St. Rafqa (Rebecca Pierrette Ar-Rayes)

Ø  She is also known as   Lily of Himlaya  and   Little Flower of Lebanon
Born	On 29 June 1832 at Himlaya, Lebanon
Died	On 23 March 1914 at the Convent of Saint Joseph, Grabta, Lebanon , of natural causes , at the age of 82
Venerated	11th  February 1982 by Pope John Paul II
Beatified	17th  November 1985 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized	On 10th  June 2001 by Pope John Paul II
Feast	March 23rd
Patronage	Against Sickness,

Virgin and nun of the Lebanese Order of St. Antony of the Maronites. She is known as the "flower of Himlaya," the little Lebanese mountain village where she was born and baptized with the name Boutrossieh (Pierrette or Petronila in French) on June 29, 1832. Her mother´s death and father´s second marriage marked her childhood. At 14, despite the fact her father wanted her to marry, she declared she was attracted to the religious life. After working for a Lebanese family in Damascus, she entered the institute founded by Father Joseph Gemayel for the education of girls. The institute was unable to survive the conflicts of the decade of the 1860s. So, in 1871, Rebecca entered the Order of St. Antony of the Maronites, inspired in ancient Egyptian monasticism, where she took the name Rafqa (Rebecca in French). In 1885 Rafqa 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 Rafqa 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.”   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.   Sister Rebecca offered her health to the Lord [ In 1885] afterward she lost her eyesight. For 30 years she suffered excruciating pain in her face. Then, in 1907, she suffered a painful paralysis. Her inert body was covered with sores. She offered her suffering in union with Jesus. Her feast is celebrated March 23, anniversary of her death