par une
belle-mère acariâtre, elle attendit d'avoir atteint ses vingt et un ans pour
entrer dans la vie religieuse et devenir enseignante dans un institut que
venait de fonder le P. Gemayel.. En 1860, elle vécut le massacre des chrétiens
dans la montagne. Quand le jeune institut fut dissous, elle choisit d'entrer
dans l'Ordre Baladite, religieuses maronites libanaises. Elle mourut aveugle et
percluse, ayant offert à Dieu le sacrifice de sa vie devant tant de sacrifices
dans son peuple.
"un modèle à suivre dans la dévotion au Saint Sacrement"
"Rafqa Ar-Rayes était libanaise et aimait sa patrie, le Liban. Elle était
maronite et aimait son Église maronite. Elle était fille de l'Ordre Libanais
maronite et aimait son Ordre."
Biographie (site du Vatican)
"Puisse sainte Rafqa veiller sur ceux qui connaissent la
souffrance, en particulier sur les peuples du Moyen-Orient affrontés à la
spirale destructrice et stérile de la violence!"
Homélie du pape Jean-Paul II pour
la canonisation de 5 bienheureux.
Homélie de sa béatitude le cardinal Mar
Moussa 1er Daoud, préfet de la congrégation pour les Églises
orientales, le 11 juin 2001.
Béatification le 17 novembre 1985, canonisation le 10 juin 2001.
Voir aussi:
"La Biographie de la moniale Rafqa de Himlaya n’est que
l’histoire d’une souffrance vécue avec amour, avec générosité et avec joie!
Loin d’être une stoïcienne, elle a porté au monde un message, et elle a donné
au commun des mortels une leçon des plus belles!"
(source: La Fille du Liban - Opus Libani)
Près de Ad-Dahr au Liban, en 1914, sainte Rébecca (Perrine ar-Rayyâs de
Himlaya), vierge de l’Ordre libanais de Saint-Antoine des Maronites. Privée de
la vue pendant trente ans, puis saisie d’une infirmité qui atteignit ses
membres, elle demeura en prière, entièrement remise à Dieu seul.
Martyrologe
romain
CHAPELLE
PAPALE POUR LA CANONISATION DE 5 BIENHEUREUX
HOMÉLIE
DU PAPE JEAN PAUL II
Dimanche
10 juin 2001, Solennité de la Sainte Trinité
1. "Béni soit Dieu le Père, et le Fils unique de Dieu, et l'Esprit
Saint: car son amour pour nous est grand" (Antienne de début).
La liturgie tout entière est toujours orientée vers le mystère trinitaire,
source de vie pour chaque croyant, mais elle l'est encore plus
spécialement en la fête d'aujourd'hui de la Très Sainte Trinité.
"Gloire au Père, gloire au Fils, gloire à l'Esprit Saint":
chaque fois que nous proclamons ces paroles, synthèse de notre foi, nous
adorons l'unique et véritable Dieu en trois Personnes. Nous contemplons
émerveillés ce mystère qui nous enveloppe totalement. Un mystère d'amour, un
mystère de sainteté ineffable.
"Saint, Saint, Saint est le Seigneur, Dieu de l'univers"
chanterons-nous d'ici peu, en entrant dans le coeur de la prière eucharistique.
Le Père a tout créé avec sagesse et une providence aimante; le Fils par sa mort
et sa résurrection nous a rachetés; l'Esprit Saint nous sanctifie par la
plénitude de ses dons de grâce et de miséricorde.
Nous pouvons à juste titre définir la solennité d'aujourd'hui comme une
"fête de la sainteté". En ce jour, la cérémonie de canonisation de
cinq bienheureux trouve donc son cadre le plus harmonieux: Luigi
Scrosoppi, Agostino Roscelli, Bernardo da Corleone, Teresa Eustochio Verzeri,
Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès.
2. "Ayant
donc reçu notre justification de la foi, nous sommes en paix avec Dieu par
notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ" (Rm 5, 1).
Pour l'Apôtre Paul, comme nous l'avons entendu dans la seconde Lecture, la
sainteté est un don que le Père nous communique à travers Jésus-Christ. En
effet, la foi en Lui est un début de sanctification. A travers la foi l'homme
entre dans l'ordre de la grâce; à travers la foi il espère prendre part à la
gloire de Dieu. Cette espérance n'est pas une vaine illusion, mais le fruit sûr
d'un chemin ascétique face à de nombreuses épreuves, affrontées avec patience
et une vertu éprouvée.
Ce fut l'expérience de saint Luigi Scrosoppi, au cours d'une vie entièrement
consacrée à l'amour du Christ et de ses frères, en particulier des plus faibles
et sans défense.
"Charité! Charité!": cette exclamation jaillit de son
coeur au moment de quitter le monde pour le Ciel. Il exerça la charité de façon
exemplaire, en particulier à l'égard des jeunes filles orphelines et
abandonnées, entraînant un groupe d'éducatrices, avec lesquelles il fonda
l'Institut des "Soeurs de la Divine Providence".
La charité fut le secret de son apostolat long et inlassable, nourri d'un
contact permanent avec le Christ, contemplé et imité dans l'humilité et dans la
pauvreté de sa naissance à Bethléem, dans la simplicité de sa vie laborieuse à
Nazareth, dans la complète immolation sur le Calvaire, dans le silence éloquent
de l'Eucharistie. C'est pourquoi l'Eglise le présente aux prêtres et aux
fidèles comme modèle d'une synthèse profonde et efficace entre la communion
avec Dieu et le service aux frères. Le modèle, en d'autres termes, d'une
existence vécue en intense communion avec la Très Sainte Trinité.
3. "Son
amour pour nous est grand". L'amour de Dieu pour les hommes s'est
manifesté de manière particulièrement évidente dans la vie de saint Agostino
Roscelli, que nous contemplons aujourd'hui dans la splendeur de la sainteté.
Son existence, toute imprégnée de foi profonde, peut être considérée comme un
don offert pour la gloire de Dieu et pour le bien des âmes. Ce fut la foi qui
le rendit toujours obéissant à l'Eglise et à ses enseignements, dans une
adhésion docile au Pape et à son propre Evêque. Il sut puiser dans la foi le
réconfort pour affronter les heures sombres, les âpres difficultés et les
événements douloureux. La foi fut le roc solide auquel il sut s'accrocher pour
ne jamais céder au découragement.
Il sentit le devoir de communiquer cette même foi aux autres, en particulier à
ceux qu'il approchait dans le mystère de la confession. Il devint un maître de
vie spirituelle, en particulier pour les Soeurs qu'il fonda, qui le virent
toujours serein même face aux situations les plus critiques. Saint Agostino
Roscelli nous exhorte nous aussi à avoir toujours confiance en Dieu, en nous
plongeant dans le mystère de son amour.
4. "Gloire
au Père, au Fils et à l'Esprit Saint". A la lumière du mystère de la
Trinité le témoignage évangélique de saint Bernardo da Corleone, lui aussi
élevé aux honneurs des autels, acquiert également une éloquence singulière.
Tous s'émerveillaient devant lui et se demandaient comment un frère laïc
pouvait parler de façon aussi éminente du mystère de la très Sainte Trinité. En
effet, sa vie fut entièrement tendue vers Dieu, à travers un effort constant
d'ascèse, tissée de prière et de pénitence. Ceux qui l'ont connu attestent de
façon unanime qu'il "était toujours occupé à la prière", "jamais
il ne cessait de prier", "il priait sans cesse" (Summ.,
35). De ce dialogue ininterrompu avec Dieu, qui trouvait dans l'Eucharistie son
centre dynamique, il tirait la lymphe vitale pour son courageux apostolat, en
répondant aux défis sociaux de l'époque, qui ne manquait pas de ten-sions et de
problèmes.
Aujourd'hui aussi le monde a besoin de saints comme Fra' Bernardo plongés en
Dieu et précisément pour cette raison capables d'en transmettre la vérité et
l'amour. L'humble exemple de ce Capucin constitue un encouragement à ne pas se
lasser de prier, la prière et l'écoute de Dieu étant précisément l'âme de la
sainteté authentique.
5. "L'Esprit
de vérité vous guidera à la vérité tout entière" (Antienne de
Communion). Teresa Eustochio Verzeri, que nous contemplons aujourd'hui dans
la gloire de Dieu, se laissa conduire docilement par l'Esprit Saint au
cours de son existence, brève mais intense. Dieu se révéla à Elle comme
une présence devant laquelle on doit s'incliner avec une profonde humilité. Sa
joie était de se considérer sous la constante protection divine, en se sentant
entre les mains du Père céleste, en qui elle apprit à avoir toujours confiance.
S'abandonnant à l'action de l'Esprit, Teresa vécut l'expérience mystique
particulière "de l'absence de Dieu". Seule une foi inébranlable
l'empêcha de ne pas perdre la confiance en ce Père porvidentiel et
miséricordieux, qui la mettait à l'épreuve: "Il est juste -
écrivait-elle - que l'épouse, après avoir suivi l'époux dans toutes les peines
qui accompagnèrent sa vie, prenne encore part avec lui à la plus terrible"
(Livre des devoirs, III, 130).
Tel est l'enseignement que sainte Teresa laisse à l'Institut des "Filles
du Sacré-Coeur de Jésus", qu'elle fonda. Tel est l'enseignement qu'elle
nous laisse à tous. Même face aux contrariétés et aux souffrances intérieures
et extérieures, il faut conserver vivante la foi en Dieu le Père, Fils et
Esprit Saint.
6. En canonisant la Bienheureuse Rafqa Choboq Ar-Rayès, l'Eglise met en
lumière d'une manière toute particulière le mystère de l'amour donné et
accueilli pour la gloire de Dieu et le salut du monde. Cette moniale de l'Ordre
libanais maronite désirait aimer et donner sa vie pour ses frères. Dans les
souffrances qui n'ont cessé de la tourmenter durant les vingt-neuf dernières
années de son existence, sainte Rafqa a toujours manifesté un amour généreux et
passionné pour le salut de ses frères, puisant dans son union au Christ, mort
sur la croix, la force d'accepter volontairement et d'aimer la souffrance,
authentique voie de sainteté.
