Saint Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini

(His Life and Miracles)

Joseph Kassab was born in 1808. His father was Girgis Kassab, and his mother was Mariam Raad, daughter of the parish priest Youssef Yaacoub. He had four brothers, among them Elias and the hermit Elisha, who lived as a hermit first at the Monastery of Qozhaya and later at the hermitage of the Monastery of Annaya.

From his youth, Nimatullah was devout and God-fearing. His father sent him to the monks’ school at the Monastery of Houb, where he learned the basics of reading, writing, and the Syriac language.

By the age of twenty, Christ’s call had taken firm root in his heart. He went to the Monastery of Saint Anthony of Qozhaya and entered the novitiate in November 1828. There he took a new name and became Brother Nimatullah.

At the monastery, he learned the craft of bookbinding and became highly skilled at it. The novitiate lasted two years. If, during that time, the novice proved suited to religious life, he was permitted to profess his vows, receive the monastic habit, and become a full member of the Order.

When Nimatullah completed his two years of formation, he made his first vows on November 14, 1830.

Brother Nimatullah was then sent to the Monastery of Saint Cyprian in Kfifane, home to the theological school where seminarians were trained.

After completing his priestly studies, he was ordained a priest by Bishop Simon Zouein, Patriarchal Vicar, by order of Patriarch Joseph Hobeiche, on December 25, 1833.

He was elected Assistant General to the council of the Order three times in succession. Alongside this responsibility, he continued teaching children in the Order’s schools and theology to seminarians. Among his students was Saint Charbel.

Father Nimatullah was a man of prayer and deep devotion, with a particular love for the Blessed Sacrament and the Virgin Mary. Day and night, he never ceased praying, meditating, and communing with God.

In times of trial and confusion, he would hurry to the church, kneel before the statue of the Virgin Mary, and ask for her help.

Al-Hardini never considered any task beneath him and never once refused an order. On the contrary, he was an active and zealous worker, always ready to help a brother in need.

For this reason, he was respected by his superiors and loved by his fellow monks and by all who knew him. He offered all his work as a prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ.

In December 1858, while at the Monastery of Saint Cyprian, he was exposed to the cold northern wind, which was considered dangerous at the time. He fell ill, and a high fever confined him to bed.

He remained silent and peaceful, thanking God for his condition. The medicines prescribed for him brought no improvement, and the doctors eventually gave up hope of his recovery.

His suffering increased day by day and gradually weakened his body. Father Nimatullah endured three severe attacks over the course of ten days.

At midnight on Tuesday, December 14, 1858, during the last of these attacks, he surrendered his spirit to God at the age of fifty.

As his pure soul was leaving his body, he sat up in bed, held an image of the Virgin Mary in his hands, and murmured:

“O Mary, I entrust my soul to you.”

Then he lay back and gave up his spirit.

After his death, eyewitnesses reported that a light shone from the place where he had been buried. This extraordinary phenomenon was repeated several times during the night.

Before long, the fragrance of his holiness spread throughout Lebanon. People flocked to visit his tomb, seek blessings, and ask for his intercession, and many miracles were reported.

Al-Hardini, deeply immersed in the mysteries of God, was said to have received from Him the gift of working miracles even during his lifetime.

After his death, he became known as the Saint of Kfifane and the Saint of Community Life.

People came in great numbers and with deep faith to witness these extraordinary signs, which seemed to herald the rise of another saint.

One of his spiritual directors, Father Raphael Bzaouni, said that he saw a ray of light come forth from Nimatullah’s mouth at the moment his pure soul left his body.

Less than a year after his burial, the superiors decided to open the grave and gather his remains so they would not become mixed with those of the other deceased monks.

To their astonishment, his body was found intact and incorrupt, with no unpleasant odour and no visible change.

Patriarch Massaad then ordered that the body be placed in a separate coffin and kept in the common burial vault, where it remained until 1862.

With the blessing of Patriarch Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, the process investigating the miraculous healing of André Najm was opened.

