Mariam Baouardy facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified القديسة مريم بواردي OCD
Photo c. August 1875.
Virgin
Born	Maryam Baouardy 5 January 1846 I'billin, Ottoman Syria
Died	26 August 1878 (aged 32) Bethlehem, Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem
Venerated in	Catholic Church
Beatified	13 November 1983, Saint Peter's Square by Pope John Paul II
Canonized	17 May 2015, Saint Peter's Square by Pope Francis
Feast	26 August

Mariam of Bethlehem

Mariam Baouardy (Arabic: مريم بواردي), also known as Mary of Jesus Crucified, was born on January 5, 1846. She was a Discalced Carmelite nun from the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Mariam was born to a Palestinian family in the Galilee region. She was known for helping people in need.

Mariam also became a Christian mystic. This means she had special spiritual experiences. She also experienced the stigmata, which are marks on the body like the wounds of Jesus. The Catholic Church later made her a saint.

Her journey to becoming a saint was completed on December 6, 2014. This was when a final miracle needed for her sainthood was officially recognized. On February 14, 2015, Pope Francis announced she would become a saint on May 17, 2015. She was officially made a saint at the Vatican.

Life Story

Early Years

Mariam Baouardy was born on January 5, 1846, in a village called Hurfeish in the Galilee area of Palestine. Her family later moved to I'billin. Her parents were Giries Baouardy and Mariam Chahine. Mariam was their 13th child and their first daughter. Sadly, all her older brothers had died as babies. Her parents had prayed for a child and made a long trip to Bethlehem. When Mariam was born, they named her after the Virgin Mary. Two years later, she had a brother named Boulos.

When Mariam was not yet three years old, her parents died from an illness in 1848. Mariam and her brother were then separated. Mariam went to live with her uncle in the same village. Her brother went to live with an aunt. They never saw each other again. Mariam grew up in a loving home. Even as a child, she was very religious. At age five, she started to fast on Saturdays to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary.

When Mariam was eight, her uncle and his wife moved to Alexandria, Egypt. Five years later, in 1858, when she was 13, her uncle arranged for her to marry his wife's brother. This was a common tradition at the time. The night before the wedding, Mariam felt a strong call from God not to marry. She felt she should give her life to God instead. When she told her uncle, he became very angry and treated her badly. But Mariam stayed firm in her decision.

Mariam felt sad and lonely. She wrote to her brother, who was living in Nazareth, asking him to visit. The young servant she asked to deliver the letter found out why she was sad. He then tried to convince her to marry him and become a Muslim. Mariam said no. This made the young man very angry. He attacked her with a knife and left her in an alley.

Mariam later said that a "nun dressed in blue" saved her. This nun took her to a cave she could never find again. The nun stitched her wounds and cared for her for a month. Mariam's voice was affected for the rest of her life because of the cut. After she recovered, she found work as a house helper for a Christian family.

After a year, Mariam decided to try and find her brother. She traveled to Jerusalem. There, she felt inspired to promise to always be a virgin at the Holy Sepulchre. She then took a boat from Jaffa to go to Acre. But bad weather made the boat stop in Beirut. Mariam saw this as a sign from God and got off the boat. She found work as a maid there. Later, she suddenly became blind for 40 days, then her sight returned just as suddenly. Not long after, she had a bad fall and was thought to be dead. Her employer cared for her for a month until she was fully healed.

Life as a Nun

In May 1863, someone helped Mariam move to Marseille, France. There, she worked as a cook for a family. She felt called to join a group of nuns. After being turned away by some groups, she was accepted in May 1865 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition. This was when she started to experience the stigmata, which are special marks on her body like the wounds of Jesus.

After two years, the sisters voted on whether Mariam could fully join their group. She was rejected. However, one of the leaders, Mother Veronica, was moving to a Carmelite monastery in Pau. She invited Mariam to come with her. In June 1867, both women went to Pau. There, Mariam became a Carmelite nun and was given the name Mary of Jesus Crucified.

In 1870, Mariam went with the first group of Carmelite nuns to Mangalore, India. She served there for two years before returning to Pau. In November 1871, she made her final promises to God. In September 1875, she helped start a new Carmelite monastery in Bethlehem. This was the first Carmelite monastery in that area. She lived there until she died. Throughout her life, she often experienced moments of deep spiritual connection, called religious ecstasy.

In April 1878, Mariam helped identify the Biblical place called Emmaus Nicopolis. She did this through a special spiritual insight. She died on August 26, 1878, in Bethlehem. She had an illness that started after a fall she had while working.

Becoming a Saint

Mariam Baouardy's spiritual writings were approved by church leaders in 1924. Her path to sainthood officially began in 1927. She was declared Venerable in 1981. Then, Pope John Paul II declared her beatified on November 13, 1983. Finally, Pope Francis made her a saint on May 17, 2015.

In her hometown of I'billin, a kindergarten, the Miriam Bawardi Elementary School, and a junior high school are named after Mariam Baouardy.

See also

• Emmaus Nicopolis
• Elias Chacour