Puisse sainte Rafqa veiller sur ceux qui connaissent la souffrance, en
particulier sur les peuples du Moyen-Orient affrontés à la spirale destructrice
et stérile de la violence! Par son intercession, demandons au Seigneur d'ouvrir
les coeurs à la recherche patiente de nouvelles voies pour la paix, hâtant les
jours de la réconciliation et de la concorde!
7. "Yahvé,
notre Seigneur, qu'il est puissant ton nom par toute la terre!" (Ps
8, 2.10). En contemplant ces lumineux exemples de sainteté, l'invocation du
Psalmiste revient spontanément dans le coeur. Le Seigneur ne cesse de donner à
l'Eglise et au monde d'admirables exemples d'hommes et de femmes, dans lesquels
se reflète sa gloire trinitaire. Leur témoignage nous pousse à regarder vers le
Ciel et à chercher sans répit le Royaume de Dieu et sa justice.
Marie, Reine de tous les Saints, qui la première a accueilli l'appel du
Très-Haut, soutiens-nous dans notre service à Dieu et aux frères. Et vous,
marchez avec nous, saint Luigi Scrosoppi, Agostino Roscelli, Bernardo da
Corleone, Teresa Eustachio Verzeri, Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès, afin que
notre existence, comme la vôtre, soit une louange au Père, au Fils et à
l'Esprit Saint. Amen!
© Copyright - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
HOMÉLIE DE SA BÉATITUDE
LE CARDINAL MAR MOUSSA Ier DAOUD,
PRÉFET DE LA CONGRÉGATION
POUR LES ÉGLISES ORIENTALES,
À L'OCCASION DE LA CANONISATION
DE LA BIENHEUREUSE RAFQA
Lundi 11 juin 2001
Qu'est-ce qui a mû ces délégations et ces foules du Liban et du voisinage, de
l'Europe et des Amériques pour qu'elles quittent leurs pays et leurs travaux et
pour qu'elles supportent les peines du voyage?
Qui a amené tous ces croyants: patriarches, évêques, prêtres, moines,
moniales, politiciens, hommes d'affaires, responsables, pères, mères, vieux et
jeunes?
Qu'est-ce qui nous réunit aujourd'hui à Rome, en la Basilique Saint-Pierre,
dans une commune prière?
Est-ce un motif touristique, un monument archéologique, un congrès scientifique
ou artistique?
Non. Ce qui nous a réunis aujourd'hui est une humble moniale qui resta dans son
monastère des dizaines d'années, qui n'était ni artiste ni poète, qui n'a pas
été particulièrement connue par sa science et sa culture, ni même par certains
chefs-d'oeuvre. Elle pratiquait l'ascèse et la mortification et elle préférait
la pauvreté et l'abnégation. Elle, c'est Rafqa Choboq Ar-Rayes, la nouvelle
sainte de l'Eglise, la sainte du Liban.
La sainteté exerce une grande attraction et un grand pouvoir. Elle meut les
esprits. Elle fascine les coeurs et donne élan et courage.
Mais qui est saint?
Le saint n'est pas celui qui opère des miracles et des prodiges. Le saint est
un chrétien, comme nous. Il reçoit le baptême et l'Eucharistie que nous
recevons. Il a la même foi que la nôtre. La seule différence réside dans le
fait qu'il est conscient de son christianisme et qu'il est cohérent avec
lui-même. Il croit et met sa foi en pratique.
Ainsi, Rafqa a imité Jésus-Christ et a fait de l'Evangile la règle de sa vie.
Devenant une nouvelle image de Jésus-Christ et une nouvelle interprétation de
l'Evangile, elle nous a illuminés par un nouveau rayon du ciel, a donné un
nouvel éclat à la splendeur de la sainteté, et a répandu un nouveau parfum de
la perfection divine.
Le Christ était tout pour sainte Rafqa. Elle l'a cherché et l'a écouté. Elle a
compris ses desseins et a exécuté sa volonté. Elle l'a aimé au plus profond de
son être.
Pour cela, sainte Rafqa n'est pas morte parce que, avec sa mort, tout a
commencé. Je ne parle pas de sa vie au ciel, mais de sa nouvelle vie, sur la
terre, avec les hommes.
Sainte Rafqa n'est pas morte parce qu'elle a
vécu dans l'esprit des croyants fascinés par ses vertus,
recourant à elle en leurs besoins, confiants dans son intercession.
Par sa mort, Rafqa est entrée dans la gloire de Dieu pour refléter la lumière
divine sur le monde et pour participer au pouvoir de Dieu. En effet, par le
pouvoir qu'elle détient de Dieu elle peut exaucer nos demandes et entendre nos
appels au secours. Plus de 80 ans après sa mort, elle est la plus vivante parmi
les vivants.
Parce qu'elle est entièrement consacrée à Dieu, la sainte transcende l'espace
et le lieu. Elle est pour toutes les patries et les nations, et pour toutes les
générations et les temps.
Rafqa Ar-Rayes était libanaise et aimait sa patrie, le Liban. Elle était
maronite et aimait son Eglise maronite. Elle était fille de l'Ordre Libanais
maronite et aimait son Ordre.
Mais par sa canonisation, Rafqa n'appartient plus seulement à l'Ordre Libanais
maronite, que cet Ordre nous permette de le dire. Elle appartient désormais à
tous les Ordres, à toutes les Congrégations religieuses et à toutes les
personnes consacrées.
Rafqa n'appartient plus seulement à l'Eglise maronite, que cette Eglise nous
permette de le dire. Elle appartient désormais à toutes les Eglises et à toutes
les communautés.
Rafqa n'appartient plus seulement au Liban, que ce pays nous permette de le
dire. Elle appartient désormais au Liban, au monde arabe, à l'Orient et à
l'Occident.
Sinon nous ne serions pas venus du Liban à Rome, ni Sa Sainteté le Pape
Jean-Paul II l'aurait proclamée sainte.
C'est la leçon, je crois, que Rafqa nous donne: franchir les frontières de
nos Ordres et de nos couvents, de nos Eglises et de nos particularités, et voir
le Liban inséré dans un monde plus vaste.
L'Eglise catholique est la mère de la vraie mondialisation et la maîtresse de
la juste globalisation.
Rafqa est maronite, libanaise, mais aussi syriaque, antiochienne, orientale,
catholique.
Le Liban nous a donné Rafqa. Et Rafqa a donné au Liban un nouveau sens. En
Rafqa, je vois le Liban. L'un et l'autre revêtent le visage de la souffrance,
mais les deux ont une vocation commune, celle d'aller au-delà des frontières.
Sa Sainteté le Pape n'a pas estimé le Liban comme un simple pays. Il a
dit: "le Liban est plus qu'un pays. C'est un message... ". Moi
non plus je ne vois pas le Liban comme une superficie de 10.000 km2, mais je
vois le Liban comme un esprit qui se manifeste dans le monde et comme un modèle
pour les peuples et les nations unies.
Le salut du Liban est d'être le pays à coeur ouvert, au-dessus des intérêts
personnels et qui fait primer le bien commun.
Au nom de la Congrégation pour les Eglises orientales, je remercie sa Sainteté
le Pape Jean-Paul II pour la canonisation de Rafqa. C'est une grande grâce pour
laquelle je félicite l'Eglise maronite bien-aimée, ses évêques, ses prêtres,
ses moines, ses moniales, ses religieux, ses religieuses et ses fidèles, et à
leur tête, leur père courageux sa Béatitude et Eminence Mar Nasrallah Pierre
Sfeir. J'offre également mes voeux à l'Ordre Libanais maronite et à sa tête le
Révérend Père Abbé Athanase Jalkh qui prend soin de la frêle plante que
l'Eglise syriaque catholique lui a confiée. Comme aussi à la Révérende Mère
Marie-Claude Eid, Supérieure générale de l'Ordre des Moniales Libanaises
maronites.
Tous mes voeux enfin au Liban et à sa tête S.E. M. le Président de la
République le général Emile Lahoud, représenté par son épouse, Mme Andrée
Lahoud.
Chers frères et soeurs, par l'intercession de sainte Rafqa et des quatre saints
canonisés avec elle, que le Seigneur vous garde et donne au Liban paix, gloire
et prospérité.
SAINTE RAFQA
MONIALE LIBANAISE MARONITE (1832 - 1914)
Sainte Rafqa vit le jour le 29 Juin (fête des Saints Pierre et Paul)
1832 à Himlaya, village du Metn-Nord près de Bikfaya.
Elle resta fille unique à Mourad Saber al-Choboq al-Rayès et à Rafqa
Gemayel.
Elle fut baptisée le 7 Juillet 1832 et reçut le prénom de Boutrossieh
(Pierrette). Ses Parents l'ont élevée sur l'amour de Dieu et l'assiduité à la
prière. La mère mourut en 1839 alors que Rafqa n'avait que sept ans; ce fut
pour elle une grande peine qui marqua toute sa vie.
Son père connut la misère et la nécessité. Il décida, en 1843, de
l'envoyer à Damas pour travailler comme servante chez M. Asaad al-Badawi,
d'origine libanaise; elle y resta quatre ans.
Rafqa revint à la maison en 1847, et trouva que son père s'était
remarié en son absence. Elle cacha sa grande peine. Elle était belle, de bon
caractère et d'une humble piété. Sa tante maternelle voulait la marier à son
fils et sa marâtre à son frère; un conflit entre les deux femmes s'agrandit.
C'est alors que Rafqa choisit la vie religieuse.
Rafqa demanda à Dieu de l'aider à réaliser son désir. Elle décida
d'aller au couvent Notre-Dame de la Délivrance à Bikfaya pour se joindre aux
Mariamettes, fondées par le Père Joseph Gemayel.
En entrant à l'Église du couvent, elle sentit une joie indescriptible.
Pendant qu'elle y priait devant l'icône de Notre-Dame de la Délivrance, elle
entendit une voix qui lui disait:"Tu seras religieuse". La
Mère Supérieure admit Rafqa sans l'interroger. À cette nouvelle, son père vint,
avec sa femme, pour la ramener à la maison; Rafqa refusa de les rencontrer.
Après la période du postulat, Rafqa porta l'habit de novice en la fête
de Saint Joseph le 19 mars 1861. L'année suivante et à la même date, elle
prononça ses voeux temporaires de religieuse.
