In memory of Bl Mariam Baouardy, OCD and the story of Carmel in the Holy Land, part 1 click for link

The story of Carmel foundation in the Holy Land is closely related to the life of the Palestine Lily, the Little Arab or Bl Mariam Baouardy, Discalced Carmelite nun. She entered Carmel at Pau, France, at the age of 21. She was born on 5th January 1846 in I’billin (a.k.a. Abilene), the region of Hazafon, north of Israel, in the upper Galilee. Her parents were Christian of the Melkite Greek-Catholic Rite. She was beatified on 13th November 1983, sixty seven years after commencement of the diocesan inquiry for her beatification process.
Her parents were descendants of the Archeparchy of Antioch, the place where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians. The family lived in the hill country of upper Galilee. Her father, George, came from Horfesch, Palestine; her mother, Mariam, came from Tarshiha, Palestine. Both villages were populated by Druse, Sunni Muslims, and Christians’ Arabs. The Baouardy's were very modest and pious folks.

Mariam bore her husband 12 sons; however, none survived their infancy to the great sorrow of their parents. Mariam, devoted to the Virgin Mary, prayed for another child, a daughter. She and her husband traveled to Bethlehem to beseech the Mother of God for a girl-child at the Grotto of the Nativity of Jesus. On January 5, 1846, their daughter, Mariam was born. Ten days later in the local Melkite Church she was Baptised, received Confirmation and the Eucharist. Two years later, to the delight of the parents, a baby boy was born. He was named Boulos (Paul). The tiny family had a short time together. Both mother and father died within a few days of each other. Georges’ last words, while looking at a picture of Saint Joseph were: “Great Saint, here is my child. The Blessed Virgin Mary is her mother. Please look after her, be her father”. The aunt from Tarshiha took Paul into her home whereas Mariam was adopted by her paternal uncle in Abilin. Mariam, would often recall beautiful and pictoresque surroundings of her native village with great nostalgia throughout her short life. To the north, the lofty mountain chain, the frontier of Lebanon could be seen.


On the northeast was mighty Jebel Shaykh, the Sheikh of the Mountains as the Arabs call it, snow-capped yearlong. In the east waves of hills slope down gently downward to Lake Galilee, also named Tiberias;



on the south the opulent Plain of Esdralon stretches outward till meeting Mount Carmel. Northwest beyond the sand dunes sparkles the blue Mediterranean.


For some time, Mariam lived in her uncle home safely and comfortably receiving all proper care and attention. When Mariam was eight years old her uncle left Palestine with the entire family and settled in Alexandria, Egypt. She was not to see her beloved Ibillin till shortly before her death in 1878.



Then at the age of 13, Mariam was promised in arranged marriage, without her consent, a common custom among Middle Eastern Christians. Mariam was deeply saddened and shocked. She was not prepared nor had any inclinations for the life of a married woman. She prayed earnestly for guidance and solace. Suddenly, she was able to hear a voice in her heart saying: "Everything passes! If you wish to give me your heart, I will remain with you". Mariam knew it was the voice of the only spouse she would have - Jesus. She spent the rest of the night in deep prayer before the icon of the Virgin Mary; she then heard the consoling words, "Mariam, I am with you; follow the inspiration I shall give you. I will help you". Her uncle was outraged when he realized Mariam would not marry, but would remain a virgin. Nothing would change her determination. As a punishment he resorted to treating her as a hired domestic, giving her the most difficult kitchen tasks and treating her like the lowest of his hired help. Due to this mistreatment, Mariam slowly sank into a sense of desolation and desperation. She wrote a letter to her brother inviting him to come and see her in Alexandria. In her isolation she turned to another domestic, a Muslim, and asked him to deliver her letter to Nazareth, revealing to him also all her personal troubles. He pretended to be sorry and outraged at her uncle’s treatment of her. Playing upon the mind and feelings of the young girl, he provided the way out of the situation and remedy to Mariam's problem through the conversion to Islam. She denied his advances and loudly proclaimed her faith in the Church of Jesus. "Muslim, no, never! I am a daughter of the Catholic Apostolic Church, and I hope by the grace of God to persevere until death in my religion, which is the only true one" - was her response. Her 'protector' became furious and violent at her refusal. Overcame by hatred he lost control and kicked her to the floor, drew his sword and slashed her throat. He dumped her lifeless body in a nearby dark alley. Years later Mariam described to her Mistress of Novices at Marseilles, France, what had happened to her after: "A nun dressed in blue picked me up and stitched my throat wound. This happened in a grotto somewhere. I found myself in heaven with the Blessed Virgin, the angels and the saints. They treated me with great, kindness. In their company were my parents. I saw the brilliant throne of the Most Holy Trinity and Jesus Christ in His humanity. There was no sun, no lamp, but everything was bright with light. Someone spoke to me. They said that I was a virgin, but that my book was not finished. When my wound was healed I had to leave the grotto and the Lady took me to the Church of St. Catherine served by the Franciscan Friars where I went to confession. When I left, the Lady in Blue had disappeared". Years later when in ecstasy, on September 8, 1874, the feast of our Lady’s nativity, Sr. Mary said, "On this same day in 1858, I was with my Mother (Mary) and I consecrated my life to her. Someone had cut my throat and the next day Mother Mary took care of me". Mariam supported herself by working as a domestic with the Najjar, the Arab Christian family. After two years she was directed by her confessor to the Sisters of St. Joseph and she stayed with the Sisters together with several other Palestinians and Arab postulants. Soon her health declined and mystical phenomena began. It was disturbing to the congregation. They became upset over her supernatural actions and aura and would not permit her to enter the novitiate. Her Mistress of Novices, Mother Veronica, her only friend there took Mariam to the Carmelite convent of Pau in France