The case was accepted by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome, and the cardinals of the Congregation unanimously recognized the miracle before Pope John Paul II.

Accordingly, Pope John Paul II beatified Father Nimatullah Al-Hardini at the Vatican on May 10, 1998.

Six years later, on May 16, 2004, Pope John Paul II canonized him.

Some of His Miracles During His Earthly Life

Knowledge of Hidden Things

– While kneeling in prayer, he called the monastery herdsman and told him to remove the monastery’s cows from the barn immediately. No sooner had the herdsman done so than the entire barn collapsed.

Multiplication of Provisions

– When Father Bernard, superior of the Monastery of Qattara, learned that the monastery’s provisions were almost exhausted, he called Father Nimatullah and asked him to go into the storeroom and see what was needed.

Al-Hardini stood at the door of the storeroom, said a short prayer, and blessed it. Then he took a little water, blessed it, and sprinkled it over the sacks.

A short while later, the steward came to see what remained and found the sacks full. He began shouting at the top of his voice:

“A miracle! A miracle!”

Miracles After His Death

– In 1891, doctors were unable to cure the future Father Mansour Awwad, who was still a child at the time. With the medical means available to them, they told his parents that sooner or later he would die.

But his parents did not despair. With faith, they asked for Father Nimatullah’s intercession to save their child.

God heard their prayer and granted Mansour healing. In thanksgiving, Mansour later consecrated himself to God in the priesthood.

– After an accident, John Chahwan suffered devastating injuries. His brain tissue was exposed, and his intestines had become entangled around the wheels of a bicycle.

When he was believed to be dead, his mother told the doctors that her son was still alive, even though they had given up hope:

“This is what Al-Hardini has assured me.”

After some time, every organ returned to its place without medical intervention.

– Mariam Antoun, who worked doing laundry at the Monastery of Kfifane, said that she had completely lost her sight. She asked for the saint’s intercession, and her prayer was answered.

– A Druze woman who had no children feared that her husband would divorce her if she did not bear him a child.

On the advice of a Maronite neighbour, she vowed that if she had a child, she would visit the Saint of Kfifane.

God granted her a son, but her husband refused to allow her to fulfil her vow, and the boy died.

She made the vow again and later gave birth to another son. Once again, her husband refused to allow the visit, and the child died.

She then had a third son, who became seriously ill. This time she begged her husband to accompany her so that she could fulfil her vow at the saint’s tomb.

On the way, the child’s body became cold, but she would not allow her husband to carry him, fearing that he would discover what had happened.

After two and a half hours, they reached Kfifane. She placed her child beneath the saint’s coffin and went outside, weeping.

Then a monk called her and told her to come and take her child because he was crying.

She ran to him, held him to her breast, and cried out that the saint had given her child back to her from death.

– André Najm was born in 1966 in excellent health. In June 1986, however, he began to suffer from extreme weakness and nervous exhaustion and became unable to walk even a short distance.

After examinations in Lebanon and abroad, doctors diagnosed him with severe anaemia caused by bone marrow failure. His condition required repeated blood transfusions and a bone marrow transplant.

A transplant was not possible, however, because he had no brothers or sisters who could serve as suitable donors.

The doctors eventually gave up hope and suggested that his parents take him home to die.

But André’s faith, and the faith of his parents, proved stronger than despair.

On September 27, 1987, André went with his parents and friends to the tomb of the Venerable Father Nimatullah Al-Hardini.

He knelt before the tomb and cried out with complete faith:

“Through your intercession, Saint Nimatullah, obtain for me one drop of the Blood of Jesus in the Host, and I am certain that I will be healed.”

At once, he felt as though electric currents were passing through his veins and blood. He experienced a fire, a strength, and a peace unlike anything he had ever known before.

He began to walk and run on his own, without anyone’s assistance.

From that moment, André was healed and never again needed a blood transfusion.

This miracle was accepted in connection with the beatification of the Venerable Father Nimatullah Al-Hardini.