Louis Massignon and Mariam Baouardy (Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified) a Palestinian Saint for Our Time
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Louis Massignon and Mariam Baouardy (Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified) A Palestinian Saint for Our Time by Dorothy C. Buck In his letters to members of the Carmelite of Bethlehem” and saw her future Badaliya prayer community Louis Massignon beatification as a mission and means to (1883-1962) often mentions a young Melkite assuring the safety of Holy places. She was Carmelite nun known as “The Little Arab”. one of those compassionate holy women, often Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified lived from referred to as victim-souls who were called by 1846 to 1878. She died at the age of 33 in the God to substitute themselves for others by Carmelite Monastery in Bethlehem. On taking on their woundedness and pain that they November 13, 1983 she was beatified, the first may be protected. This litany of women, which step in the process of officially being named a included Joan of Arc, were Massignon’s saint by the Roman Catholic Church. saintly heroines for God. Born in the 19th The Badaliya prayer group was century, the little Arab was one of them. The established in 1934 in Cairo, Egypt and was word “badaliya” in Arabic means dedicated to praying and working toward what ‘substitution’ and Massignon was inviting its Massignon called “serene peace” between dedicated Christian members to offer Christians and Muslims. At the time there were themselves in this spirit as they found more violent conflicts in many parts of the world as and more ways to enter into compassionate there are today. The Badaliya was praying for relationship with their Muslim neighbors, peace in North Africa, specifically in Algeria coming to know them and their spiritual and Egypt, and Massignon was particularly tradition by sharing life with them. concerned about the religious and political Massignon’s appreciation for the little tensions in the Holy Land. He was very much Arab Carmelite can be more clearly understood affected by Gandhi who was a witness to the in light of his own spiritual journey. From the effectiveness of non-violent resistance in the moment in Baghdad in 1908 that led to his struggle for independence in India. Massignon profound experience of religious conversion, believed with his whole heart in the efficacy of his first anguished prayer to God was in prayer, non-violence, mutual respect and Arabic. Although he returned to the Roman understanding as the means to “serene Catholic faith of his childhood, his many years peace”. His approach to life, and, therefore, to of association with the Arab world as an relationships between peoples, was first and Islamic Studies and Sociology professor at the foremost as a devout believer in God. It was Collège de France in Paris and as a member of that relationship that informed his vision of the Arab Academy in Cairo contributed to his fraternal love and respect for others. His was a greatest desire, which was to be able to worship mystical path leading to true reconciliation. in the Arabic language. Massignon spoke In his letters Massignon refers to privately to Pope Pius XII in 1949 in order to Mariam Baouardy as the “ little Arab inform the Holy See about the conflictual 1 situation in Palestine and the difficulties arising When Mariam entered religious life around the Holy places. In a gesture of she looked back on her childhood experiences solidarity with the Arab world and Islam, and remembered playing in the garden with Massignon received permission from the pope some birds that were given to her in a cage. In to transfer to the Greek Melkite Rite. The her enthusiasm she tried to give them a bath liturgical language for the Mass used in this and they drowned. At the moment when she Rite is Arabic, like that used by all Muslims in was sadly preparing to bury them she heard a their worship. One year later Massignon was voice, “Everything finishes in this way, but if ordained as a Melkite priest in order to you will give me your heart I will be yours celebrate Mass privately every day in Arabic, forever”. From then on her religious call was uniting himself in spirit still further with both already being formed. By the time her uncle his Christian and Muslim brothers and sisters moved the family to Alexandria, Egypt when in the Middle East. To him this spiritual unity she was 12 years old she had chosen to expressed the true spirit of the Badaliya identify with the Virgin Mary, for whom she movement. was named, and remain a virgin herself. Her Mariam Baouardy was born in a small heart belonged to Jesus. A year later when her village in Galilee, Palestine on January 5, 1846. uncle told her that he had arranged a marriage Although her parents were both born in for her as was the custom among Christians Palestine her ancestors came from Damascus and Muslims in Palestine and Egypt at the in Syria and were members of the Melkite time, Mariam refused. She wanted to remain a Greek Catholic Rite. Mariam’s mother gave virgin. Not even the Greek Melkite Bishop birth to 12 boys, none of whom survived past could persuade her to change her mind. Her infancy. In their sadness at their losses the uncle’s response was to punish her by treating couple went to Bethlehem and prayed to the her like hired help, giving her the heaviest Virgin Mary at the shrine at the Grotto of the work. Nativity of Jesus for a healthy girl child. When Several months later Mariam hoped to Mariam was born they named her after the find her brother who she had not seen since Virgin Mother in gratitude. Two years later their parents died so many years before. She Mariam’s brother, Boulos, or Paul, was born. had a letter written to Boulos asking him to When Mariam was not yet 3 years old both her come to Alexandria. On September 7, 1858 a parents died. Paul was taken to an aunt in former Muslim employee of her uncle’s was Tarshiha where his mother was raised and travelling to Galilee and she asked him to Mariam went to live with her father’s brother deliver the letter. Hearing about her painful in Ibillin, in the hills of Galilee. As was the experience with her family he became irate and custom at the time in Palestine, Arab girls were suggested that she become a Muslim to solve expected to learn about household tasks in her difficulties. Her firm refusal caused the preparation for being married by the age of 12, young man to feel rejected and his anger led so Mariam was not sent to school. She did not him to draw his sword and slash her neck. learn to read or write. Thinking he had killed her he threw her body 2 into an empty alley. Mariam was 13 years old "stigmata", wounds in their hands or feet or and the story of her survival was a miracle. She side like those of the suffering Christ during remembered a woman dressing her wounds the crucifixion. Mother Honorine realized that and caring for her in a grotto, then leaving her Mariam was an unusual postulant for this with the Franciscan Friars at the Church of St. convent and protected her through Mariam's Catherine. Later in her life when she recalled vow of obedience by setting limits on her this incident she was convinced that it was the ecstatic experiences to avoid her obvious gifts Virgin Mary who saved her. being too noticeable to the other sisters. She Mariam was intent on finding her also wrote down all that Mariam told her of her brother and took a job as a domestic in a local childhood experiences which were filled with household until she found a way to take a boat signs of the Holy Spirit at work. to Jaffa and then a boat bound for Haifa that When Mother Honorine became ill she landed in Beirut due to a storm. She continued was replaced as novice mistress by Mother to work as a domestic for 10 more months Veronica. Sr. Veronica had been a Sister of St. when she was hired by a Syrian family who Joseph for 18 years and was waiting for had immigrated to Marseilles. She worked for permission to enter a contemplative Carmelite the Naggiar family in France for the next two Monastery at Pau. She too took the little Arab's years until she was 18. Mariam’s confessor experiences seriously but asked that the was the Vicar of St. Nicolas Church and he stigmata not be repeated. When the community suggested that she now enter religious life as a voted whether to accept Mariam into the postulant with the Sisters of St. Joseph of the novitiate after her 2 years as a postulant the Apparition, an active community of Sisters. sisters were divided. Some felt her spiritual There were other young women from Lebanon gifts were too extraordinary for an active and Palestine there which helped her to feel at Order. Such unique souls needed the home. It was during her two years as a protection of a less visible cloistered postulant that Mariam began to be called "the contemplative community. Mariam's case was little Arab". refused. However at this time, Mother Veronica Mother Honorine Piques was the received her permission from Rome to transfer mistress of novices when Mariam came to the to the Carmel at Pau. She wrote to the Prioress convent. During her postulancy Mariam had there to see if Mariam could go with her to significant spiritual experiences that were Carmel.