السيرة
Saint Rafqa was born in the village of Himlaya, in the mountains of Lebanon, on the twenty-ninth of June in the year 1832, into a poor and devout household. She was baptized and named Boutrosiyya, after the holy Apostle Peter. While she was still a young child of about seven years, her mother fell asleep in the Lord, and the little one was left to taste sorrow early. For a time she was sent to serve in a household in Damascus, and there, far from her own people, the love of God took deep root in her heart.
When she returned home as a maiden, her kinsfolk pressed her to marry, but her soul had already been espoused to Christ. Refusing every earthly betrothal, she fled to the convent and gave herself wholly to the Lord. She received the holy habit and bound herself by vows, taking the name Rafqa in memory of her mother. For many years she labored as a teacher of young girls, instructing them in the Christian faith in the towns of Ghazir, Deir al-Qamar, Jbeil, and Maad. During the bloody troubles that swept the mountain, she showed the courage of the saints, hiding a child beneath her own robe and shielding it from death.
In the year 1871 she entered the Lebanese Maronite Order at the Monastery of Mar Semaan (Saint Simon) in Aito, and there she made her solemn profession, embracing a life of silence, prayer, fasting, and hidden toil. She spoke little and prayed much, and the younger sisters would sit quietly beside her, drawing strength from the peace that rested upon her like a garment.
In October of the year 1885, moved by love for her crucified Lord, Sister Rafqa knelt and asked Jesus to let her share in His saving Passion. Her prayer was heard at once. A piercing pain began in her head and spread to her eyes, and from that hour she walked the way of the Cross. When the physician, attempting to treat her, by accident tore out her eye, she did not cry out in anger but blessed him, saying, "For the sake of the sufferings of Christ, may your hands be spared; God reward you." By the year 1899 she had lost the sight of both eyes and was wholly blind.
For her remaining years she bore unceasing torments: total blindness, paralysis, and the dislocation of her hip and shoulder, with a grievous wound that would not heal. Yet she never murmured. Her face alone was spared, and it shone with a radiant peace; she remained silent, patient, and joyful, counting it a grace to suffer with her Lord. Even then her hands kept their strength, and she would knit stockings and sew for her sisters almost to the very end.
At the Monastery of Saint Joseph in Jrabta she passed her final days in serenity. Under obedience she dictated the brief account of her life to her superior, Mother Ursula. As her departure drew near she said she had no fear of death, for she had long awaited it, and that God would let her live through her dying. With the holy names of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph upon her lips, she fell asleep in the Lord on the twenty-third of March in the year 1914, having borne her cross for nearly thirty years.
The Lord glorified His servant after her repose. Three nights after her burial a brilliant heavenly light shone above her grave, and pilgrims came from the surrounding villages. Mother Ursula herself, afflicted with a severe ailment of the throat, was healed when she applied the blessed earth from Rafqa's tomb. Through her intercession many have been cured, especially of diseases of the eyes and of grievous bodily ills, so that the faithful honor her as a strong helper of the sick and the suffering. The Church keeps her holy memory on the twenty-third day of March. Through her prayers, O Lord, have mercy upon us. Amen.