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Mary in the Early Maronite Tradition
Mary’s place in God’s plan and in the lives of Christians has special significance for the Maronite Church. Maronites are heir to a rich tradition of theology and devotion to Mary. Any worthy treatment of Catholic devotion to Mary must begin in the Syriac-speaking East, where the theology of Mary, called “Mariology,” had its original and richest expression.
Well before the days of Saint Maron (+ 410), Syriac tradition found in Mary “a sea of treasures.” For Mary was not only a close collaborator in God’s plan, she was part of the plan itself, and inseparable from God from all time. As St. Ephrem says: “She bore the One who set the universe in order.” (Hymns on the Nativity).
The first thing we are likely to notice about SyriacMaronite devotion to Mary is that it is solidly founded in scripture. Whenever our ancient authors wrote about some aspect of the faith, they were not merely inspired by the Bible; they zealously guarded and adhered to its words. It is the Gospel, after all, which anticipates and announces Mary’s role for all time to come: “From this day forward, all generations shall call me blessed.” (Lk. 1:48).
The Old Testament fired the poetic imagination of Syriac authors. They spoke of Mary as the “New Eve,” who brings light and life to humanity, “The Living Ark” who shelters the incarnate Word, the “Lasting Holy of Holies,” where divinity and humanity meet, and where the fullness of God’s love resides.
It is this profoundly biblical approach to the Mystery of Mary that has always been the hallmark of the Maronite Church. During the crusades, when contact between Maronites and the West was re-established, we find constant reference to Maronite zeal and devotion for the Mother of God. Nearly every piece of Maronite documentation from this period makes prominent and unfailing mention of the “ever-holy, Mother of God, Mary, our Protection.” During this same period, European visitors to the East describe Lebanon as a “tapestry of churches, shrines and grottos” dedicated to the honor of Mary.
Maronite faith is fueled by the example of the one who “loved patiently, believed doubtlessly, and lived faithfully.” (Sutoro, Feast of the Assumption.) This is the legacy of the Maronite faith, a faith which has always found in Mary the courage and conviction to overcome whatever stands in the way of becoming more authentic disciples of the One she bore.
(Reprinted from 1988 Maronite Convention program Book)
The Massabki Brothers
In the course of the fighting in Syria and Lebanon in 1860, a great number of Christians died for their faith. Among them were the Franciscan Fathers and the Massabki brothers who were all martyred at Damascus in Syria. The Franciscan Fathers Ruiz, Colta, Escanio, Solar, Alberca, Binazo, Fernadez and Colanda were murdered during the night of July 10th.
Among the thousands of lay Christians who shed their blood for Christ were the Massabki brothers. On that same night they fled to the Church for safety, but their assailants were able to enter and demanded that they abandon their religion. In the name of all, one of the brothers, Francis, refused their demand and said:
“We do not bear the one who kills the body... a crown is prepared for us in heaven we have our souls... and we do not wish to lose them, we are Christians and we wish to die as Christians.”
They were martyred in the Church before the altar and their bodies were buried in the Maronite Church of Damascus. Pope Pius XI declared them blessed on October 10, 1926.
Saint Maron
St. Maron, the founder of the Maronite Church, was born in the late fourth century. He became a priest and then a hermit, retiring to a mountain of Taurus, near Antioch, above the banks of the Orontes River in Syria.
St. Maron lived in the open air, near a pagan temple, which he converted into a Christian Church. He lived an ascetical life of prayer and penance. St. Maron soon became known throughout the whole countryside. His miraculous gifts and extraordinary spiritual knowledge attracted many disciples who became holy hermits. The austerity of his life and his gift of miracles, with which he was privileged, made him one of the great celebrities of that period. Crowds invaded his place of solitude. Men and women went to seek his prayers and blessing or to become one of his disciples.
St. Maron died around 423 and his feast is celebrated on February 9th.
After his death, a church was built over his grave, and the disciples who gathered around him during his life erected a monastery to his memory. This formed the nucleus of the Maronite Church. This monastery of St. Maron, until the 7th century, was the stronghold of the Maronites and the center of missionary activity in Northern Syria. The monks traveled about the villages preaching and calling for a spiritual renewal.
Following the example of St. Maron, the monastic way of life had shaped the Maronite society. This became an important and enduring characteristic of the Maronite Church, and its Canon Law and Church government still bear the marks of this influence. May his prayers be with us. Amen.