where they both gained admission. Mariam entered Carmel at age 21 as a lay sister. After two months she began her novitiate and entered the cloister. She took the name of Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified. She was professed on 21 November 1871 as a Carmelite Religious. Before that she was subjected to severe supernatural trials. One of the most terrible was diabolic possession of her body for a period of 40 days. She persevered in her simple child-like faith in God the Son and His Holy Mother Mary. Her rewards were those reserved for the most privileged of humans. She was fixed with the stigmata of her crucified Savior, experienced levitations, transverberations of the heart, knowledge of hearts, prophecies, possession by the Good Angel, and facial radiance. Again and again she would say, "Everything passes here on earth. What are we? Nothing but dust, nothingness, and God is so great, so beautiful, so lovable and He is not loved".
Sister Mariam of Jesus Crucified had an intense devotion to the Holy Spirit, Possessor of the Truth without error or division. Through the Melkite Patriarch Gregory II Sayour, she sent a message to Pope Pius IX that the Church, even in seminaries, is neglecting true devotion to the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete. Her beautiful prayer to that great Unknown was: "Holy Spirit, inspire me. Love of God consume me. Along the true road, lead me. Mary, my good mother, look down upon me. With Jesus, bless me. From all evil, all illusion, all danger, preserve me." This simple prayer has gone around the world and is also included in the sidebar of this blog.
Sister Mariam was instrumental in the founding of a missionary Carmel in Mangalore, India, in 1871, and in Bethlehem of Palestine. Also she was the inspiration for the establishment of the Congregation of the Betharram Priests of the Sacred Heart.
On 5 January 1878, Sister Mariam entered her 33rd year of life. One day in August she fell while working in the convent injuring herself severely. Gangrene set in quickly and spread the infection to her respiratory tract. She never recovered from this trauma. On 26 August 1878, she suffered a life-threatening suffocation attack. She died soon after murmuring, "My Jesus, mercy." It was ten minutes past five in the morning.
Her tomb is engraved with this inscription: "Here in the peace of the Lord reposes Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified, professed religious of the white veil. A soul of singular graces, she was conspicuous for her humility, her obedience and her charity. Jesus, the sole love of her heart called her to Himself in the 33rd year of her age and the 12th year of her religious life at Bethlehem, 26 August 1878".
She is still known today as "Al Qiddisa" (The holy one) in Ibillin, Palestine. On 13 November 1983, Pope John Paul II beatified her in solemn ceremony at Vatican City. She is scheduled for formal canonization this year placing her among the Saints in formal proclamation.
The "Little Arab", a living lesson of the virtues of humility and the love of God, His son Jesus and His Mother Mary, is a special inspiration to those who pursue the Truth as present in the Holy Spirit of God . . . And she was one of us, a Melkite Catholic and a Carmelite.

