Saint Mariam Baouardy is a figure who leaves no one indifferent. The events that marked her life speak of an exceptional woman, capable of following her vocation even at the risk of being killed. The simplicity with which she lived, amazed by the mystical gifts she received, makes her a truly remarkable example of humility. Let us discover more about Sister Maria of Jesus Crucified, the name by which she is better known.
The birth
Mariam was born in Abellin, near Nazareth, on January 5, 1846, into a poor Greek Catholic family of faith. Before her, her parents, George and Maria, had lost 12 sons at a very young age. She was baptized ten days after her birth and, according to Greek Catholic custom, also received Confirmation. Two years later, Bolulos (Paul) was born. The children were orphaned shortly afterward. Paul was adopted by a maternal aunt in Tarshiba, in Galilee, while Mariam was entrusted to a paternal uncle, who moved to Alexandria, Egypt, in 1854, taking her with him.
A firm “no”
When she was about thirteen, according to the customs of the time, it was time for her to marry. A young man from Cairo was chosen for her, but she was determined not to marry and, to make herself unacceptable, cut her hair. Her uncle flew into a rage at his niece's act and, in a moment of anger, slit her throat and abandoned her in the street between September 7 and 8, 1858.
A mysterious nurse
After being injured, she faints and, when she awakens, finds herself in a cave where she is rescued and cared for for many weeks by a mysterious woman dressed in blue. She herself would later state with certainty that she had received care from the Virgin Mary, who told her what her future life would be and led her to the Church of Saint Catherine to confess. After that incident and the miracle of her healing, she was left with a deep scar on her neck, and her voice would remain hoarse forever.
Mystical gifts
The young woman decides to leave the area where her uncle lives. She works as a domestic servant for several families in Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Beirut. The Attala family, whom she serves in Beirut, takes her with them to Marseille in 1863. In this city, the rector of the Greek Melkite Church provides her with spiritual guidance and, during the same period, she begins experiencing apparitions and ecstatic raptures, eventually receiving the gift of the stigmata. She decides to join the Sisters of Saint Joseph, but can remain there for only two months because the sisters, troubled by the young woman's mystical signs, are unable to discern the situation calmly.
Finally home
On June 15, 1867, she enters the Carmelite convent in Pau; unable to learn to read, the community is forced to have her follow the path of a lay sister. Here she can live out her vocation, but she herself remains troubled by what she experiences: ecstasies, levitations, demonic and angelic possessions, and stigmata. She feels ill, feels that something is wrong with her, and her fellow sisters, with great love and discretion, accompany her on this extraordinary journey. In 1870 she is in India for the founding of the first Carmelite convent in Mangalore, and in November 1872 she returns to the Carmelite convent in Pau; in August 1875 she travels with other sisters to Bethlehem, where the first Carmelite monastery is founded.
Here, on August 26, 1878, she dies at just 33 years of age. Saint Mariam Baouardy's entire life unfolds amid extraordinary events that she, in her simplicity, thought were illnesses. Everywhere she lives, she leaves the mark of exemplary humility and holiness of life, earning the respect of both Christians and Muslims. “The little nothing,” as she liked to call herself, remains for us an example of evangelical life still capable of warming the heart!
