.................................Mother Marie Alphonsine.............................

Her biography

♦ "soultana" saw the light of day in the city of Jerusalem on october 4 1843. she was born to new life by the sacrament of baptism on November 19, 1843.

♦ She began school with sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition, where she learnt how to read and write. At the tender age 14, she heard the voice of the master calling her to follow him in the way of religious life.
♦ She answered the call, having deat with difficulties, most notably the refusal of her father, by her prayers and mortification.

♦ On june 30, 1860 she received the habit of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition and she took the name Sisters Marie-Alphonsine.

♦ In 1862, she took her first vows on mount Calvary and undertook her mission, the teaching catechism and she founding of confraternities for women and young girls.

She went to end fro between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

♦ The Heavenly Mother began to appear to her Bethlehem a number of times between 1874 and 1876.

♦ She asked her to found an indigenous congregation, carrying the name of "the Congregation of the Rosary"

♦ She responded to the call in the midst of the first apparition, presenting herself as an offering to Our Lady of the Rosary.

♦ With the help of the Founder, Father Joseph Tannous Yammine, she obtained authorization to separate herself from the Congregation of Saint Joseph in 1880 and remain in her family home.

♦ Three years later, she joined the new congregation and on October 6, 1883 she took the habit of Our Lady of the Rosary, conserving her religious name: "Mother Marie- Alphonsine". On March 7, 1885, she took her first vows in the new Congregation.

♦ Mother Marie-Alphonsine served within the Congregation for forty two years, going from one place to another, showing great humility, proving to be at the service of one and all and charitable while working in the missions and schools of the Latin Patriachate.

♦ She spent her old age time recting aloud, like a mystic, the permanent prayer of the rosary in order to satisfy the desire of the Holy Virgin.

♦ She died in an aura of sanctity on March 25, 1927 in Ein Karem while reciting the fourteenth decade of the rosary.

♦ After her death, her mysterious light began to radiate progressively. Everyone came to know who she had really been: that she had nurtured strong links with the Virgin Mary and that she had been the first Foundress, delegated by the Holy Virgin to found the Congregation of the Rosary with the aide of Father Joseph Tannous Yammine.
She bequeathed to us two precious manuscripts.


...................Her virtues and her achievements..................

— She spent her life passing from one place to another in order to found convents and schools destined for the education of young girls.

— It would be long and tedious to reproduce everything that was said about her by those who knew her. She lived in total silence, humility to the point of self effacement, simplicity, availability for service and charity even to the point of self denial.

— lived her vows with great love and was noted for her poverty and prompt obedience.

— Whereever she dwelt her action focused on:

♦ Teaching the basics of reading and writing;

♦ Teaching manual work: dressmaking, embroidery, making rosaries...;

♦ Founding confraternities for women and young girls;

♦ Teaching catechism and religious practice;

♦ Spreading the prayer of the rosary and stimulating a Marian spirit in homage of the Holy Virgin, Queen of the Rosary;

♦ She founded a workshop and an orphanage for young girls in Bethlehem.

...............Her sayings...............

• "What a beautiful mother, Mary! I am not able to describe her; ni Image resembles even a trace of her splendid beauty... Blessed whoever derives benefit eternally".

• "O my soul, put yourself into the hands of Mary, Queen of the Rosary".

• "Very often we were in need (of bread)... we rejoiced in such a sweet suffering for the love of God and our beloved Mother, Queen of the Rosary. Our consolation was immense through our extreme poverty".

• "I offered myself as a total offering for all that Divine Providence sought from me. There is nothing bad in all that I suffer because I am the victim of the Rosary".

• "O Lord Thus you manifest Yourself as generous and You console sinners who do not turn to You! In what consists Your charity towards Your friends and Your chosen ones? O Mary, my mother! Who understands you? Who realizes the quality of your compassion towards the daughters of your race, especially those who feel distraught in their lives?"

• "The virgin Mary placed in me an ardent devotion for Jesus, my Lord and my God, in the Blessed Sacrament, the recitation of the Rosary and the practice of the Way of the Cross".

• "My dear sister do you not know that we acquire Paradise by humility?"

• "Self Mortification brings immense graces, like prayer and modesty..."

• "O consolation of the soul, you who agitate the hearts of others for the love of God".

• "I die as a true Christian and a true Sister of the Rosary".

 

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