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A NEW CATHOLIC CHURCH IN LEBANON ESTEPHAN NEHME

The Catholic Church in Lebanon has been blessed again yesterday, Estephan Nehme

A religious ceremony was held yesterday at Kfifane (Batroun), for the beatification of Estephan Nehme, a monk of Order Lebanese Maronite
Catholic Church in Lebanon has, since yesterday, a more blessed, Estephan Nehme. This solid carpenter originally from Lehfed (Jbeil), became a monk of the Lebanese Maronite Order (OLM), has been beatified under a decree signed by Pope Benedict XVI, on the recommendation of the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato. The latter was dispatched to Beirut to pass the decree of beatification and preside over the religious ceremony on behalf of the pope.
Before a crowd estimated at nearly 60,000 faithful and pilgrims from all over the country, some of whom arrived on foot at night and were massed on the hillsides of the convent of Saints Cyprian and Justinian Kfifane of the Maronite patriarch, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, celebrated the Divine Office and delivered the homily, summing up life for the faithful and blessed the new drawing appropriate lessons. The cause of Estephan Nehme was presented in Rome in 2001. The patriarch had with him the superior general of the Lebanese Maronite Order (OLM), Father Elias Khalifié.S addressing it early in his homily Archbishop Angelo Amato, the patriarch said: "This is a great joy, especially for all the Maronite community and for Lebanon. Despite the smallness of its territory and the small number of its inhabitants, Lebanon continues to give to the Holy Catholic Church of Sts. This is a grace for which we thank God with all my heart. For his part, RP Khalifé thanked the Head of State, saying: "You have proven, from the first day of your duties, you are all for Lebanon and values, what makes you a model convener for the state and the Lebanese. "
The higher the OLM also thanked the Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, who attended the ceremony for giving the event" all his attention, to the joy of all Lebanese, Muslims and Christians " . After words of thanks addressed to the numerous additional institutions and associations involved with the success of the day, including the press, PR Elias Khalife expressed "appreciation" of the Church of Lebanon for "caring testified against the beatification of Brother Estephan, and announced two upcoming beatification: the Patriarch Estephan Doueihy, great doctor of the Maronite Church, and Father Bechara Abou Mrad (Greek-Catholic priest whose tomb is in the convent of Saint-Sauveur, near Sidon). An event Maronite

Event Catholic Church, so universal, the beatification ceremony itself was also a side community. Event was also a Maronite. Among the dignitaries present, the Head of State, Michel Sleiman, who was Saad Hariri at his side (but, surprisingly, not Nabih Berry). In addition, many ministers and deputies had responded to the invitation of the OLM. This was the case for the former head of state, Amine Gemayel, ministers and Gibran Bassil Boutros Harb, the Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud, leader of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, the members Nadim Gemayel, Antoine Zahra, Ahmad Fatfat, Farid el-Khazen, Nehmetallah Abi Nasr and Mrs. Nayla Moawad, etc. But if the ceremony was a kind of glorification of the Maronite Church, its spiritual richness and fertility of his time, the absence at the ceremony for some personalities, cold Bkerke, continued to reflect a "spread" unhealthy ranges Maronites. Dispersion does not reflect a diversity policy altogether normal, but serious "fractures" due mainly to war, which suffers the Maronite Church, and with it the political role played by its membres.Interrogé it after the ceremony, Archbishop Bechara Rahi, Maronite Archbishop of Jbeil, considered a purification of memory of the war is "indispensable." And remember that politics is defined as "the art of the common good," is also a way for the Church to holiness possible, as evidenced by the existence of kings declared saints, or heads of government and ministers whose causes for beatification are introduites.L one of the biggest factors in successful Kfifane ceremony yesterday, the good people who assured Maronite. From the heart of Christian country or its "periphery", he was there in all its aspects, including its size picnic - Barbecue. He got a serious filtering (due to the presence at the ceremony of the Head of State) Sun (with passages of soothing clouds) and a protocol ceremony too. Despite the 50 000 seats, the ceremony was tiring. Fortunately, the presentation of offerings - sheaf of wheat, pitcher of water from the fountain Lehfed, jar of oil, jumpers, seasonal vegetables, etc.. - And the humorous comments of Father Youssef Moannès which accompanied it, brought the spontaneity that was lacking in the liturgy of beatification. "You want to change the Lebanon, just be sure to give it more holy, "he told the officials present, raising loud applause from the crowd. For this spin too, politics has finally made an appearance in the religious ceremony.

A simple formula of holiness: "God sees me"

If there is one thing that proves life Estephan Nehme is that we can become holy digging in the orchards and making small service to his brothers and neighbors. Is that with a simple formula, "God sees me," we can sanctify his life, set apart for God, to become a hero and to gather in the life of union with God and death in the glory of the altars, as it is today. Without present, from the outside, dramatic, life Estephan Nehme, born in 1889, is no less heroic and no lack of interest historically. Nehme was particularly witnessed the great famine of 1915 - he was then 26 years - when by the combined effects of drought, grasshoppers and war (the Ottoman soldiery confiscated livestock and crops, which were for the sultan's army), the Lebanese population was decimated two-thirds. He often donated his portion of bread and curdled milk to hungry peasants encountered during the day, and collected even an infant whose parents had died of hunger, and he lives in suckling the breast of his mother died. The infant was adopted by the convent.

Solidly built, intelligent and a naturally happy, he had the knack of bringing peace between the monks and laborers who worked the fields. The convents of the order to the Lebanese Maronite disputed. It changed a good five or six from of Kfifane to Mayfouk of Mayfouk to Tannourine, then back to Mayfouk before being sent to Jbeil and again Kfifane. Good with his hands, "he rarely left the handle of the saw cool," said on.L hagiography would he renounced the priesthood, in a spirit of humility. The truth is less romantic. His superiors did not offered him, and he accepted it without question. It was not long hermit, as Charbel, did not teach, as Nehmetallah Hardini or n'endurât extraordinary suffering, as Rafka, said the patriarch in his homily. But in the evening, returning from a long day in the fields, instead of repeating breath like everyone else, he visited the elderly monks from his monastery and offered them his services, keeping their rooms by Example. Like many monks of the time, his body suffered cold and sustained the humidity which prevailed in the monasteries during the winter months. He died at 49, 30 August 1939, following a sunburn. This date was chosen by the Catholic Church to celebrate her birthday.

Wide media coverage has been ensured at the beatification ceremony of the monk Estephan Nehme, in Kfifane. The ceremony has been broadcast live by television channels MTV, LBCI, OTV, Future TV, Lebanon TV and New TV, and radio by Voice of Lebanon Radio Free Lebanon.

Source: L'Orient Le Jour

hilda.barhoum @ wanadoo.fr