La nouvelle professe fut envoyée au Séminaire de Ghazir, où elle fut
chargée de la cuisine. Parmi les séminaristes se trouvaient le Patriarche Élias
Houayek et l'Évêque Boutros al-Zoghbi.
Durant son séjour à Ghazir, elle profita de ses moments libres pour
approfondir ses connaissances de langue arabe, de calligraphie et
d’arithmétique.
En 1860, Rafqa fut transférée à Deir al-Qamar, pour y enseigner le
catéchisme aux jeunes filles. Elle y assista, durant cette même année, aux
événements sanglants survenus au Liban. Elle sauva la vie d'un petit enfant
qu'elle cacha sous sa robe.
Rafqa passa environ un an à Deir al-Qamar puis revint à Ghazir.En
1863, Rafqa rejoignit une école de sa Congrégation à Jbeil pour y instruire des
jeunes filles et les former aux principes de la foi chrétienne. Un an après,
elle fut transférée à Maad, sous la demande de M. Antoun Issa; elle y passa
sept ans, durant lesquels elle fonda une école pour instruire les filles.
3- RAFQA dans l'Ordre Libanais Maronite:
Au cours de son séjour à Maad, une crise secoua et ébranla la
Congrégation des Mariamettes vers 1871. Ce fait troubla Rafqa, qui entra à
l'Église Saint Georges, pour prier le Seigneur Lui demandant de lui montrer sa
bonne voie. Elle entendit une voix disant: "Tu resteras
religieuse". Le soir même, Rafqa vit en songe Trois Saints: Saint
Georges, Saint Simon le Stylite et Saint Antoine le Grand, Père des moines, qui
lui dit à deux reprises: "Entre dans l'Ordre Libanais Maronite".
M. Antoun Issa lui facilita le transfert de Maad au monastère de Mar
Sémaan El Qarn à Aïto, où elle fut immédiatement acceptée. Elle y porta l'habit
de novice et prit le prénom de sa mère RAFQA le 12 Juillet 1871. Elle
fit sa profession solennelle le 25 août 1872.
Elle passa 26 ans au monastère Mar Sémaan El Qarn, Aïto. Elle mena une
vie exemplaire avec ses sœurs les moniales.
Le premier dimanche d'octobre, en la fête de Notre Dame du Rosaire en
1885, Rafqa entra à l'Église du monastère et se mit à prier demandant au
Seigneur de lui accorder de participer à sa Passion Rédemptrice. Sa prière fut
immédiatement exaucée. Le soir même avant de dormir, elle sentit un mal de tête
insupportable qui, ensuite, atteignit ses beaux yeux.
Tous les soins utilisés furent vains. Un médecin américain à Jbeil,
consulta Rafqa et décida de l'opérer instantanément. Rafqa refusa l'anesthésie
durant l'opération, au cours de laquelle le médecin lui arracha
accidentellement l’oeil droit. Rafqa au lieu de se plaindre lui dit: "Pour
la Passion du Christ. Que Dieu garde tes mains et te donne récompense".
Le mal ne tarda pas à passer à son oeil gauche.
L'Ordre Libanais Maronite décida de fonder le monastère de Saint
Joseph al Dahr à Jrabta - Batroun en 1897. Six moniales furent transférées du
monastère Saint Simon El Qarn au nouveau monastère Saint Joseph à Jrabta. Parmi
elles, figurait Rafqa, car les soeurs étaient très attachées à elle et
espéraient la prospérité du nouveau monastère grâce à ses prières. Mère Ursula
Doumit, originaire de Maad, fut nommée Supérieure.
En 1899, Rafqa devint complètement aveugle puis paralysée. Ses
articulations se disloquèrent; son corps devint aride et sec: un squelette à
peu près décharné. Elle passa les sept dernières années de sa vie étendue sur
le côté droit de son corps. Sur son visage paisible, rayonnait toujours un
sourire céleste.
Selon le jugement des médecins, Rafqa fut atteinte d'une tuberculose
ostéo-articulaire. Rafqa vécut 82 ans, dont 29 furent passés dans les
souffrances, qu'elle supportait avec joie, patience et prière pour l'amour du
Christ.
Le 23 mars 1914, Rafqa demanda la Sainte Communion puis remit
son esprit en appelant Jésus, la Vierge Marie et Saint Joseph. Enterrée au
cimetière du monastère Saint Joseph - Jrabta, une lumière splendide apparut sur
son tombeau en deux nuits consécutives. Notre Seigneur accorda par son
intercession beaucoup de miracles et de grâces.
La cause de sa Béatification fut présentée au Vatican le 23 décembre
1925. L'investigation sur sa vie pour la canonization fut commencée le 16 mai
1926. Le 10 juillet 1927, la dépouille de Rafqa fut transférée à un nouveau
tombeau dans l'Église du monastère.
Déclarations du Pape concernant RAFQA
Sa Sainteté le Pape Jean-Paul II déclara Rafqa:
Vénérable le 11 février 1982.
Bienheureuse le 17 novembre 1985.
Modèle à suivre par sa dévotion au Saint Sacrement, pour le Jubilé 2000.
SAINTE pour l'Église Universelle le 10 Juin 2001.(avec 4 autres
Bienheureux):
LUIGI
SCROSOPPI (1804-1884) Udine, Friuli, ITALIE;
AGOSTINO
ROSCELLI (1818-1902) Bargone of Casarza Ligure, ITALIE;
BERNARDO
DA CORLEONE (1605-1667) Corleone, Sicilia, ITALIE;
TERESA
EUSTOCHIO VERZERI (1801-1852) Bergamo, ITALIE et
RAFQA PIETRA CHOBOQ AR-RAYES (1832-1914) Himlaya, Metn, LIBAN.
Sainte Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayes (1832-1914) est une
religieuse Maronite du Liban. Elle est la première sainte libanaise. A
l'âge de 27 ans, elle entre dans la congrégation des servantes de Marie et elle
se dévoue à l'enseignement et au catéchisme. Elle est aimée pour ses
vertus et sa douceur.
«L'homme est le fils de son milieu», dit le proverbe libanais.
C'est pourquoi, pour mieux comprendre la vie de Sœur Rafqa, il nous paraît
utile de la situer tout d'abord dans son contexte à la fois national, ecclésial
et monastique. Notre Servante de Dieu est née au Liban, au sein d'une famille
maronite, et s'est sanctifiée dans l'Ordre Libanais Maronite. Chacun de ces
trois milieux a eu sa part d'influence sur la voie que Sœur Rafqa a suivie.
Fille du Liban, elle a été marquée
par ce pays.
Hagiographie
Sainte Rafqa vit le jour le 29 juin
1832 (fête des Saints Pierre et Paul) 1832 à Himlaya, village du Metn-Nord près
de Bikfaya. Sa Sainteté le Pape Jean-Paul II déclara Rafqa:
·
Vénérable
le 11 février 1982.
·
Bienheureuse
le 17 novembre 1985.
·
Modèle
à suivre par sa dévotion au Saint Sacrement, pour le Jubilé 2000.
Elle resta fille unique à Mourad
Saber al-Choboq al-Rayès et à Rafqa Gemayel.
Elle fut baptisée le 7 Juillet 1832
et reçut le prénom de Boutrossieh (Pierrette). Ses Parents l'ont élevée sur
l'amour de Dieu et l'assiduité à la prière. La mère mourut en 1839 alors que
Rafqa n'avait que sept ans; ce fut pour elle une grande peine qui marqua toute
sa vie.
Son père connut la misère et la nécessité.
Il décida, en 1843, de l'envoyer à Damas pour travailler comme servante chez M.
Asaad al-Badawi, d'origine libanaise; elle y resta quatre ans.
Rafqa revint à la maison en 1847, et
trouva que son père s'était remarié en son absence. Elle cacha sa grande peine.
Elle était belle, de bon caractère et d'une humble piété. Sa tante maternelle
voulait la marier à son fils et sa marâtre à son frère; un conflit entre les
deux femmes s'agrandit. C'est alors que Rafqa choisit la vie religieuse.
Rafqa meurt le 23 mars 1914, le
visage illuminé et le sourire aux lèvres, en disant « Je donne mon âme à
Saint Joseph et Sainte Vierge Marie ».
Trois jours après sa mort, son
tombeau s'illumina de lumières miraculeuses. De nombreuses personnes vinrent
prier, ou emportèrent un peu de terre, et de nombreuses guérisons et miracles
se produisirent (encore de nos jours).
La mort n'empêcha Sainte Rafqa de faire
du bien à ceux qui l'invoquaient. Il ne faut pas s'en étonner: Les Saints dans
le Ciel ont pour nous le même amour qu'ils avaient sur la terre, et leur
pouvoir y est plus grand.
Lors de la cérémonie de canonisation de Rafqa, le
pape Jean Paul II dit :
« En canonisant Rafqa Choboq
Ar-Rayes, l'Église met en lumière le mystère de l'amour donné et accueilli pour
la gloire de Dieu et le salut du monde. Moniale de l'Ordre libanais maronite,
elle a désiré passionnément aimer Dieu et donner sa vie pour ses frères. »
« Puisse sainte Rafqa veiller sur
ceux qui connaissent la souffrance, en particulier sur les peuples du
Moyen-Orient affrontés à la spirale destructrice et stérile de la
violence ! »
La biographie de la moniale Rafqa de
Himlaya n'est que l'histoire d'une souffrance vécue avec amour, avec générosité
et avec joie! Loin d'être une stoïcienne, elle a porté au monde un message, et
elle a donné au commun des mortels une leçon des plus belles!
On se tromperait si l'on considérait
le chrétien comme un adhérent du stoïcisme. Le chrétien est un disciple du
Christ qui, loin de chanter la majesté des souffrances humaines, est resté
sensible à toute souffrance, et qui nous a appris comment nous devons souffrir.
Le chrétien est celui qui regarde toute souffrance à travers Jésus-Christ, et
comme Jésus-Christ. Dans l'Ancien Testament, la souffrance était considérée
parfois, si ce n'est souvent, comme un signe de malédiction; tandis que dans le
Nouveau Testament, la souffrance devient béatitude et source de bonheur (Mt,5,
3-12), C'est là l'un des secrets de notre Religion chrétienne.