Reverend Amedee Brunot, SCJ, the author of the book “Mariam The Little Arab” writes: how can we fail to see that this child of Galilee and of the Eastern Church has a special message for those of her face and her rite? Accordingly how could anyone have ever maintained that the sap of sanctity no longer flows in the veins of the Churches of the East, that this land of anchorites and cenobites, of lauras and monasteries no longer produces flowers and fruits of grace? The Lebanese Charbel Makhlouf and the Galilean Mariam Baouardy are the indisputable answer to these pessimistic judgments. The divine power has always been pleased in these biblical lands to effect at times national resurrections, at other times individual prodigies; once more it is assuring to these peoples a subject of noble pride and a motive of hope. What is more astonishing than the trajectory of a saint? What a greater message of hope could there be today in the troubled Near East than to tell the Palestinians: here is a young girl of your race, your language and of one of your most honored rites?”

The story based on Mariam, the little Arab

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Marian Shrines in Holy Land - Our Lady of Mt Carmel

The hallowed name of Carmel awakens a host of visions, some terrible and some of gracious beauty: the flaming sword of St Elias; the miracles of the Holy Scapular; the loneliness of earth; and abounding grace of Heaven. This historic Mountain range, in great part of limestone, runs from north to south for a distance of fifteen miles, with a width of from three to five miles. It is like a mighty whale, except for the unaccountable hump near the landward and, which is the Place of sacrifice.


Joshua on dividing the land among the children of Israel made Carmel to serve as a boundary for four tribes: the tribe of Asher to the north; those of Zabulon and Issachar to the east; and the half tribe of Manesseh to the south. The name Carmel is best translated by "garden mount". In Holy Writ it appears less frequently as a geographical name than as a metaphor or type of fruitfulness and beauty. Its sides, still in parts verdant, are grooved by dales and burrowed by innumerable grottos, which afforded a refuge for hermits who had withdrawn from the company of men, or who sought sanctuary from tyrants and persecutors. it also gave refuge to those flying from justice. In this is the explanation of the words of the prophet Amos (9:2-3) "And though they be hid in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them away from thence". What made the mountain for ever renowned was the sojourn which the Prophet Elijah or Elias made upon it, and the wonders which he worked there.



Carmel even received in the language of the people the name Jebel Mar Elias, the Mount of St Elias. The whole mountain is sacred to the memory of Elias and his followers, and with reason. Elias was so illustrious among the Prophets that he was selected to represent them in person on Mt Thabor at the Transfiguration;





so imminent in sanctity that the Angel Gabriel could find no better way of expressing the exalted dignity of the Baptist than by saying that he would come "in the spirit and power of Elias;" so admirable before God, that he was taken from this world in a chariot of fire while yet alive; so valiant in virtue, that he is chosen as the champion in the final combat with the enemies of Christ at the end of Time.
It was on Mt Carmel that the One God gained victory over the many gods of idolatry, and there the priests of the idol Baal were exterminated. The Bible relates this event in a particularly fascinating style.


The Altar of Baal
Upon the top of Carmel side by side with the altar of the True God stood that of Baal. Jezabel, daughter of the King of Sidon, and wife of Achab, King of Israel, had led the mass of the people aside to idolatry.



At the behest of Elias, Achab summoned to Carmel "all Israel, and the priests and prophets of Baal who ate at Jezebel's table." There two altars were created, one to God and one to Baal. The priests of Baal called upon their god throughout a long hot day. There was no voice, nor any that answered. Then Elias taunted them, suggesting a little more zeal, for perhaps Baal was having a nap. But Baal remained comatose. Then did Elias call upon his God, and immediately fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. At the sight of this miracle, the people again proclaimed Jehovah their God - "The Lord, he is God" - and under the orders of Elias the priests of Baal were taken down the torrent Kishon and killed there.