Saint Sharbel (1828 - 1898)
Youssef Antoun MAKHLOOF was born at Beqaa’Kafra in North Lebanon, in 1828. As a result of his Christian upbringing and with the example of two uncles already hermits in the monastery, he dedicated himself to prayer and to the monastic life from an early age.
At the age of 23, he entered the monastery of Saint Maron and took the name of Sharbel. At the age of 31, he was ordained a priest. He served 16 years as a priest then he chose to become a hermit. His life was constant prayer, self-denial and sanctity. After 23 years in the hermitage, he died in 1898.
Some months after his death, dazzling lights appeared around his tomb. His body was found to be still fresh, exuding blood and sweat, and so was transferred to a new coffin. Many pilgrims came to pray for his protection and received numerous physical cures and spiritual succor through his intervention.
The process for his canonization was opened in 1925. In 1950, his tomb was opened in the presence of doctors and the official committee, who proceeded to verify that the body was intact and free from corruption. With the opening of the tomb, the number of cures of all kinds abruptly multiplied and pilgrims from all over the world asked for his intercession.
Within a short time, his miracles knew no frontiers. The thousand of letters, and other evidence conserved in his hermitage, remain the best witness to the spread of his holy renown. This exceptional phenomenon was the immediate cause of a number of conversions and of a great renewal of virtue in the heart of the faithful.
He was canonized in 1976 by Pope Paul VI. May his prayers be with us. Amen.
Saint Rafka
Rafka, the Holy Nun, is known as the Little Flower of Lebanon. One day, while praying in the chapel, Rafka asked to share in Christ’s suffering. She wanted to offer herself to God as victim of love. To carry her cross, Rafka did not want to flee like the apostles at the time of His passion. Rather, she wanted to share in Christ’s agony and death.
God’s answer was swift. She felt an excruciating pain in her head, especially her eyes. This pain was to increase and last a lifetime. Soon Rafka became not only blind, but also paralyzed. She was totally incapable of sight or movement. Yet she never complained. She was happy, thanking God for his kindness and loving him fully. In return, she received many signs from heaven to show her Beloved was near or to know His will in her life. She twice heard voices, had dreams once, enjoyed a vision of heaven. Many miracles followed her death.
Rafka’s story may seem odd to some because she prayed for pain. She chose the path of physical pain and rejoiced in it to prove her love of the Lord. Former Maronite Bishop Francis Zayek explains it well: “Both prayer and suffering are necessary for the Christian ascetic and his sanctification. Prayer enlightened Rafka to the necessity of penance for purification. Therefore, suffering and prayer are intimately connected. Not only does one exclude the other, but also each is insufficient without the other. Prayer not only helps us to endure and accept sufferings, it alleviates them and even brings us to glory and triumph through them. Saint Rafka followed in the footsteps of the Master. With Him she ascended to Calvary. Our belief is that she now shines in His glory.”
Blessed Hardini (1808 -1858)
Joseph Kassab was born in the year 1808. He attended the school of the monks until 1822 then entered the monastery and became a novice in 1828. There he adopted the name Fr. Nimatullah Kassab Hardini and learned to bind books. He took his first vows on November 14, 1830. After he finished his theological studies, he was ordained a priest on December 25, 1833. He taught in monastic schools.
Fr. Nimatullah lived a very holy life as a man of prayer, totally “enraptured by God–spending days and nights in meditation, prayer and adoration of the Eucharist. He was also a very humble, sensitive and patient person living his monastic vows of “obedience, chastity and poverty” to perfection. His fellow brother Monks and the people who knew him called him “The Saint” while he was still alive. One of his students was Sharbel Makhlouf (St. Sharbel).
He died in the monastery in, 1858, after struggling with a high fever. At fifty years of age he died holding a picture of the Virgin Mary and his last words being: “Oh Virgin Mary, between your hands I submit my soul.” The Maronite Patriarch commented on his death saying: “Congratulations to this monk who knew how to benefit from his monastic life.”
Some time later, the Monks opened Fr. Nimatullah’s tomb and found his body had remained incorrupt. He was then removed and placed in a coffin near the church, and after obtaining permission, visitors were allowed to see his intact body from 1864 until 1927 when it was then reburied in the curving wall of his monastic cell, and later transferred to a little Chapel where Masses are celebrated. Following instructions given by the current Maronite Patriarch, the body was transferred to a new tomb on May 18, 1996. Fr. Hardini was beatified by Pope John Paul II on May 10, 1998. May his prayers be upon us. Amen.
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