De plus, à entendre Saint Paul dire
qu'il surabonde de joie dans toutes ses tribulations (2 Cor, 7,4), d'aucuns
pourraient se demander si la foi du chrétien ne serait pas insensibilité et
indifférence! Mais lorsqu'on connaît bien les chrétiens, lorsqu'on vit avec
eux, on se rend compte que leur foi de croyants devient plutôt source de toute
sensibilité et de toute ouverture aux autres. Le Christ lui-même n'a-t-il pas
été sensible à toute douleur humaine? Ne s'est-Il pas fait homme pour alléger
nos souffrances et réduire nos peines? Combien de fois nous Le voyons, dans
l'Evangile, ému et compatissant: en consolant la femme qui venait de perdre son
fils unique (Lc, 7, 13), en guérissant les malades (Mt, 14, 14), en apprenant
la mort de son ami Lazare (ln, Il, 33 et 38), en ayant pitié de la foule qui Le
suivait sans pain et sans eau (Mc, 6, 34), etc... Etant «vrai homme», voire le
plus parfait des hommes, tout en étant bien sûr «vrai Dieu» -et c'est là que
réside tout le mystère de son Incarnation-Rédemptrice le Christ a pu donner,
par sa Passion, un sens aux souffrances humaines. Par sa Passion, Il a pu nous
enseigner cette vérité que ce sont les souffrances «du vendredi» qui préparent
la joie «du dimanche», à condition que nos souffrances deviennent intimement
liées à la Passion du Christ.
Qu'on le veuille ou non, la
souffrance était et reste toujours notre pain quotidien, quelque soit notre
âge, notre sexe, notre patrie, notre condition etc... Mais n'oublions pas qu'en
tant que baptisés, nous sommes membres du Corps du Christ; nous appartenons au
Christ; et, comme dit Saint Paul dans ses diverses Épîtres, «.la faveur de Dieu
qui nous a été donnée, n'est pas seulement de croire au Christ et d'être membre
de son Corps, mais aussi de souffrir pour Lui» (Ph, 1,29). Oui, la faveur de
Dieu, c'est de souffrir pour Lui et avec Lui. Toute l'éducation chrétienne
consiste donc à savoir souffrir avec le Christ, pour le Christ et aussi par le
Christ.
De plus, le Christ, en tant que vrai
homme, était solidaire de tous les hommes, dans le passé, Il l'est dans le
présent et le sera dans le futur. Nous-mêmes, en tant qu'hommes, nous sommes
aussi ontologiquement solidaires les uns des autres. Etant notre modèle et
l'exemple par excellence que nous devons imiter à tout instant de notre vie, le
Christ s'est fait solidaire de tous ceux qui souffrent en ce monde, et Il nous
a laissé cette loi que nous devons observer si nous voulons être vraiment ses
disciples. C'est pourquoi, nous devons souffrir, non seulement en Lui, avec
Lui, et pour Lui, mais aussi, à son exemple, avec et pour l'humanité entière
qui gémit et se lamente.
D'aucuns pourraient se demander:
pourquoi tout cela? La réponse est simple: lorsque nous souffrons avec les
autres et nous partageons leurs malheurs, nous serons alors capables de réduire
leur peine et d'alléger leurs douleurs. Le petit enfant qui subit une opération
souffre et pleure; mais quand il se rend compte que sa maman est là à ses
côtés, et qu'elle le tient avec ses bras d'amour, et que son cœur maternel
souffre autant que lui, et peut-être plus que lui, et qu'elle soupire en même
temps que lui, comme si leur souffrance s'était mise au même diapason ou se
diffusait sur une même longueur d'onde, alors sa souffrance est vraiment
réduite, et sa douleur est apaisée. Et la maman qui souffre pour son bien-aimé
est alors pleine de joie, et son visage garde sa sérénité, car elle souffre
pour et avec cet être qui lui est cher. Souffrir avec joie n'est donc point
insensibilité ou indifférence, c'est un acte d'amour.
Il est certain qu'il faut avoir un
cœur pur pour comprendre ces réalités. Le cœur humain, envahi par les passions
diverses, est incapable de saisir toujours ce qu'est l'oubli de soi, et ce
qu'est le don total de soi-même pour autrui; autrement dit, ce qu'est le vrai
amour! En effet, lorsque les passions s'emparent du cœur humain, elles le
rendent tellement opaque qu'il perd sa transparence et sa limpidité; d'où son
malheur, sa solitude et son enfer; toutefois, et par bonheur, il garde la
nostalgie du «paradis perdu»; c'est pourquoi, quoique opaque et dur, il demeure
récupérable; ne nous désespérons jamais!
Sœur Rafqa qui s'est consacrée
totalement à Dieu, et qui a tout quitté pour être entièrement au Christ son
bien-aimé, a compris ces vérités, et elle a agi en conséquence. Cette
religieuse de la montagne libanaise a cherché à vivre son amour pour le Christ
et pour 1 'humanité dans toute sa plénitude, et elle y est parvenue. Le
Seigneur, si l'on ose dire, n'a pas voulu être moins généreux qu'elle; Il lui
accorda une grâce toute spéciale: c'est de souffrir et de compléter en son
corps, d'ailleurs chétif, «les plaies de Jésus Christ» de sorte que, comme dit
Saint Paul, ce n'était plus elle qui vivait mais c'était le Christ qui vivait
en elle (Ga, 2, 20). Peut-on aspirer à quelque chose de plus?
Toutefois, dans la vie de notre
Servante de Dieu, nous nous sommes heurtés à deux paradoxes: d'une part,
comment se fait-il qu'en dépit de ses souffrances atroces et qui ont trop duré,
sœur Rafqa est restée toujours heureuse, et que son visage radieux rayonnait
constamment de joie? D'autre part, comment peut-on expliquer ce fait qu'elle est
restée solitaire et enfermée au monastère, voire clouée sur son lit, des
dizaines d'années, et pourtant, elle n'a jamais souffert de la solitude? et
elle n'a connu ni l'angoisse, ni la tristesse, ni la tribulation? Si paradoxal
que cela paraîsse, ce fut la réalité même des choses, et c'est là que réside
tout le secret de sa vie! C'est là aussi que nous saisissons, dans toute son
ampleur, le message que sœur Rafqa, la moniale libanaise maronite, a porté et
qu'elle porte à notre monde contemporain, ce monde qui cherche le bonheur et
qui ne le trouve pas, ce monde qui est plongé dans la solitude dont il cherche
de s'enfuir, sans y parvenir!
En effet, notre monde contemporain,
en dépit des découvertes auxquelles il est parvenu et dont il est, à juste
titre, fier; et en dépit du confort dans lequel il vit; ce monde est victime de
la solitude, une solitude effrayante qui l'écrase et le tue:
Solitude de l'individu qui cherche
d'en sortir en fréquentant réunions, meetings, cabarets, toute sortes de boîtes
de nuit, etc... sans d'ailleurs y parvenir; il est parmi les autres, quantité
d'autres, et pourtant sa solitude le tue.
Solitude «du couple» et «dans le
couple» qui s'avère plus dure et plus terrible que celle de l'individu. On est
sous un même toit; et pourtant on est isolé, et victime d'une association à
deux. Situation infernale: à deux et pourtant solitaire.
Solitude «dans le monastère» et «du
monastère» où le moine et la religieuse vivent en communauté, mais isolés,
chacun vit dans sa tour d'ivoire, renfermé sur lui-même, ne pensant qu'à
soi-même. Situation plus infernale encore, car de temps à autre, le consacré
prend conscience qu'il est porteur d'un message, et qu'il doit témoigner de
quelque chose, et pourtant, il mène une vie inféconde, privée de son sens.
Solitude qui le ronge et le tourmente, et il cherche de s'en évader; mais
malheureusement, toute évasion reste possible à l'exception de l'évasion de soi
-même.
Solitude «dans le presbytère» et «du
presbytère» où le pasteur d'âmes, bien que plongé dans les activités de la
paroisse et vivant parmi les autres, souffre d'un isolement qui ne crée que des
idées noires et un nervosisme gênant.
A toutes ces solitudes, et à tant
d'autres que nous rencontrons dans la société humaine, civile et religieuse, et
à tous les échelons, la moniale libanaise maronite, sœur Rafqa, dont «le
sourire ne quittait jamais les lèvres», est là pour nous en donner le remède,
voire même l'unique moyen pour en sortir. Ce moyen consiste à «savoir aimer»
Dieu et les autres, tous les autres, et à «savoir souffrir» pour le Christ et
pour les autres, avec? tout l'amour sincère que peut éprouver un cœur humain.
Seul l'amour est créateur et vivifiant, tandis que l'égoïsme écrase et tue.
L'ouverture aux autres est source de joie tandis que la recherche de ses
propres intérêts n'est qu'angoisse et tribulation. Penser aux autres, surtout à
ceux qui souffrent, et se dévouer pour eux, c'est connaître le vrai bonheur,
tandis que donner libre cours à ses diverses passions: «à la convoitise de la
chair, à la convoitise des yeux, et à l'orgueil de la richesse» (1 Jn, 2, 16),
n'est, en réalité, qu'amertume et ennui! Pourtant, nous cherchons incessamment
la joie et le bonheur!
Sœur Rafqa n'a rien écrit bien
qu'elle fut très instruite et très intelligente. Elle ne nous a laissé aucune
lettre, si petite soit-elle; cependant, elle a écrit tout un chapitre sur la
souffrance créatrice de joie. Qui de nous ne sent pas le besoin de lire en ce
chapitre, surtout qu'il est l'histoire d'une vie menée par une personne chair
de notre chair et os de nos os? Sœur Rafqa est morte il y a plus d'un
demi-siècle; mais son message reste vivant, et sa vertu reste salvatrice. La
beauté du message de cette moniale libanaise maronite consiste dans le fait
qu'il n'est pas théorique, mais qu'il est l'histoire de toute une vie. Il en
est de même de son témoignage; celui-ci n'est pas du simple «donné», mais il
est surtout du pur «vécu»; d'où sa force et sa valeur.
Vraiment, les «saints» ont toujours
quelque chose à nous dire; ah! si nous savions les écouter!