Elias and the Drought
Immediately following is an account of another miracle. A long and terrible drought, pretold by Elias, had compelled King Achab to take refuge with his horses in one of the gorges of Carmel. The Prophet besought the Lord to put an end to the scourge, and after casting himself down on the earth, he said to his servant: "Go up and look towards the sea". The servant went up and looked, and said: "There is nothing." Elias said to him: "Return seven times." At the seventh time the servant said: "Behold a little cloud arising out of the sea as large as the palm of a man's hand." Elias said: "Go up and say to Achab: 'Prepare thy chariot and go down, lest the rains prevent thee.'" Then little by little the heavens grew dark with clouds and wind, and there fell a great rain. Such in their majestic simplicity are the events of which Mt Carmel has been the silent witness. The first object of the miracle was undoubtedly the conversion of the apostate people. But Divine Providence often brings forth different fruits from the same root in accordance with the needs of its servants. It is thus that in the little cloud which arose over the sea a tradition piously garnered by Carmelite writers and consecrated by the liturgy of the Order sees a prophetic symbol of the Immaculate Virgin. She, child of Adam's race but without the taint of original sin, would, in giving us the Redeemer, let fall upon the sin-parched earth the gentle, fruitful rain of grace. This revelation was made on this day of miracles to Elias who communicated it to his disciples, the Sons of the Prophets; and thereby brought them to address to the Promised Virgin, in holy anticipation, their service of devotion and praise.

Elias the Founder.
The great Prophet Elias has always been regarded by the Carmelites as the founder and Patriarch of their Order. This ancient and cherished tradition has been sanctioned by the Church, for the statue of the Prophet stands in the Vatican among founders of the Religious Orders. His name means "The Lord is God", and according to St Isidore he was a man of faith and lofty devotion, strong under hardship, fruitful in resources, endowed with a powerful intellect, rigid in his austere virtue, unwearied in holy meditation, fearless in the face of death. He is called in Arabic - Khadr - the "Evergreen", "Living", because he never knew the weakness and decrepitude of age, but remained fruitful in the ways of the Lord, who at last vouchsafed to transport him on a fiery chariot to the great beyond.
The Fathers agree that he, with St John the Baptist, was an example and model of virginity. He raised the dead to life, like the Son of God, and he was the chosen symbol of His Ascension, being raised aloft in a triumphal chariot.


St Jerome says that if the source of the monastic life is sought for in Scripture, it will be found that Elias is its founder. He united a large number of disciples on Carmel, and they led a life sanctified by prayers and celibacy. They met together to be instructed by their holy chief, and this fact has given rise to the name of one of the principal caves on the mountain, called "The School of the Prophets."

The immediate successor of Elias was Eliseus, who inherited his mantle and his double spirit, and went to live on Mt Carmel, to which the people came on feast-days to pray with the hermits.


This concourse of pilgrims gave rise to the legend related by Pliny that the holy mountain of Carmel was itself an object of adoration, and referring to the hermits he calls them "an everlasting nation among whom no one is born."

We know, from 4 Kings 6, that the sons of the Prophets, having became too numerous on Carmel, spread to the Jordan and there built huts for themselves. Later, as the office of the Prophets became less common among the Jews, as fulfillment was about to succeed prophecy, the name "children of the Prophets" ceased and those who succeeded them were called Rechatites, and later Essenes, those very people from whose hands we have now received the oldest manuscripts of Old Testament, left by them in the caves of Jordan and Dead Sea. But the hermits continued on Carmel. The prophet Michaes makes a fervent prayer for them: "Feed the flock of thy inheritance, them that dwelt alone in the forest in the midst of Carmel" (7:14).

To be continued "Christian Carmel"
Text based on the book "Marian Shrines in Mary's Land" by Fr Eugene Hoade.

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Carmel in the Holy Land

I am going to commence today the series of posts describing the history of Carmel in the Holy Land. It is fascinating story of Carmel foundation back in the land of Jesus and Mary in the towns of Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jerusalem and Mt Carmel. The story also include the foundation and work of the institution of Apostolic Carmel in countries where Christianity was and remains a religion of minority of population.

Let me start the history of Holy Land's Carmel with the beautiful prayer that was dictated by Bl Mary of Jesus Crucified, Miriam Baouardy, and was sealed up in the first stone of the Carmel of Bethlehem and placed in the foundation of the monastery there.

One grace I ask of You, O good Jesus: that this house shall remain as long as earth lasts and that Carmelites may always occupy it; Carmelies who are charitable, fervent, lovers of Your divine Heart, detached from all that is on earth. Fill this Carmel always with subjects able to praise and serve You. Never allow, good Master, any one to enter or be received if she is not going to be saved. Give to this Carmel Your peace and Your love. Allow no power, present or to come, to do any evil to it. Be always at its head and make kings tremble before it. Strike terror into those who come to do it harm. Give peace and union to all who do good to this house. So long as the world lasts, You are its Master. Make saints of all who will live there. Ensure that they retain Your Spirit and observe Your Commandments.
After 'The Thoughts of Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified'

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