ABOUT RAFKA

Blessed Rafqa

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Bse Rafqa was born in a small villiage on the slopes of the Himalaya mountain 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 AITOU.

On the feast of the Holy Rosary in 1885, Rafqa 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 becme blind and crippled - yet she rejoiced in being made worthy to paricipate in the suffering of our Lord. She often begged her mother superior if she could (even when blind and weak) participate in the daily works of the other sisters. She refused to eat what was consider good but often prefered to eat the left overs, and she did not ever see herself worthy to dress in new clothes but would give them to the poor, whilst remaining in her old clothes. After years of great torment and agony, she died on March 23, 1914, at the Convent of St Joseph in Lebanon, and since then, many physical and spiritual healings have been attributed to her intercession. One such example was that of her mother superior who began to realise that she had a goul in her throat which didn't allow her to eat due to the pain. One night she heard a knock at her door and the person said "Go to Rafqa's grave - there you will be receive your healing". After inquiring if anyone had heard this voice she set out to Rafqa's grave in hope that it might be so. To her amazement, she was maraculously cured instantly. Rafqa was latter canonised as Blessed by Pope John Paul II.