![Marie-Alphonsine-Danil-Ghattas-remains](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Marie-Alphonsine-Danil-Ghattas-remains.jpg)
Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas (4 October 1843 – 25 March 1927) was a
Palestinian Christian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
nun who founded the Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of Jerusalem (the Rosary Sisters), the first Palestinian congregation. She was
beatified
Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...
by Archbishop
Angelo Amato
Angelo Amato, S.D.B. (born 8 June 1938) is an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints between 2008 and 2018. He served as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of ...
on behalf of
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...
in 2009.
On 6 December 2014
Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
recognized a miracle that had been attributed to her intercession which was a requirement for her canonization. The date of her canonization was announced alongside others passed for canonization on 14 February 2015 and she was canonized on 17 May 2015.
Life
Born Soultaneh Maria Ghattas on 4 October 1843 to a Palestinian family in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, she spent her whole life working among the poor of Palestine. When she was 14, Ghattas joined the
Congregation of St. Joseph of the Apparition as a
postulant
A postulant (from la, postulare, to ask) was originally one who makes a request or demand; hence, a candidate. The use of the term is now generally restricted to those asking for admission into a Christian monastery or a religious order for the pe ...
. In 1862 after her vows, she was sent to teach catechism in Bethlehem. There she also established religious associations promoting devotion to Mary through the rosary.
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In Bethlehem, she received several apparitions of Mary directing her to found a Palestine congregation known as the "Sisters of the Rosary". In 1880 seven young girls prepared by Joseph Tannous, priest of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, received the religious habit of the new foundation from the hands of Patriarch Bracco. That same year, Ghattas received a dispensation from Rome to leave the community of the Sisters of St. Joseph and entered the new congregation. She received the habit from the hands of Bishop Pascal Appodia, Auxiliary and Patriarchal vicar, on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, 7 October 1883.
[ On 7 March 1885, together with eight other sisters, she professed her final vows in the new order in the presence of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Vincent Bracco.][
Ghattas dedicated her life to parish ministry and the care and education of Palestinian girls, and the community quickly grew. In 1886 she founded a school for girls in ]Beit Sahour
Beit Sahour or Beit Sahur ( ar, بيت ساحور pronounced ; Palestine grid 170/123) is a Palestinian town east of Bethlehem, in the Bethlehem Governorate of the State of Palestine. The city is under the administration of the Palestinian Nation ...
. Then she was sent to Salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...
in Transjordan with three sisters, then in Nablus, before returning in Jerusalem because of her health. After having recovered, she went to the house of Zababdeh.[
In 1917, she went to Ein Karem to found an orphanage in Ein Karem. She died there on the Feast of the Annunciation 25 March 1927.]
Beatification
The rite of beatification was presided over by Archbishop Angelo Amato
Angelo Amato, S.D.B. (born 8 June 1938) is an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints between 2008 and 2018. He served as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of ...
, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pass ...
, and special envoy of Pope Benedict XVI,[ at a Mass celebrated by Patriarch ]Fouad Twal
Fouad Twal ( ar, البطريرك فؤاد طوال; born 23 October 1940 in Madaba, Jordan) is a Jordanian Catholic prelate who served as Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem from 2008 to 2016. He has also served as the Grand Prior of the Equestria ...
, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, on 22 November 2009 at the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth.
Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
approved a second miracle to her on 6 December 2014 and canonized her on 17 May 2015. The ceremony was attended by more than 2,000 Christian pilgrims from the Middle East and by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Four days before the canonization of Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas, the Vatican announced a treaty that reaffirms Palestinian statehood by the Holy See. The members of the order she founded run schools, catechetical programs, clinics and orphanages throughout the Middle East.
See also
* Mariam Baouardy
* Palestinian Christians
References
External links
Rosary Congregation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghattas, Marie-Alphonsine Danil
1843 births
1927 deaths
Christian female saints of the Late Modern era
Dominican saints
People from Jerusalem
Ghattas family
19th-century venerated Christians
Beatifications by Pope Benedict XVI
Canonizations by Pope Francis
Palestinian Roman Catholic saints
Venerated Catholics by Pope John Paul II
People from Bethlehem
Mandatory Palestine people