St. Rafta

The woman who would be known as St. Rafka was born June 29, 1832 in Himlaya, Lebanon. She was the only child of Rafqa Gemayel and Mourad Saber Shabaq al-Rayes. Her given name was Boutrossieh Ar-Rayes. She was six when her mother died. When her father remarried, Rafqa could not get along with her step-mother. At age eleven, Rafqa went to work as a maid; at age fourteen she told her father that she wanted to become a nun. Although her father objected to her vocation, she joined the Order of the Immaculate Conception when she was twenty-one. She took her final vows in 1856 and took the name Anissa (Agnes). When her order merged with the order of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1871, the sisters were given the choice of being released from their vows, joining the new combined order, or joining other orders. Sister Anissa joined the Lebanese Order of Saint Anthony of the Maronites in 1871 and took the new religious name of Rafqa (Rebecca). Rafqa prayed that she could share in the suffering of Christ. She became lame and blind. For thirty years she shared in her community’s life as best she could, praying, knitting, and spinning wool. By 1907 she was completely paralyzed and blind. At the request of her superior, Rafqa dictated her autobiography. A short while before her death, she prayed to be granted an hour of sight so that she might see the face of her superior, Mother Ursula once more; her request was granted. Rafqa died on March 23, 1914. Soon after her death, people reported miracles from her intercession. Her friend and superior Mother Ursula was cured of a life-threatening throat ailment and many other people also experienced cures. St. Rafka or Rafqa is also known by the names Agnes or Anissa, Rebecca or Rebecca Pierrette Al-Rayes. She was canonized in 2001 and her feast is March 23. She is invoked against the loss of parents and against sickness. Modern medical specialists think her blindness and paralysis was due to a form of tuberculosis.