Sources
·
P.Elias
Hanna (O.L.M., Monastère saint Joseph, tombe de sainte Rafqa), Sainte Rafqa
(1832-1914), l'éducatrice des générations et la sainte patronne des souffrants,
Batroun, Liban 2001.
Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès
(1832 - 1914)
Rafqa in Himlaya
(1832-1859)
Rafqa was born in Himlaya, one of the villages of
Northern Metn (Lebanon), on June 29, 1832.
She was the only child of Mourad Saber el-Choboq el
Rayess and Rafqa Gemayel.
On July 7, 1832 she was baptized and named
Boutroussieh. Her parents taught her the love of God and the practice of daily
prayer. At age seven, she suffered her first great loss with the death of her
mother.
In 1843, her father experienced financial
difficulties and sent her into service for four years in the home of Assaad
Badawi. Rafqa grew into a beautiful, pleasant, humorous young woman, pure and
tender with a serene voice.
In 1841, she returned home to find that her father
had remarried. His new wife wanted Rafqa to marry her brother. Conflict
developed when her aunt sought to arrange a marriage between her son and Rafqa.
Rafqa in the Congregation
of the Mariamettes (1859-1971)
At this time, Rafqa felt drawn to the religious
life. She asked God to help her achieve her desire and set off for the convent
of Our Lady of Deliverance in Bikfaya, accompanied by two girls whom she met
along the road.
When she entered the convent church, she felt deep
joy and happiness. One look at the icon of Our Lady of Deliverance, and she
heard God's voice confirming her desire to enter religious life.
Following a year of postulancy, Rafqa received the
habit of her congregation on the feast of St. Joseph, March 19, 1861. A year
later, she pronounced her first vows.
The new nun, along with sister Mary Gemayel, was
assigned to work in the Jesuit-run seminary in Ghazir. Among the seminarians
were Elias Houwayek and Boutros el-Zoghbi, later to become Partriarch and
Archbishop, respectively.
Rafqa was in charge of kitchen service. In her free
time she studied Arabic, calligraphy and mathematics and also helped to educate
girls aspiring to join her congregation.
In 1860 Rafqa was sent to Deir el-Kamar to teach
catechism. There she witnessed the bloody clashes that occurred in Lebanon
during this period. On one occasion, she risked her own life by hiding a child
under her robe and saving him from death.
After a year in Deir el-Kamar, Rafqa returned to
Ghazir. In 1862, she was sent to teach in a school of her order in Byblos. One
year later, she was transferred to Maad village. There, with another nun, she
spent seven years establishing a new school for girls, made possible through
the generosity of Antoun Issa.
Rafqa in the Lebanese
Maronite Order (1871-1914)
1. In the Monastery of St. Simon el-Qarn in
Aito (1871-1897)
While living in Maad, and following a crisis in her
congregation, Rafqa sought divine guidance. Entering at St. George's Church,
she prayed for help. Once again, she heard the Lord's voice confirming her call
to religious life. Soon after, she dreamt that St. George, St. Simon and St.
Anthony the Great, the father of monasticism, were telling her to enter the
Lebanese Maronite Order.
Her thp from Maad to the Maronite Monastery of St.
Simon el-Qarn in Aito was facilitated by the generosity of Mr. Antoun ISSA. She
was immediately admitted to the Order, receiving the habit on July 12, 1871 and
pronouncing her vows on August 25, 1872. She received the name, sister Rafqa,
after her mother.
She was to spend the next 26 years in the monastery
of St. Simon. In her observation of the rule, her devotion to prayer and
silence, in her life of sacrifice and austerity, she was a role model to the other
nuns.
On the first Sunday of October 1885, she entered
the monastery church and began to pray, asking Jesus to permit her to
experience some of the suffering He endured during His passion. Her prayer was
immediately answered. Unbearable pains began in her head and moved to her eyes.
Her superior insisted that she undergo medical
treatment. After all local attempts to cure her had failed, she was sent to
Beirut for treatment. Passing by St. John-Mark's Church in Byblos, her
companions learned that an American doctor was traveling in the area.
Contacted, he agreed to perform surgery on the afflicted eye. St. Rafqa refused
anesthesia. In the course of the surgery, her eye became completely detached.
Within a short time, the disease struck the left eye.
For the next 12 years she continued to experience
intense pain in her head. Throughout this period, as before, she remained
patient and uncomplaining, praying in thanksgiving for the gift of sharing in
Jesus' suffering.
2. Rafqa in St. Joseph
Monastery al Dahr in Jrabta (1897-1914)
When the Lebanese Maronite Order decided to build
the monastery of St. Joseph al Dahr in Jrabta, Batroun, in 1897, six nuns, led
by Mother Ursula Doumit, were sent to the new monastery. Rafqa was among them.
In 1899, she lost the sight in her left eye. With
this a new stage of her suffering began, intensified by the dislocation of her
clavicle and her right hip and leg. Her vertebrae were visible through her
skin.
Her face was spared and remained shining to the
end. Her hands stayed intact; and she used them to knit socks and make
clothing. She thanked God for the use of her hands while also thanking Him for
permitting her a share in His Son's suffering.
Preparing for death, she called upon the Mother of
God and St. Joseph. Finally, on March 23, 1914, after a life of prayer and
service, and years of unbearable pain, she rested in peace. She was buried in
the monastery cemetery.
On July 10, 1927, her body was transferred to a
shrine in the corner of the monastery chapel. The case for her beatification
was introduced on December 23, 1925, and canonical investigation of her life
began on May 16, 1926.
Pope John Paul II declared her: Venerable on
February 11, 1982; Beatified on November 17, 1985; a role model in the
adoration of the Eucharist during the Jubilee Year 2000.
SOURCE : http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20010610_rafqa-choboq_en.html
Blessed Rafqa Shabaq
al-Rayes V (AC)
(also known as Rafka, Rebecca, Pierina, or Boutrosiya)
Born in Hemlaya, Lebanon, June 29, 1832; died October 23, 1914; beatified
November 17, 1985.
Too often we forget that
there are other rites within the Catholic Church beyond the Roman Rite. Blessed
Rafqa (Rebecca) is God's gift to the universal Church from the Maronites, which
hale from Lebanon. Raqfa, like the bride in the Song of Songs, listened to her
Beloved's call: "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!" [vv.
4:1-15].
Pierina (Petronilla), the
only child Mourad Saber Shabaq al-Rayes and his wife Rafqa Gemayel, was named
after Saint Peter on whose feast she was born in the land of the Canaanites and
Phoenicians. This blind seer, known as the "Little Flower of
Lebanon," the "Purple Rose," and the "Silent, Humble
Nun," related the story of her life to her mother superior months before
her death.
Life in Lebanon was not
easy even in the 19th century and was made more difficult for Pierina by the
death of her mother when she was six years old. She worked as a house maid in
Syria for four years (1843-1847) and a few years later (1853) entered the
Marian Order of the Immaculate Conception as a postulant at the convent of Our
Lady of Liberation in Bikfaya. Saint Maron's Day 1855 she was received as a
novice and took the name Anissa (Agnes). Five years later she witnessed the
massacre of Christians in Deir-el-Qamar. In 1871, her order was united with
that of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to form the Order of the Sacred Hearts of
Jesus and Mary. Each nun was given the choice of entering the new order,
another existing order, or being dispensed from her vows.
Throughout her life, Raqfa
was gifted with extraordinary revelations by voices, dreams, and visions. In
1871, Sister Anissa went to Saint George's Church in Batroun to pray about the
future of her vocation. That night she dreamed that Saint Antony the Hermit
told her to become a nun in the Baladiya Order of the Maronites. At the age of
39 (July 12, 1871), she responded to the dream by entering the ascetic Baladiya
Order at the cloistered convent of Saint Simon in El-Qarn, where she was known
as Boutrosiya from Hemlaya. She made her perpetual vows and received the veil
from Father Superior Ephrem Geagea al-Bsherrawi on August 25, 1873, and took
the name Rafqa (Rebecca).
As a member of an ascetic
order, in 1885, Rafqa asked our Lord to let her share in His suffering. From
that night on her health began to deteriorate. Shortly she was blind and
crippled and still she imposed greater penances upon herself, such as eating
only the leftover scraps of food. She continued to share in the prayers of the
community and its work by spinning wool and knitting of stockings. By 1907,
Sister Rafqa was totally paralyzed and in constant pain, but by uniting her
suffering with Christ's she was able to bear all with joy, without complaint.
Four
days after her death, her superior, Sister Doumit experienced the first of many
miracles wrought at the intercession of Blessed Rafqa (Hourani, Zayek).
Life of Saint Rafca, The Blind mystic of Lebanon
|
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.
|
Blessed
Rafka, A Lebanese Maronite Nun, Canonized on June 10, 2001
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…”
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,” 1Blessed 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 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
Grebata 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 March
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 elevated her to the rank of Saints at a solemn ceremony in
the Vatican.
|
Eparchy of Saint Maron
109 Remsen Street Brooklyn NY 11201 |
SOURCE : http://www.stmaron.org/strafka.html
Saint Rafqa
Also known as
- Agnes
- Anissa
- Boutrosiya
- Boutrossieh
- Boutrossieh Ar-Rayes
- Lily of Himlaya
- Little Flower of Lebanon
- Petra
- Petronilla
- Pierette
- Purple Rose
- Rafka
- Rafka Al Rayes
- Rafqa Shabaq al-Rayes
- Rebecca
- Rebecca Pierrette Ar-Rayes
Profile
Daughter and only child
of Mourad Saber Shabaq al-Rayes and Rafqa Gemayel. Her mother
died
when Rafka was six. She and her step-mother never got along. The girl
worked as a maid
from age 11 to 15, announcing at age 14 that she felt a call to religious
life. Her father
objected, but at 21 she became a nun
in the Marian Order of
the Immaculate Conception at Bikfaya, taking the religious name Anissa (= Agnes), and making her final vows in 1856.
In 1871,
her Order merged with the order of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The sisters
were given the choice of joining the new combined order, joining other orders,
or being released from their vows. Following dreams in which Saint Anthony
the Great appeared to her, she joined the Lebanese Order of Saint Anthony of the Maronites (Baladiya Order) on 12 July 1871,
a novice
at age 39, taking the new religious name of Rafqa (= Rebecca).
