Saint Rafqa

Saint Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès (Arabic: رفقا بطرسية شبوق الرايس; also known as Saint Rebecca; baptized Boutrossieh Ar-Rayès; born 29 June 1832 in Himlaya, Mount Lebanon; died 23 March 1914 at the Monastery of Saint Joseph, Jrebta, Lebanon) was a Lebanese Maronite nun and mystic who is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. After spending eighteen years as a teaching sister in two successive religious congregations, she transferred in 1871 to the cloistered Lebanese Maronite Order, adopting the name Rafqa (the Arabic form of Rebecca) from her deceased mother. In 1885 she began to experience severe physical suffering — beginning in her eyes and head, eventually leaving her completely blind and then paralysed — which she understood as a participation in the Passion of Christ and bore with documented serenity for the last twenty-nine years of her life.

She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 17 November 1985 and canonized by the same pontiff on 10 June 2001, in Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City, becoming the first Maronite woman ever to be formally canonized. Her feast day is 23 March.

Stored in Cargo: Saint Rafqa

Saint Rafqa
Feast Day	March 23
Profession	Religious sister; teaching nun; cloistered nun of the Lebanese Maronite Order
Rel. Affiliation	Catholic Church (Maronite Church)
Patronage	Lost parents; the sick and suffering
Attributes	Nun's habit; crown of thorns (symbol of her voluntary suffering)
Birthplace	Himlaya, Matn District, Mount Lebanon (Ottoman Syria)
Death Place	Monastery of Saint Joseph, Jrebta, Lebanon
Cause of Death	Natural causes, following decades of blindness and paralysis
Primary Shrine	Monastery of Saint Joseph, Jrebta, Batroun District, Lebanon (shrine and relics)
Liturgical Class	Saint; feast in the Roman Catholic and Maronite Churches
Historic Class	Not in the pre-1969 calendar (canonized 2001)

Biography

Early life and orphanhood

Boutrossieh (the feminine form of Peter, Boutros in Arabic) Ar-Rayès was born on 29 June 1832 in the village of Himlaya in the Matn District of Mount Lebanon, then part of the Ottoman Empire. Her parents were Saber Mourad El Rayess and Rafqa Gemayel. She was an only child. Her mother died when Boutrossieh was seven years old, a loss that marked her childhood deeply; her father subsequently remarried.

Between 1843 and 1847, at the age of roughly eleven to fifteen, she worked as a domestic servant in Damascus — a common situation for orphaned or financially strained girls from Lebanon's Christian communities — before returning to Mount Lebanon. In her early teenage years, when pressure was placed on her to accept an arranged marriage, she firmly declined, expressing from an early age a desire to consecrate her life to God.

First congregation: the Mariamette Sisters (1853–1871)

In January 1853, at the age of twenty, Boutrossieh presented herself as one of the first four candidates for the newly established Daughters of Mary of the Immaculate Conception (the Mariamettes) at Bikfaya. She received the religious name Anissa (Agnes). Within the Mariamette community she worked as a teacher of children in several Lebanese villages over the following years, and took her first vows on 19 March 1862. She was known for her gentleness, patience, and devotion to her pupils.

In 1871 the Mariamette congregation merged with another religious institute to form the Order of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Faced with choosing between the merged congregation and a life she felt God was calling her elsewhere, Rafqa made the decisive choice to transfer to a cloistered order.

Transfer to the Lebanese Maronite Order (1871–1914)

On 12 July 1871, Rafqa entered the Lebanese Maronite Order (the Baladite Order, founded in 1695), a strictly enclosed community. She chose as her religious name Rafqa — the Arabic form of Rebecca — in memory of her deceased mother. She made her perpetual vows on 25 August 1873, and she would remain in the Lebanese Maronite Order, at the Monastery of Saint Joseph in Jrebta, for the remaining four decades of her life.

Suffering for the Passion of Christ (1885–1914)

In October 1885, Sister Rafqa made a remarkable and unusual prayer: she asked God to permit her to share in the suffering of the Lord's Passion. Almost immediately she began to experience severe pain in her head. The pain progressed over the following months and years; she underwent a surgical procedure without anaesthesia to remove her right eye, which had become diseased. By 1899, she was entirely blind and had become progressively paralysed. For the last fifteen years of her life she was effectively immobile, yet her sisters recorded that she was consistently serene, prayerful, and grateful.

Near the end of her life, the prioress Mother Ursula asked Rafqa whether she wished to regain her sight. According to the community's tradition, Rafqa prayed and was granted a brief restoration of vision — enough to see for approximately one hour — before dying. She died at the Monastery of Saint Joseph, Jrebta, on 23 March 1914, four minutes after receiving the Last Rites. She was eighty-one years old.

Beatification and canonization

Rafqa's cause for canonization was opened in Lebanon and advanced through the Vatican. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 17 November 1985. On 10 June 2001, Pope John Paul II canonized her in Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City — the culminating event of the Holy Year 2000 beatification and canonization programme — making her the first Maronite woman ever to receive that honour. At her canonization, Pope John Paul II cited her as a witness to redemptive suffering and to the power of faith to sustain a soul through decades of pain.

Significant events

• Born 29 June 1832 in Himlaya, Matn District, Mount Lebanon; baptized Boutrossieh; mother died when she was seven.
• 1843–1847: Worked as a domestic servant in Damascus.
• January 1853: Entered the Mariamette Sisters (Daughters of Mary of the Immaculate Conception) at Bikfaya; received name Anissa (Agnes).
• 19 March 1862: Made first religious vows.
• 12 July 1871: Transferred to the cloistered Lebanese Maronite Order (Baladite Order); adopted the name Rafqa.
• 25 August 1873: Made perpetual vows; settled at Monastery of Saint Joseph, Jrebta.
• October 1885: Prayed to share in Christ's Passion; immediately began suffering severe pain in head and eyes.
• 1885–1899: Progressive loss of sight; right eye surgically removed without anaesthetic.
• By 1899: Completely blind and increasingly paralysed.
• 23 March 1914: Died at Jrebta, four minutes after receiving Last Rites; aged 81.
• 17 November 1985: Beatified by Pope John Paul II.
• 10 June 2001: Canonized by Pope John Paul II; first Maronite woman to be canonized.

Significant locations

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Legend

• Birth location: Himlaya, Matn District, Mount Lebanon (Ottoman Syria)
• Death location: Monastery of Saint Joseph, Jrebta, Lebanon
• Notable location: Birthplace; village in the Matn District of Mount Lebanon (Himlaya, Lebanon)
• Notable location: Where she entered the Mariamette Sisters (Daughters of Mary of the Immaculate Conception) in 1853 (Bikfaya, Lebanon)
• Notable location: Monastery of Saint Joseph of the Lebanese Maronite Order; where she lived, suffered, and died (Jrebta, Lebanon)
• Notable location:
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Feast day

March 23

Veneration

Saint Rafqa is venerated throughout the Maronite Church and more broadly in the Catholic world as a witness to voluntary suffering embraced in union with Christ's Passion. Her willingness to pray explicitly for pain — and her reported equanimity in the face of decades of blindness and paralysis — have made her a patron of those who suffer from loss of sight or mobility, and of those who have lost parents. She is the first Maronite woman to be formally canonized, and her cause has been a source of pride and devotion for the Lebanese Maronite diaspora worldwide.

Prayers

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External links

• Wikipedia – Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès
• Catholic Online – St. Rafqa
• MaryPages – Saint Rafqa (Rafka)
• Anastpaul.com – Saint of the Day: St Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès