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Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès, O.L.M. (Arabic: رفقا بطرسيّة شبق ألريّس, June 29, 1832 – March 23, 1914), also known as Saint Rafka (Arabic name for Rebecca), was a Lebanese Maronite nun who was canonized by Pope John Paul II on June 10, 2001. ==Birth and Youth== Rafka was born in Himlaya, in Matn District, on 29 June 1832, the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, the only child of Saber Mourad El Rayess and Rafqa Gemayel, and was baptised Boutrossieh (pronounced in Arabic as the feminine of Peter).〔 Her mother died when she was seven years of age. 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〔("Biography of Saint Rafqa", St. Joseph's Monastery )〕 When Boutrossieh was 14 years old, her stepmother wanted her to marry her stepbrother, and her maternal aunt wanted her to marry her son. Boutrossieh did not want to marry either of the men and this caused a great deal of 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.〔 As Rafqa later recounted, When I entered the Church I felt immense joy, inner relief and, looking at the image of the Blessed Virgin, I felt as if a voice had come from it and ... said to me: You will be a nun. Boutrossieh's father and stepmother tried to take her back home but she did not want to go. "I asked the Mistress of novices to excuse me from seeing them and she agreed." They returned home, saddened, and from then on they never saw her again. Boutrossieh's kinsman, Father Joseph Gemayel and his family founded a new religious institute for women that provided them with full-time education as well as religious instruction. Boutrossieh's name, Pierine (in French), was listed last among the first four candidates of the Daughters of Mary of the Immaculate Conception (“Mariamettes”, in French) in Gemayel’s notebook dated January 1, 1853. She was 21. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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