On the feast of the
Holy Rosary
in 1885,
Rafqa prayed
that she might share Christ’s sufferings. Her health began to deteriorate,
and she was soon blind
and crippled.
She spent as much of her remaining 30 years in prayer as
she could, but always insisted on working in the convent as
well as she could with her disabilities, usually spinning
wool and knitting. By 1907
she was completely blind
and paralyzed.
In a 1981
medical report based upon the evidence presented in the Canonization
process, specialists in ophthalmology, neurology and orthopedics diagnosed the
most likely cause as tuberculosis
with ocular localization and multiple bony excrescences. This causes unbearable
pain, but Rafqa was thankful for her special form of communion.
Late in life her close
friend and supporter, Mother
Superior Ursula Doumit, ordered her to dictate her autobiography, and Rafka
complied. Near the time of her death,
Rafqa asked that her sight
be restored for a single hour so she could again see the face of Mother
Ursula; the hour of sight was granted.
Beginning four days after
her death,
miraculous
cures
were recorded at Rafka’s grave,
the first being Mother
Doumit whose throat was slowly closing so there was fear she would starve
to death.
Elizabeth En-Nakhel from Tourza, northern Lebanon,
was cured
from uterine cancer,
through Rafqa, in 1938,
the miracle
which permitted her beatification.
Born
St. Rafqa
Saint Rafqa was born in Hemlaya, Lebanon on June 29, 1832. She was the
only child of her parents, Saber El-Choboq El-Rayess and Rafqa Gemayel. She was
baptized on July 7, 1832 and named Boutroussieh.
Her parents were devout Christians and taught her daily prayers. By all
accounts, her childhood was happy and simple, until she was just 7 years old
and her mother, Rafqa (for whom she was named) died.
The death of her mother started a period of tribulation for Rafqa and
her father, who soon experienced financial difficulties. Rafqa was sent to work
as a domestic servant for four years to help support the family. During that
period, she worked in Damascus, away from her father.
In 1847, she returned to find that her father had remarried and his new
wife desired that Rafqa marry her brother. At the same time, an aunt wanted to
arrange a marriage between Rafqa and her cousin.
Rafqa was left to decide what to do with herself, split between two
potential suitors and under pressure from family to make two different choices.
She turned to prayer and asked God to guide her. Her answer surprised everyone.
Rafqa would marry neither man, but instead would devote her life to Jesus and
become a nun.
Rafqa traveled to the convent of Our Lady of Deliverance in Bikfaya. She
joined the Mariamettes, founded by Fr. Jospeh Gemayel.
According to legend, when she entered the convent and gazed upon the
icon of Our Lady of Deliverance, she heard the voice of God tell her "You
will become a nun.
The Mother Superior of the convent accepted her immediately, without
question. Shortly thereafter, her father and his new wife arrived to try to
dissuade Rafqa from her God-chosen path. She refused to leave and remained
devoted to her vocation.
She was sent to Deir El Qamar to teach catechism. The town became the
site of civil unrest and on one occasions he reportedly saved a child from
murder by hiding him under her robes.
She served in Deir El Qamar for a year.
In 1861, she returned to her congregation and become a novice. On March
19, 1862, she took her temporary vows and was assigned to kitchen service in a
seminary.
Rafqa spent her free time learning Arabic, writing, and arithmetic. She
also helped convince other girls to join the congregation. In 1863, she
continued working as a teacher, first at a school belonging to her congregation
in Byblos, then Maad village where she and a fellow sister established a new
school for girls.
Following this early period, Rafqa repeatedly heard messages from heaven.
When her order faced a crisis, god told her "You will remain a nun."
And she heard the voices of saints directing her to enter the Lebanese Maronite
Order. She obeyed.
Sister Rafqa took her solemn vows in the new order on Augist 25, 1872.
During her time, she was known to be quiet and contemplative. She was
devoted to prayer and spoke little. She commonly made sacrifices and lived in
great austerity.
In October 1885, Sister Rafqa made an unusual request of Jesus, asking
to share in his suffering. She immediately began to experience pain in her
head, which moved to her eyes. Her superior was concerned about Rafqa's pain
and ordered that she be examined by doctors and sent to Beirut for treatment.
As she passed through the nearby church in Byblos, the congregation made
note that an American doctor was in the area. The located the doctor who
recommended immediate surgery for Sister Rafqa.
During the surgery, she refused anesthesia, and the doctor made a
mistake which caused her eye to emerge from its socket and fall to the floor.
Sister Rafqa, instead of panicking, blessed the doctor, saying "For
Christ's passion, god bless your hands and may God repay you.
The surgery did not succeed. Shortly thereafter, pain entered her left
eye.
For the next 12 years, she experienced pain in her remaining eye and
headaches. At no point did she reverse her wish to share in Christ's suffering.
Instead, she remained joyful in prayer and patient in her suffering. She
remained quiet for long periods, speaking infrequently, but always joyously.
In 1887, Sister Rafqa was sent with five other sisters to found a new
monastery in Jrabta, Batroun in Lebanon. She did as she was asked, working
patiently and diligently as she was able despite her suffering. In 1899, she
became blind and paralysis set in.
Eventually she was confined to bed, mostly paralyzed and only able to
lie on her right side. Her body withered, but her hands remained capable, and
she used them to knit socks. A wound developed in left shoulder, which she
referred to as «the wound in the shoulder of Jesus.» This
continued for seven years.
On March 23, 1914, she received her last communion and called upon Jesus
and the Holy Family, then went to her reward in Heaven.
After she was buried in the monastery cemetery, a light appeared on her
grave for three consecutive light and was witnessed by many.
In 1925, a case for her beatification was opened in the Vatican and the
investigation into her life began in the year following.
In 1927, her grave was exhumed and she was reburied in the monastery
church.
Pope John Paul declared her venerable on Feb. 11, 1982, and she was
beatified on Nov. 17, 1985. She was finally recognized as a saint on July 10,
2001.
Saint Rafqa
Sister Rafqa (Rebecca) EI-Choboq EI Rayes, a Maronite Catholic Lebanese
nun, was beatified as Blessed Rafqa in 1985 and canonised as Saint Rafqa on 10
June 2001, in both instances by His Holiness Pope John Paul II.
In 1885, at the age of 53, Sr Rafqa’s wish and repeated prayers had finally
been answered the desire to participate in the sufferings of Christ. She began
to suffer numerous and extreme violent pains for the remaining 29 years of her
life. She is a striking example for us of how suffering can be lived with joy
but only through total submission to God. She is “The Little Flower of Lebanon”
for hope and intercession to God for divine assistance. The miracles which are
now recorded and verified by the Vatican are a testament to her help.
Saint Rafqa was born on 29 June 1832 in Himlaya, a Maronite village in the
Lebanese mountains near Bikfaya. Her baptismal name was Boutrosiya (pronounced
in Arabic as the feminine of Peter) having been born on the feast day of St
Peter. She was an only child of her father Mrad EI Rayes and her mother Rafqa
Gemayel. Her mother died when she was 7 years old and her father later
re-married. Civil war in the 1840’s in Lebanon caused economic hardship. To
help her father, Boutrosiya became a maid for three years in the home of Assad
and Helena EI-Badaui, both in Baabda, Lebanon, and Damascus, Syria. According
to the EI Badaui family she was a “model of purity”. She was devoted to the
Most Holy Virgin and prayed morning and night having learnt the devotion from
the sweet heart of her maternal mother. On her 21st birthday she entered the
convent of the Mariamite Sisters in Bikfaya. Shortly thereafter her father and
stepmother attempted to take her back home but she refused. Her father never
saw her again. After one year of postulancy, Boutrosiya became a novice on St
Maroun’s feast day, 9 February 1855. She pronounced her religious vows in 1856
in Ghazir. For 7 years she performed kitchen work during the day and studied
Arabic, calligraphy and mathematics at night. For the next 11 years she taught
schoolgirls in Deir-EI-Qamar, Jbeil (Byblos) and Ma’ad. During the time of the
massacres of the Christians in the Chouf Mountains she saved a young boy by
hiding him in her gown (habit) and later herself hid with other Sisters in a
stable. Sr Boutrosiya was deeply affected by the massacres. In 1871 at the age
of 39 she went to the monastery of St Simon in the village of Aitu near Ehden
to become a cloistered nun rather than a teaching nun. It was at that time she
adopted her name in religion as the name of her mother Rafqa. At the age of 41
after 2 years’ novitiate, Sr Rafqa made her solemn vows in 1873 dedicating her
remaining years on earth to a life of asceticism and contemplation. On the
first Sunday of October in 1885 at the age of 53, on the feast of the Holy
Rosary, Sr Rafqa made the following prayer to God: “0 my God, why are you
distant from me and have abandoned me? You don’t visit me with sickness. Have
you perhaps abandoned me?” She desired to share in the sufferings of Christ and
His crucifixion. That same night she felt a violent pain to her head which
spread to her eyes. No doctor could alleviate her sufferings. One American
doctor removed her eye without anaesthetic. She calmly said to the doctor: “I
am in communion with the Passion of Christ. May God preserve your hands, Doctor.
May God repay you.” Enduring immense suffering, she became totally blind
shortly thereafter.
In 1897, at the age of 65, Sr Rafqa and five other nuns transferred to a
new convent of Mar Youssef of Jrapta (St Joseph) in the Batrun region. Her
requests for suffering continued.
Gradually she lost weight and paralysis spread to her whole body with
complete dysfunction to all joints. The whole time she never complained and
thanked God for the pains and His holy will. In a 1981 medical report based on
the evidence presented in the Canonical Process, three specialists diagnosed
the most likely cause as tuberculosis with ocular localisation and multiple
bony excrescences. This disease causes the most unbearable pain. Many of the
details outlined above come from the fact that Sr Rafqa under obedience to her
superior Sr Doumit told her life story which she previously refused because she
was so humble. After asking for absolution and the plenary indulgence, Sr Rafqa
died on 23 March 1914 at the age of 82. She suffered intolerable pain for 29
years. On one occasion Mother Superior asked Sr Rafqa whether she wished she
could see. Rafqa stated that she would like to have vision just for an hour to
see Mother Superior. At that moment Rafqa saw, and because of her Superior’s
doubt Rafqa miraculously described in detail the items and colours in the room.
