Saint Who?
Saints Who Grew Up in Poverty
Saint Rafqa
Religious († 1914)Feast: March 23
Boutroussieh Choboq Ar-Rayès was born in Lebanon in 1832. She lost her mother at age seven. When she was eleven, the family finances were so distressed her father sent her to work as a servant. She returned home four years later, and family conflict arose about whom the girl should marry. In the midst of the confusion, the girl realized she wished to consecrate her life to Christ.
While visiting a convent of the Mariamette order, she was inspired to request immediate acceptance. It was granted. She spent over a decade with this community. But when the congregation suffered a crisis, she found herself again praying for guidance. In prayer she heard: “You will remain a nun,” and later in a dream heard Saint Anthony the Great tell her: “Join the Lebanese Maronite Order.” This she did, and took the name Rafqa (or Rebecca) in honor of her mother.
In 1885, Rafqa prayed to share in Christ’s Passion. The next three decades were filled with intense physical suffering, through which she remained peaceful—“For the wound in the shoulder of Jesus,” she used to say, referring to the effect of the weight of the cross. She died on March 23, 1914, and was canonized in 2001.
Merciful Jesus, through the prayers of Saint Rafqa,
may we never forget the cost of our redemption.
