Saint Rafqa - Saint Rafka - Sainte Rafqa - Santa Rafqa - Rebecca Ar-Rayès for Sale

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Saint Rafqa - Saint Rafka - Sainte Rafqa - Santa Rafqa - Rebecca Ar-Rayès For Sale

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Saint Rafqa - Saint Rafka - Sainte Rafqa - Santa Rafqa - Rebecca Ar-Rayès:
$16.91

Saint Rafqa - Saint Rafka - Sainte Rafqa - Santa Rafqa - Rebecca Ar-Rayès - Rebeca de Himlaia - Santa Rafka - Święta Rebeka - Rafqa Ar Rayès - Santa Rafka - Saint Rafqa - Saint Rafka - Sainte Rafqa - Handmade Wood, Holy card on plaque

Rafka was born in Himlaya, in Matn District, on 29 June 1832, the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, the only child of Saber Mourad El Rayess and Rafqa Gemayel, and was baptised Boutrossieh (pronounced in Arabic as the feminine of Peter). Her mother died when she was seven years of age. In 1843, her father experienced financial difficulties and sent her to work as a servant for four years in Damascus at the home of Assaad Al-Badawi. She returned home in 1847 to find that her father had remarried.

When Boutrossieh was 14 years old, her stepmother wanted her to marry her stepbrother, and her maternal aunt wanted her to marry her son. Boutrossieh did not want to marry either of the men and this caused a great deal of discord in her family. One day, while she was coming back from the fountain, holding her jar, she overheard them arguing. She 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. Boutrossieh\'s father and stepmother tried 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.\"[citation needed] They returned home, saddened, and from then on they never saw her again.

Boutrossieh\'s kinsman, Father Joseph Gemayel and his family founded a new religious institute for women that provided them with full-time education as well as religious instruction. Boutrossieh\'s name, Pierine (in French), was listed last among the first four candidates of the Daughters of Mary of the Immaculate Conception (“Mariamettes”, in French) in Gemayel\'s notebook dated January 1, 1853. She was 21.

On February 9, 1855, the Feast of St. Maron, Boutrossieh commenced her novitiate at the convent in Ghazir and chose the name Rafqa (Like her mother\'s name). She took her first temporary religious vows on 19 March 1862 at the age of thirty. Sister Rafqa\'s first assignment in the congregation was charge of the kitchen service in the Jesuit school in Ghazir, where she spent seven years. 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.

In 1860, while still stationed in Ghazir, Rafqa\'s superiors sent her on a temporary posting to Deir-el-Qamar, in Mount Lebanon - Shouf, where she helped the Jesuit mission. In less than two months the Druze killed 7,771 people and destroyed 360 villages, 560 churches, 28 schools, and 42 convents. Sister Rafqa saved one child\'s life by hiding him in the skirts of her habit as he was being chased by some soldiers. Rafqa was deeply affected by the massacres.

Two years later, Sister Rafqa was transferred to Byblos, where she remained for one year before going to Ma\'ad to establish a school there at the request of Antoun (Anthony) Issa, a prominent citizen.

In 1871, the “Mariamettes” religious institute merged with another to form the Order of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. The Religious Sisters were given the option to join the new congregation, or a different one, or to resume lay status. Rafqa decided to become a cloistered nun rather than a teaching Sister, and, after praying in the Church of St. George, made the decision 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 offered to pay the requisite dowry.

That same night, Rafqa dreamed of three men. One with a white beard, one dressed like a soldier and the third was an old man. She recounted \"One of the men said to me, \'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 the Abbot) from 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. Rafqa 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.

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