On another occasion, on the feast of Corpus Christi, Sr Rafqa, blind and
paralysed, left the bed and dragged herself alone to the chapel to join the
other nuns for the adoration, much to their disbelief. The same phenomenon
happened over Rafqa’s tomb as happened over that of St Charbel immediately
following his burial in 1898. A number of persons from neighbouring villages
witnessed a splendid bright light coming from the tomb. Also, four days after
Rafqa’s death, Mother Superior, Sr Doumit, was instantly cured of a large cyst
in her throat which for 8 years had even made it difficult for her to drink any
fluid. Whilst asleep Mother Superior heard a knock on the door and a voice say,
“Take dirt from the grave of Rafqa and put it on your throat.” The next morning
Sr Doumit proceeded to the grave of Rafqa and took a handful of dirt, mixed it
with water and placed it on the cyst. She then felt her throat and instantly
found no trace of the cyst. Since then numerous persons who have eaten the dirt
from around her grave have been miraculously cured. Between 1926 and 1952, the
number of miracles and graces obtained through the intercession of Rafqa
numbered 2,689, and are recorded in detail with medical evidence in six volumes
kept at the convent in Jrapta. Sr Rafqa’s beatification took place in 1985, and
her canonisation in Rome by the Holy Father John Paul II in 2001. The feast day
of St Rafqa is celebrated on 23 March. On this day especially every year the
Maronite Catholic Church honours her and seeks her intercession in our lives.
Sources
Maronite, The Maronite Heritage.
SOURCE : http://www.maronitehistory.org/Saint_Rafqa
Rafqa nacque a Himlaya, villaggio del Metn settentrionale, il29 giugno 1832. Era figlia unica di Mourad Saber al-Choboq al-Rayès e di Rafqa Gemayel; fu battezzata il 7 luglio 1832 e ricevette il nome di Boutroussyeh (Pierina). I suoi genitori le insegnarono ad amare Dio e a pregare quotidianamente.
Nel 1839, quando aveva sette anni, perse sua madre, alla quale era molto attaccata.
Suo padre cadde, allora, in povertà e, nel 1843, la mandò a Damasco, a servizio nella casa di Asaad al-Badawi, che era di origine libanese, dove restò quattro anni.
Rafqa tornò alla casa paterna nel 1847 e scoprì che suo padre si era risposato in sua assenza con una donna chiamata Kafa. Ella aveva, allora, quindici anni; era bella, socievole e di buon carattere, dotata di una voce melodiosa e di una religiosità profonda e umile. La sua zia materna voleva farla sposare a suo figlio, e la sua matrigna invece al proprio fratello, e ciò fece nascere un dissidio fra loro. Rafqa fu addolorata di questo e decise di farsi religiosa.
Rafqa nella Congregazione delle Mariamât (Figlie di Maria) (1853-1871)
Rafqa chiese a Dio di aiutarla a realizzare il suo desiderio. Le si presentò, allora, alla mente l'idea di recarsi al convento di Nostra Signora della Liberazione a Bikfaya, per divenire religiosa, insieme ad altre due ragazze che aveva incontrato lungo la strada.
Al momento di entrare in chiesa, ella sentì una gioia interiore indescrivibile. Un solo sguardo gettato sull'immagine di Nostra Signora della Liberazione fu sufficiente per confermare in lei la chiamata a consacrarsi a Dio: "Tu diventerai religiosa" le diceva una voce nel profondo del suo cuore. La Madre Superiora accettò lei sola, senza le sue due compagne, senza farle le domande d'uso. Rafqa non ritornerà più a casa sua. Suo padre e la moglie si recarono al convento, per cercare di distoglierla dalla sua decisione, ma inutilmente. Ella fece un anno di postulantato e il 9 febbraio 1855, festa di San Marone, prese l'abito di novizia.
Il 10 febbraio dell'anno seguente (1856), emise i voti religiosi, sempre nel convento di Nostra Signora della Liberazione a Bikfaya.
Il primo agosto 1858, la giovane religiosa fu inviata al Seminario di Ghazir, in compagnia di suor Maria Gemayel. I Padri Gesuiti dirigevano, all'epoca, quel seminario. I superiori si proponevano, allora, di dare un'educazione adeguata alle ragazze che desideravano entrare fra le Mariamât. Oltre a questo incarico, fu affidato a Rafqa il servizio della cucina del seminario. Fra i seminaristi c'erano, a quel tempo, il futuro Patriarca Elia Huwayek, l'Arcivescovo Boutros al-Zoghbi e molti altri.
Durante il soggiorno a Ghazir, profittò dei momenti liberi per approfondire le proprie conoscenze della lingua araba, dell'ortografia e dell'aritmetica.
In seguito i superiori la inviarono in numerose scuole della montagna libanese, come Beit-Chabab, Choueir, Hammana,e altre.
Nel 1860, Rafqa fu trasferita a Deir al-Qamar, per insegnare il Catechismo ai giovani. Ebbero luogo in quel periodo i drammatici avvenimenti che insanguinarono il Libano in quell'anno. Rafqa vide con i propri occhi il martirio di un gran numero di persone. Ebbe anche il coraggio di nascondere un bambino sotto il proprio mantello, salvandolo dalla morte. Rafqa trascorse a Deir al-Qamar circa un anno: poi tornò a Ghazir, passando per Beyrouth.
Nel 1862, per ordine dei suoi superiori, Rafqa fu trasferita alla scuola della sua Congregazione a Jbeil, dove trascorse un anno a istruire le ragazze ed a formarle nei principi della fede cristiana.
All'inizio del 1864, fu trasferita da Jbeil a Maad, su richiesta del grande benefattore Antoun Issa. Vi rimase sette anni, durante i quali fondò una scuola per istruire le ragazze; fu aiutata, in questo, da un'altra religiosa.
Rafqa nella Congregazione delle Monache Libanesi Maronite (1871-1914)
1. Al Monastero di Mar Semaan al-Qarn, Aïtou
Durante il suo soggiorno a Maad, nel corso di una crisi che aveva scosso la Congregazione delle Mariamât, intorno al 1871, Rafqa domandò a Dio di aiutarla a prendere una decisione secondo la sua volontà. In quei momenti sentì una voce che le diceva: "Tu sarai monaca".
Dopo aver pregato fervidamente, vide in sogno San Giorgio, San Simeone lo Stilita, e Sant'Antonio il Grande, Padre dei monaci, che le disse: "Entra nell'Ordine delle Monache Libanesi Maronite". Antoun Issa la aiutò a trasferirsi da Maad al monastero di San Simeone al-Qarn a Aïtou, dove fu subito ricevuta, e vestì l'abito di novizia il 12 luglio 1871. Quindi, il 25 agosto 1872, fece la professione religiosa solenne, e prese il nome di suor Rafqa, in ricordo di sua madre, che si era chiamata Rafqa.
Trascorrerà 26 anni nel monastero di Mar Semaan al-Qarn, Aïtou (1871-1897), essendo un esempio vivente, per le religiose sue consorelle, nell'obbedienza alle Regole, l'assiduità nelle preghiere, l'ascesi, l'abnegazione, ed il lavoro compiuto in silenzio.
La prima domenica d'ottobre del 1885, nella chiesa del monastero, mentre era in preghiera, domandò al Signore di farla partecipare alla sua Passione redentrice. La sua preghiera fu esaudita la sera stessa: essa cominciò a provare fortissimi dolori alla testa e ben presto furono colpiti anche gli occhi. Tutte le cure furono senza effetto e si decise di mandarla a Beyrouth per tentare altre cure. Durante il viaggio si fermò a Jbeil, dove fu affidata a un medico americano che, dopo averla visitata, decise di operarla, ma durante l'operazione le estrasse per errore l'occhio destro. Il male colpì ben presto anche l'occhio sinistro; allora, i medici giudicarono che qualunque cura sarebbe stata inutile e Rafqa tornò nel suo monastero, dove il dolore agli occhi la accompagnò per 12 anni. Sopportò il suo dolore con pazienza, in silenzio, nella preghiera e nella gioia, ripetendo continuamente: "In unione con la Passione di Cristo".
2. Nel monastero di San Giuseppe al-Daher, Jrabta (1897-1914)
Le autorità religiose dell'Ordine Libanese Maronita avevano preso la decisione di fondare il monastero di San Giuseppe al-Daher, a Jrabta (Batroun), e, nel 1897, furono distaccate sei religiose dal monastero di Mar Semaan a Aïtou, per formare la prima comunità residente in questo nuovo monastero, sotto l'autorità della Madre Ursula Doumith di Maad. Rafqa faceva parte di questo gruppo. Nel 1899 divenne completamente cieca, inaugurando una nuova tappa del suo calvario.
Rafqa visse l'ultima tappa della sua vita cieca e paralitica: gli occhi completamente spenti, dolori acuti nei fianchi, e una debolezza generale in tutto il corpo, ad eccezione del suo volto, che restò luminoso e sereno fino all'ultimo respiro. Il femore destro si era dislocato e spostato; lo stesso anche il femore dell'altra gamba; la clavicola si era dislocata e conficcata nel collo; le vertebre potevano essere contate ad una ad una. Non rimaneva nessuna parte del corpo sana, tranne le articolazioni delle mani, delle quali si serviva per lavorare a maglia, ringraziando il Signore per averle risparmiato la sofferenza di dover restare senza poter far nulla.
Rafqa si addormentò nel Signore in odore di santità il 23 marzo 1914, dopo una vita passata nella preghiera, nel servizio e nel portare la Croce, affidandosi all'intercessione di Maria, Madre di Dio, e di San Giuseppe. Fu sepolta nel cimitero del monastero.
Il 10 luglio 1927 la sua spoglia mortale venne trasferita in una tomba nuova, in un angolo della chiesa del monastero, e questoin seguito all'introduzione della sua causa di beatificazione, il 23 dicembre 1925, ed all'inizio dell'inchiesta sulla fama di santità,il 16 maggio 1926.
Sua Santità il Papa Giovanni Paolo II l'ha dichiarata Venerabile l'11 febbraio 1982; fu beatificata il 17 novembre 1985 e canonizzata il 10 giugno 2001.
