Kfifane, mid-nineteenth century

Saint Nimatullah Kassab Al Hardini (1808–1858), monk of the Lebanese Maronite Order and professor at the monastery of Kfifane, lived precisely at the time when the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed. Immersed in the Maronite Divine Office, he prayed day and night with texts that praise Mary as pure, holy and full of grace.

When news of the dogma reached Lebanon, Hardini received it with eager faith. Contemporary testimonies and Vatican biographies record that he loved the mystery of the Immaculate Conception and that he often added, after the Angelus, the simple invocation: "Blessed be the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin."

This small phrase says much. Hardini was living in a Lebanon marked by unrest and conflict. By blessing the Immaculate Conception, he placed Mary's spotless purity as a counter-sign in a wounded land.

Hardini also taught a spirituality of the hidden life. He insisted that the monk who perseveres humbly in community, day after day, pleases God more than the one who seeks extraordinary exploits in solitude.

From Kfifane to Annaya

Among Hardini's students was a young monk named Youssef Makhlouf, the future Saint Charbel (1828–1898). He received his formation at Kfifane under Hardini's guidance and carried his teacher's Marian devotion into the silence of the hermitage at Annaya.

Charbel left very few written words, but the memory of his contemporaries shows how deeply he lived under the protection of Mary. In the traditional Maronite reading of Genesis 3:15, the Virgin stands in unbreakable enmity with the serpent. Charbel embodied this conviction in his own spiritual combat.

Charbel spent long hours in adoration before the Eucharist, letting this light purify his own mind and heart. In this sense, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was for him not only a doctrine, but a living light. Mary, all holy from the first moment, reflected the holiness of her Son in the silence of his hermitage.

From the Mariamettes to the Lebanese Maronite Order

Saint Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès (1832–1914) reveals another face of the Immaculate Conception: its connection with redemptive suffering. Before entering the Lebanese Maronite Order, she belonged for many years to the congregation commonly called the Mariamettes. From the beginning of her religious life, her vocation unfolded under the sign of this mystery.

Later, as a cloistered nun, Rafqa asked to share more closely in the Passion of Christ. Her prayer was heard in a radical way. She gradually lost her sight, experienced intense pain in her head and became almost entirely paralyzed. Yet the sisters who lived with her speak of her serenity, her smile and the light on her face when she spoke of Jesus and Mary.

The Immaculate Mother is also the Sorrowful Mother. Mary's absence of sin did not spare her from suffering; it deepened it, because her heart loved with a perfect love. Rafqa followed this path. Her physical darkness became a place where the inner light of grace could shine more clearly.

Kfifane again: the field and the workshop

Blessed Stephen (Estephan) Nehmé (1889–1938), born Youssef Nehmé, entered the monastery of Kfifane where Saint Nimatullah had lived. In this same community soil that had formed Hardini and Charbel, Stephen learned simplicity of heart, love of work and deep devotion to the Mother of God.

His entire spiritual life can be summarized in his short motto: "God sees me." The Immaculate Conception is, in a sense, the fruit of this divine gaze. Stephen allowed that same gaze to shape his daily choices. He guarded his eyes and his words to remain transparent before God.

Stephen worked with his hands in the fields and construction sites. Those who labored beside him recall that he prayed the Rosary almost without interruption. Under the Lebanese sun, among olive trees and stones, he repeated again and again "Hail Mary, full of grace." For him, this was a way of drawing breath from the mystery of the Immaculate Conception in the very ordinariness of work.