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Lebanese Christians remember Br Estephan, the mountain monk
As Lebanese Christians process to the mountain monastery that was once home to Br Estephan Nehmé, its superior tells Vatican News that “the prayer of these crowds will make him a saint.”
By Joseph Tulloch – Kfifan, Lebanon
The motto of Br Estephan Nehmé, the humble Lebanese monk beatified by Pope Benedict in 2010, was Allah Yarani, or ‘God sees me’.
On Saturday, 27th June, the slogan was printed on banners carried in procession through the Lebanese mountains. The marchers, who were headed to the monastery in Kfifan where Br Estephan spent much of his life, were marking the 16th anniversary of his beatification. Someday soon, they hope to see him canonised.
“We are praying for him to be a saint,” the superior of the monastery, Fr Estephan Farah, told Vatican News. “[Br Nehmé] performs many miracles.” The monk, who died in 1938, “is living among us”, Fr Farah said. “The prayer of these crowds will make him a saint.”
Students attend the march (© Kfifan Monastery/Antonio El Helou/Georges Mourad)
The group, composed mainly of local Christians but also including a small Muslim contingent, had set off from the northern city of Batroun at midday. The marchers walked uphill into the mountains for over five hours, carrying Lebanese flags and images of Br Estephan. More joined their ranks with every village they passed, so that by the time the group arrived in Kfifan it numbered well over a thousand.
When he lived in this mountain monastery, Br Estephan dedicated himself to manual labour, in the fields and in construction, gaining a reputation for simplicity and humility. “Brother Estephan today tells us to live simply in the everydayness of life”, Fr Farah said. “What he lived every day was prayer, work, being faithful to his vocation.”
In his homily for the Mass that followed the march, the Maronite Eparch of Batroun, Bishop Munir Khairallah, compared Br Estephan’s spirituality with that of the St Charbel Makhlouf: “an ascetic spirituality that relies on a direct relationship with God in prayer, austerity, and working the land”.
Participants in the march carry the Lebanese flag (© Kfifan Monastery/Antonio El Helou/Georges Mourad)
Br Estephan, he said, “took a motto for himself, ‘God sees me,’ and spent his life constantly looking up to heaven in prayer”.
The march came as Israel continued deadly strikes on southern Lebanon. Among those present were four Italian army officers from MIBIL, the country’s bilateral military mission in Lebanon, who Bishop Khairallah thanked for their contribution to “promoting peace in Lebanon and across the Middle East”.
Reflecting on the faith displayed by the hundreds of marchers, Fr Farah said that it “tells us that peace is what we want. The message of saints is to be gathered not for war, but for peace.”
The faithful gathered to honour Br Estephan (© Kfifan Monastery/Antonio El Helou/Georges Mourad)
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