Today, May 17th, in a canonization laden with
significance both religious and political, Pope Francis
declared Marie Alphonsine Ghattas and Mariam Baouardy
the first two Palestinian saints of modern times. About
2,000 Palestinians gathered in the Vatican's St. Peter's
Square to sing and pray and celebrate their saints.
There, they heard the Pope pay tribute to the way in
which the two new saints experienced the love of God.
He said: Sister Mariam Baouardy experienced this
in an outstanding way. Poor and uneducated, she
was able to counsel others and provide
theological explanations with extreme clarity, the
fruit of her constant converse with the Holy Spirit.
Her docility to the Spirit also made her a means
of encounter and fellowship with the Muslim
world,"
"So, too, Sister Marie Alphonsine Danil Ghattas
came to understand clearly what it means to
radiate the love of God ... and to be a witness to
meekness and unity. She shows us the
importance of becoming responsible for one
another, of living lives of service one to another,"
he said.
Ghattas was born in Jerusalem in the 1840s to a devout
Christian family. She became a nun, dedicating herself
to a life of quiet servitude.
In Bethlehem, she said she began to receive visions of
the Virgin Mary telling her to start a new congregation
for Arab girls, called Sisters of the Rosary.
Ghattas' hard work and her profound devotion led to the
founding of the Rosary Sisters Convent. It was Ghattas'
home, which she donated to the convent to spread
education and culture to those in need.
While Baouardy was born in Ibillin, a small village in
Galilee, also in the 1840s. She was the 13th child in her
family, and the only one to survive past infancy.
Her parents died when she was 3 years old, and her
uncle raised her.
In Alexandria, Egypt, one of her uncle's servants told her
to convert to Islam. When she refused, the servant slit
her throat.
It was then that Baouardy's miracle began.
"Mariam became a martyr, and she went to heaven," said
Sister Fireal of the Carmelite Monastery in Bethlehem.
"She saw the crown of grace, saw her mother and father.
But she heard a voice saying that your life is not yet
over and you should return to Earth."
According to Baouardy's account, a young nun dressed
in blue healed her, cared for her, and led her to the
church. It was, she believed, the Virgin Mary.
Baouardy led a life of service to the poor and to the
church.
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