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LIFE OF LEBANESE SAINTS
Saint Sharbel was born in 1828. He
entered St. Maron Monastery in Lebanon in 1853 and lived there as a
monk and priest for 16 years. Then, hearing the call of God to a
life of greater solitude and prayer, he was given permission to
become a hermit. For the next 23 years he gave himself in total
dedication to God and the Church in his hermitage by a life rooted
in the Scriptures, love for the Eucharist and the Mother of God.
After living a holy life hidden in Christ, he died on December 24,
1898. On the evening of his funeral, his superior wrote: “Because of
what he will do after his death, I need not talk about his
behavior.” A few months later, a bright light was seen surrounding
his tomb. The superiors ordered the tomb to be opened, and they
found his body perfectly preserved. Scientific experts and doctors
are unable to explain this. Since his death, thousands of re-corded
miracles have been attributed to his intercession—so many, in fact,
that he is known as the “Wonderworker of the East.”
In 1965, at the close of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI
declared: “ ... a hermit of the Lebanese mountain is inscribed in
the number of the blessed ... a new eminent member of monastic
sanctity is enriching, by his example and his intercession, the
entire Christian people... May he make us understand, in a world
largely fascinated by wealth and comfort, the paramount value of
poverty, penance and asceticism, to liberate the soul in its ascent
to God.” On October 9, 1977, Pope Paul canonized St. Sharbel at the
World Synod of Bishops. May he intercede with God for us.
Saint Rafka was born in the small
village of Himlaya on the mountain slopes of Lebanon in 1832. At the
age of 21, she entered an order of sisters which later dissolved in
1871. In that same year, she entered the Lebanese Maronite Order.
For the next 26 years she lived and worked at the Convent of St.
Simon.
On the feast of the Holy Rosary 1885, Rafka prayed to our Lord that
He might allow her to share in the suffering of his crucifixion.
From that night on, her health began to deteriorate and soon she
became blind and crippled, yet she rejoiced in being made worthy to
participate in the suffering of our Lord. After years of acute pain,
she died on March 23, 1914 at the Convent of St. Joseph in Lebanon,
and since then, many miracles have been attributed to her
intercession. In 1985, Pope John Paul II raised her to the honor of
the altar, proclaiming her “Blessed” and in 2000 she was canonized a
“Saint.” May her prayer be with us.
"The wise man is the one who can save his soul."
—St. Nimatullah Al-Hardini
On May 16th 2004, the Maronite Church was again covered in glory as
one of her sons, the Blessed Nimatullah Al-Hardini, was raised to
the altars at St. Peter's Basilica, in Rome, by His Holiness Pope
John Paul II. The Holy Father had previously declared Fr. Nimatullah
venerable in 1989, and elevated him to the rank of Blessed in 1998.
St. Nimatullah Al-Hardini (1808-1858), whose baptismal name was
Joseph, was a Maronite priest and religious, and lived a life of
heroic virtue in Lebanon where he passed most of his years in
monastic solitude. Although shouldering heavy duties of
administration, teaching and manual labor (St. Nimatullah practiced
his craft of bookbinding even while serving as Assistant General of
the Lebanese Maronite Order), the saint maintained an intense
spiritual and devotional life including heavy bodily mortifications.
He taught at various schools of the Lebanese Maronite Order and
among his students was Brother Sharbel Makhlouf—the illustrious St.
Sharbel. Along with Sts. Rafka and Sharbel, St. Nimatullah was
outstandingly devoted to the Blessed Sacrament, kneeling, sometimes
for hours-on-end, in adoration. The Maronite Church celebrates his
feast day on the 14th of December.
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