Santa Rebecca ar-Rayyas da Himláya (Rafqa Pietra Choboq) Vergine
Himlaya, Libano, 29 giugno
1832 - Grabta, Libano, 23 marzo 1914
Nasce a
Himlaya, villaggio del Metn settentrionale, nel 1832. Il suo nome di battesimo
in arabo è Boutroussyeh, che corrisponde all'italiano Pierina. Nel 1853 si
presenta alla congregazione delle suore Mariamât (Figlie di Maria) nel loro
convento di Nostra Signora della Liberazione a Bifkaya. Accolta come
postulante, compie il noviziato, pronuncia i voti nel 1856, studia da maestra e
poi incomincia la sua missione di catechista e insegnante nei villaggi di
montagna. Ma nel 1871 entra nel monastero di San Simeone, ad Aitou, e fa la
professione solenne dei voti nel 1872 prendendo il nome di Rafka, Rebecca. Una
nuova famiglia religiosa e soprattutto un nuovo servizio, che non consiste più
nell'insegnare, ma nel soffrire. Dolori tremendi alla testa e agli occhi,
dovuti anche a un'operazione sbagliata, e accettati con la certezza di
partecipazione in questo modo alla passione del Signore. Muore nel 1914. (Avvenire)
Etimologia:
Rebecca = avvince (gli uomini) con la bellezza, dall'ebraico
Martirologio
Romano: Presso ad-Dahr in Libano, santa Rebecca ar-Rayyās da Himláya, vergine
della Congregazione delle Suore Libanesi Maronite, che, cieca per trent’anni e
affetta da altre infermità in tutto il corpo, perseverò nell’orazione continua
confidando solo in Dio.
Rafqa a
Himlaya (1832-1853)
Rafqa nacque a Himlaya, villaggio del Metn settentrionale, il29 giugno 1832. Era figlia unica di Mourad Saber al-Choboq al-Rayès e di Rafqa Gemayel; fu battezzata il 7 luglio 1832 e ricevette il nome di Boutroussyeh (Pierina). I suoi genitori le insegnarono ad amare Dio e a pregare quotidianamente.
Nel 1839, quando aveva sette anni, perse sua madre, alla quale era molto attaccata.
Suo padre cadde, allora, in povertà e, nel 1843, la mandò a Damasco, a servizio nella casa di Asaad al-Badawi, che era di origine libanese, dove restò quattro anni.
Rafqa tornò alla casa paterna nel 1847 e scoprì che suo padre si era risposato in sua assenza con una donna chiamata Kafa. Ella aveva, allora, quindici anni; era bella, socievole e di buon carattere, dotata di una voce melodiosa e di una religiosità profonda e umile. La sua zia materna voleva farla sposare a suo figlio, e la sua matrigna invece al proprio fratello, e ciò fece nascere un dissidio fra loro. Rafqa fu addolorata di questo e decise di farsi religiosa.
Rafqa nella Congregazione delle Mariamât (Figlie di Maria) (1853-1871)
Rafqa chiese a Dio di aiutarla a realizzare il suo desiderio. Le si presentò, allora, alla mente l'idea di recarsi al convento di Nostra Signora della Liberazione a Bikfaya, per divenire religiosa, insieme ad altre due ragazze che aveva incontrato lungo la strada.
Al momento di entrare in chiesa, ella sentì una gioia interiore indescrivibile. Un solo sguardo gettato sull'immagine di Nostra Signora della Liberazione fu sufficiente per confermare in lei la chiamata a consacrarsi a Dio: "Tu diventerai religiosa" le diceva una voce nel profondo del suo cuore. La Madre Superiora accettò lei sola, senza le sue due compagne, senza farle le domande d'uso. Rafqa non ritornerà più a casa sua. Suo padre e la moglie si recarono al convento, per cercare di distoglierla dalla sua decisione, ma inutilmente. Ella fece un anno di postulantato e il 9 febbraio 1855, festa di San Marone, prese l'abito di novizia.
Il 10 febbraio dell'anno seguente (1856), emise i voti religiosi, sempre nel convento di Nostra Signora della Liberazione a Bikfaya.
Il primo agosto 1858, la giovane religiosa fu inviata al Seminario di Ghazir, in compagnia di suor Maria Gemayel. I Padri Gesuiti dirigevano, all'epoca, quel seminario. I superiori si proponevano, allora, di dare un'educazione adeguata alle ragazze che desideravano entrare fra le Mariamât. Oltre a questo incarico, fu affidato a Rafqa il servizio della cucina del seminario. Fra i seminaristi c'erano, a quel tempo, il futuro Patriarca Elia Huwayek, l'Arcivescovo Boutros al-Zoghbi e molti altri.
Durante il soggiorno a Ghazir, profittò dei momenti liberi per approfondire le proprie conoscenze della lingua araba, dell'ortografia e dell'aritmetica.
In seguito i superiori la inviarono in numerose scuole della montagna libanese, come Beit-Chabab, Choueir, Hammana,e altre.
Nel 1860, Rafqa fu trasferita a Deir al-Qamar, per insegnare il Catechismo ai giovani. Ebbero luogo in quel periodo i drammatici avvenimenti che insanguinarono il Libano in quell'anno. Rafqa vide con i propri occhi il martirio di un gran numero di persone. Ebbe anche il coraggio di nascondere un bambino sotto il proprio mantello, salvandolo dalla morte. Rafqa trascorse a Deir al-Qamar circa un anno: poi tornò a Ghazir, passando per Beyrouth.
Nel 1862, per ordine dei suoi superiori, Rafqa fu trasferita alla scuola della sua Congregazione a Jbeil, dove trascorse un anno a istruire le ragazze ed a formarle nei principi della fede cristiana.
All'inizio del 1864, fu trasferita da Jbeil a Maad, su richiesta del grande benefattore Antoun Issa. Vi rimase sette anni, durante i quali fondò una scuola per istruire le ragazze; fu aiutata, in questo, da un'altra religiosa.
Rafqa nella Congregazione delle Monache Libanesi Maronite (1871-1914)
1. Al Monastero di Mar Semaan al-Qarn, Aïtou
Durante il suo soggiorno a Maad, nel corso di una crisi che aveva scosso la Congregazione delle Mariamât, intorno al 1871, Rafqa domandò a Dio di aiutarla a prendere una decisione secondo la sua volontà. In quei momenti sentì una voce che le diceva: "Tu sarai monaca".
Dopo aver pregato fervidamente, vide in sogno San Giorgio, San Simeone lo Stilita, e Sant'Antonio il Grande, Padre dei monaci, che le disse: "Entra nell'Ordine delle Monache Libanesi Maronite". Antoun Issa la aiutò a trasferirsi da Maad al monastero di San Simeone al-Qarn a Aïtou, dove fu subito ricevuta, e vestì l'abito di novizia il 12 luglio 1871. Quindi, il 25 agosto 1872, fece la professione religiosa solenne, e prese il nome di suor Rafqa, in ricordo di sua madre, che si era chiamata Rafqa.
Trascorrerà 26 anni nel monastero di Mar Semaan al-Qarn, Aïtou (1871-1897), essendo un esempio vivente, per le religiose sue consorelle, nell'obbedienza alle Regole, l'assiduità nelle preghiere, l'ascesi, l'abnegazione, ed il lavoro compiuto in silenzio.
La prima domenica d'ottobre del 1885, nella chiesa del monastero, mentre era in preghiera, domandò al Signore di farla partecipare alla sua Passione redentrice. La sua preghiera fu esaudita la sera stessa: essa cominciò a provare fortissimi dolori alla testa e ben presto furono colpiti anche gli occhi. Tutte le cure furono senza effetto e si decise di mandarla a Beyrouth per tentare altre cure. Durante il viaggio si fermò a Jbeil, dove fu affidata a un medico americano che, dopo averla visitata, decise di operarla, ma durante l'operazione le estrasse per errore l'occhio destro. Il male colpì ben presto anche l'occhio sinistro; allora, i medici giudicarono che qualunque cura sarebbe stata inutile e Rafqa tornò nel suo monastero, dove il dolore agli occhi la accompagnò per 12 anni. Sopportò il suo dolore con pazienza, in silenzio, nella preghiera e nella gioia, ripetendo continuamente: "In unione con la Passione di Cristo".
2. Nel monastero di San Giuseppe al-Daher, Jrabta (1897-1914)
Le autorità religiose dell'Ordine Libanese Maronita avevano preso la decisione di fondare il monastero di San Giuseppe al-Daher, a Jrabta (Batroun), e, nel 1897, furono distaccate sei religiose dal monastero di Mar Semaan a Aïtou, per formare la prima comunità residente in questo nuovo monastero, sotto l'autorità della Madre Ursula Doumith di Maad. Rafqa faceva parte di questo gruppo. Nel 1899 divenne completamente cieca, inaugurando una nuova tappa del suo calvario.
Rafqa visse l'ultima tappa della sua vita cieca e paralitica: gli occhi completamente spenti, dolori acuti nei fianchi, e una debolezza generale in tutto il corpo, ad eccezione del suo volto, che restò luminoso e sereno fino all'ultimo respiro. Il femore destro si era dislocato e spostato; lo stesso anche il femore dell'altra gamba; la clavicola si era dislocata e conficcata nel collo; le vertebre potevano essere contate ad una ad una. Non rimaneva nessuna parte del corpo sana, tranne le articolazioni delle mani, delle quali si serviva per lavorare a maglia, ringraziando il Signore per averle risparmiato la sofferenza di dover restare senza poter far nulla.
Rafqa si addormentò nel Signore in odore di santità il 23 marzo 1914, dopo una vita passata nella preghiera, nel servizio e nel portare la Croce, affidandosi all'intercessione di Maria, Madre di Dio, e di San Giuseppe. Fu sepolta nel cimitero del monastero.
Il 10 luglio 1927 la sua spoglia mortale venne trasferita in una tomba nuova, in un angolo della chiesa del monastero, e questoin seguito all'introduzione della sua causa di beatificazione, il 23 dicembre 1925, ed all'inizio dell'inchiesta sulla fama di santità,il 16 maggio 1926.
Sua Santità il Papa Giovanni Paolo II l'ha dichiarata Venerabile l'11 febbraio 1982; fu beatificata il 17 novembre 1985 e canonizzata il 10 giugno 2001.
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Voir aussi : http://www.rafca.org/
