Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayes

Rafqa Pietra Chobok (Arabic: رفقا بطرسيّة شبق, June 29, 1832 – March 23, 1914), also known as Saint Rafka and Saint Rebecca, was a Lebanese Maronite nun who was canonized by Pope John Paul II on June 10, 2001.

She is a patron of lost parents and the sick.

Birth and youth Rafka was born in Himlaya, in Matn District, on June 29, 1832, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the only child of Saber Mourad El Rayess and Rafqa Gemayel, and was baptised Boutrossieh (the Arabic feminine of Peter). Her mother died when she was seven years old. 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 brother, while her maternal aunt wanted her to marry her son. Boutrossieh did not want to marry either man, and this caused much 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. She was 21.

Mariamette Sisters In 1860, while still stationed in Ghazir, Rafqa's superiors sent her on a temporary posting to Deir al-Qamar, in the Chouf District of the Mount Lebanon Governorate, 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. Rafqa saved one child's life by hiding him in the skirts of her habit as he was being chased by some soldiers

Following a year of postulancy, Rafqa received the habit of her congregation on the Feast of Saint Joseph, March 19, 1861. She took her first temporary religious vows on March 19, 1862 at the age of thirty. Sister Rafqa's first assignment in the congregation was in charge of the kitchen service in the Jesuit school in Ghazir, where she spent seven years. She was put in charge of the workers and tasked with giving them religious instruction in a spinning mill in Scerdanieh, where she remained for two months. In her free time, Sister Rafqa studied Arabic, calligraphy, and mathematics.

Two years later, Sister Rafqa was sent to teach at Byblos, where she remained for one year before going to Maad in the Jbeil District to establish a school there at the request of Antoun Issa, a prominent citizen.

In 1871, the Mariamettes were merged with another religious institute to form the Order of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. The religious sisters were given the option to join the new congregation, transfer to a different one, or return to secular life. Sister Rafqa chose to become a cloistered nun rather than a teaching Sister, and after praying in the Church of Saint George, made the decision to join the Baladita Order (now the Lebanese Maronite Order of St. Anthony, founded in 1695. She told Antoun Issa of her decision, and he offered to pay the requisite convent dowry. Rafqa did not let the pain isolate her from the community, as she continued to spin wool and cotton, as well as knitting stockings for the other sisters and joining in choral prayer.

Due to the harsh winters at the Monastery of Saint Simon, Rafqa was permitted to spend the colder months on the Lebanese coast as a guest of the Daughters of Charity, and then in a house of the Maronite Order. Unable to observe the Rule at these locales, Rafqa asked to be taken to the Mar Elias El Ras Monastery in Mazraat El Ras, near Jeita, which belonged to her order.

Monastery of Saint Joseph

In 1897, the Lebanese Maronite Order decided to build the Monastery of Saint Joseph al Dahr in Jrabta, Batroun. Rafqa was one of six nuns, led by Mother Ursula Doumit, who were sent to the new monastery.

By 1899, she was completely blind and paralysed. She was confined to bed and spent her time knitting socks.

On March 23, 1914, four minutes after receiving the Last Rites and the plenary indulgence, Rafqa died. Her body was buried in the monastery cemetery and was later transferred to the monastery chapel.

Beatification and canonization A relic of Saint Rafqa (here still “Blessed”) at St. Raymond Maronite Cathedral (St. Louis, Missouri) The preliminary investigations began at a local level on 4 April 1929 and sometime thereafter, Rafqa was declared a Servant of God.

On June 9, 1984, the vigil of Pentecost, in the presence of the Pope John Paul II, the decree approving the miracle of Elizabeth Ennakl, said to have been completely cured of uterine cancer in 1938 at Rafqa’s tomb, was promulgated.

On November 16, 1985, Pope John Paul II declared Rafqa Al Rayess a Blessed, and on June 10, 2001, he proclaimed her a saint at a solemn ceremony in Vatican City.