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Two Palestinian nuns gain sainthood in mass attended by president Abbas

Tuesday, May 19th 2015 - 09:55 UTC
Full article 5 comments
The pontiff urged the faithful to follow the “luminous example” of the two 19th-century sisters Marie Alphonsine Ghattas and Mariam Bawardy The pontiff urged the faithful to follow the “luminous example” of the two 19th-century sisters Marie Alphonsine Ghattas and Mariam Bawardy
During his meeting with Abbas on Saturday, the pontiff called him an “angel of peace” and the two discussed the peace process with Israel, the Vatican said. During his meeting with Abbas on Saturday, the pontiff called him an “angel of peace” and the two discussed the peace process with Israel, the Vatican said.

Two 19th-century nuns on Sunday became the first Palestinians to gain sainthood during an open-air mass celebrated by Pope Francis in St Peter's Square attended by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

 The pontiff urged the faithful to follow the “luminous example” of the two 19th-century sisters and two others, from France and Italy, who were canonized along with them on a sunny spring morning.

Marie Alphonsine Ghattas was born in 1843 in Jerusalem during its rule by the Ottoman Empire, and died there during the British mandate period in 1927. She was beatified -- the final step before canonization -- in 2009.

Mariam Bawardy was born in Galilee, now in northern Israel, in 1846. She became a nun in France and died in Bethlehem in 1878 and was beatified by pope John Paul II in 1983.

Around 2,000 pilgrims from the Palestinian territories, Israel and Jordan, some waving Palestinian flags, attended the mass as well as Abbas, who had a private audience with the pope on Saturday.

Ghattas, through her focus on women's education and community work, left behind a network of convents, schools and religious centers -- a more palpable legacy than Bawardy, who lives on more through the memory of her tough and mysterious life.

For sainthood, the candidate must have lived a holy life, as determined by the Catholic Church, and must usually have at least two miracles to their name, attributable to prayers made to them posthumously.

A miracle that led to Ghattas's canonization was the resuscitation of a Palestinian engineer in 2009, who was electrocuted and suffered a heart attack, but regained consciousness two days later after relatives prayed for her intercession.

During her life, Ghattas is said to have seen the Virgin Mary in several apparitions, and nuns talk of miracles she performed then, including saving a girl who had fallen down a well by tossing her rosary into the water.

Bawardy, after becoming a nun of the Carmelite order, helped found the Carmelite Monastery in Bethlehem. Orphaned at a young age and illiterate, she had her throat slit by an angry would-be suitor when she refused to convert to Islam, but a mysterious “nun in blue” is said to have saved her life, the Carmelite order's website says.

She travelled to France to become a nun, then to India to help set up a monastery there, and eventually settled in Bethlehem.

Although there are several saints who lived in the region during Christianity's early days, Bawardy and Ghattas are the first to be canonized from Ottoman-era Palestine. The canonization of a third Palestinian -- a Salesian monk -- is still under review by the Church.

The other two new saints are Jeanne-Emilie de Villeneuve (1811-1854) and Maria Cristina dell'Immacolata (1856-1906).

De Villeneuve founded the Sisters of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of Castres, in southwestern France, while Sister Maria Cristina founded the Oblation Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.

Giant portraits of the four women hung from the facade of St Peter's Basilica facing the square. Francis urged the faithful to “follow in the footsteps” of the four women, whom he called “models of sanctity.”

During his meeting with Abbas on Saturday, the pontiff called him an “angel of peace” and the two discussed the peace process with Israel, the Vatican said.

The Vatican said last week it was preparing to sign its first accord with Palestine, two years after recognizing it as a state.

Categories: Politics, International.

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  • ChrisR

    Oh, don't you just love these medieval meetings?

    “Electrocuted and suffered a heart attack” In reality he held onto the supply and suffered a 50 or 60 cycle per second race of his heart until it effectively stopped with all the valves open and his blood pressure dropped inducing the coma.

    Doesn't say what condition he was in for the two days but I know one thing for certain: he was not dead for two days.

    So one of the penguins threw her rosary down the well to a girl had fallen into. Was there any water in the well and how deep was it (if any)? I bet the rosary was tied to a rope!

    Another “nun-to-be” had her throat slit by an angry would-be suitor when she refused to convert to Islam, but a mysterious “nun in blue” is said to have saved her life. That was lucky, wasn't it. Her suitor needed to be taught how to use the knife by the sound of it.

    All fodder for the terminally mentally ill of the RCC if they really believe this crap.

    May 19th, 2015 - 12:02 pm 0
  • CabezaDura2

    Old fart they are not Palestinian nuns...They were Ottoman nuns. There was no such thing as Palestine in those days and there never was.

    Go back to the slums were you belong, ignorant and usefull idiot.

    May 19th, 2015 - 01:54 pm 0
  • Conqueror

    @1. I'm not saying you're wrong but “there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy” (Hamlet I.5:159–167).

    It's the year 1550. Explain a helicopter, a jet aircraft, a moon rocket.
    It's the year 1600. There's a mine collapse. 33 people are trapped 2,300 feet underground. Help them survive and get them out.
    It's 1780. The first military submarine is in trouble and is on the seabed 2,000 feet below the surface. Recover the crew alive.

    And that's just technology that we might have developed. Try some other options. Do you know what your mind can do? Can something be levitated? Perhaps you should open your mind!
    @2. Who is this old fart you are addressing? Although I am happy to agree that, as a country, “palestine” doesn't exist. Nor do “palestinians”. They are just thieving, muslim arabs. Once one researches the subject, it's clear that the murderous hate cult of Islam needs to be destroyed. And its adherents with it. Why does main stream media refer to 'peaceful' muslims, 'moderate' muslims? Don't they all read the same book?

    May 19th, 2015 - 02:31 pm 0
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