Nimattullah Kassab

Nimatullah Kassab , also known as "Al-Hardini" in reference to his birth village, (1808 – 14 December 1858) was a Lebanese monk, priest and scholar of the Maronite Church. He has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church.

Life

Early life He was born Youssef Kassab, in 1808 in the village of Hardine, in the North Governorate of Lebanon, one of the seven children of George Kassab and Marium Raad, the daughter of a priest of the Maronite Church.

As a boy, Youssef attended the school run by the monks of the Lebanese Maronite Order at the Monastery of St. Anthony in the village of Houb. After he finished his studies there in 1822, he entered the Monastery of St. Anthony in Qozhaya, entering the novitiate of the Order which had taught him in November 1828, at which time he took the monastic name of Nimatullah, which means "the grace of God".

Monk As a new monk, Kassab was assigned by the abbot of the monastery to learn how to bind books. He spent the period of his initial formation in the monastic life in frequent prayer, sometimes passing the night in prayer in the monastery church, praying to the Blessed Sacrament.

After ordination, he was assigned by the abbot to teach at the order's seminary and to be the director of the seminarians. It was formally accepted by the Holy See on 7 September 1978 and he was declared Venerable. On 2 May 1996, Bishop Khalil Abi-Nader, retired Bishop of the Maronite Diocese of Beirut, obtained the permission of Cardinal Sfeir to start the investigation of the miracle of Andre Najm.

On 26 September 1996, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome began to study the miracle. On 27 February 1997, the five-member medical team unanimously voted to accept the cure of Andre Najm as a miracle. On 9 May 1997, the seven-member theological team also voted unanimously to accept the miracle. On 1 July 1997, the General Assembly of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which includes twenty-four cardinals, accepted the miracle attributed to the intercession of Kassab.

On 7 July 1997, in the presence of Pope John Paul II, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints published the decree accepting the miracle.

Kassab's beatification by Pope John Paul II was held at Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome on Sunday, 10 May 1998. He was later canonized on Sunday, 16 May 2004, by the same pope.

The Maronite Church celebrates his feast day on December 14.