Novena to Saint Rafqa

A 9-day prayer for healing and strength in suffering · Maronite Catholic tradition

Saint Rafqa is the saint many people turn to when suffering has no easy name. She knew illness from the inside, living nearly three decades in blindness and pain, and she carried it all with a peace that still astonishes those who read her story. To pray a novena to her is to place your own suffering, or that of someone you love, into the hands of a woman who understands.

This page offers a complete nine-day novena to Saint Rafqa, written in a simple, reverent form you can pray at home. It includes an Opening Prayer to say each day, a short theme and petition for each of the nine days, and a Closing Prayer to end your time with her.

Who Is Saint Rafqa

Saint Rafqa, whose baptismal name was Rebecca Al-Rayes, was a Lebanese Maronite nun of the Lebanese Maronite Order who lived from 1832 to 1914. In 1885, moved by love for Christ, she prayed to share in his sufferings. In the years that followed she was struck by illness that never left her. She became blind and nearly paralyzed and remained so for about twenty-nine years, until her death, bearing it all with serene patience.

She died on March 23, 1914, at the monastery of Saint Joseph in Jrabta. She was beatified in 1985 and canonized on June 10, 2001, by Pope John Paul II, becoming the first Maronite woman to be declared a saint. Today she is honored as a patron of the sick and the suffering. You can read her full story in our biography of Saint Rafqa.

What Is a Novena

A novena is a devotion of prayer offered over nine consecutive days for a specific intention. The word comes from the Latin novem, meaning nine. The practice recalls the nine days the apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary spent in prayer between Christ's Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

What makes a novena different from a single prayer is its steadiness. Returning to the same intention for nine days shapes the heart. It teaches patience, deepens trust, and slowly draws us into God's own timing rather than our own. With Saint Rafqa, whose whole life was a long and patient offering, this rhythm feels especially fitting.

When to Pray the Novena to Saint Rafqa

You can pray this novena at any time of year. There is no season it is bound to and no wrong moment to begin. Most people start when a need presses on them: an illness, a diagnosis, a long recovery, or the quiet exhaustion of caring for someone who is sick.

Many choose to end the nine days on her feast, March 23, which means beginning around March 15. Ending a novena on a saint's feast day unites your prayer with the many others honoring her at the same time. But if a need is on your heart today, today is the right day to begin.

The Novena to Saint Rafqa

Begin each day with the Sign of the Cross. Name your intention, whether healing for yourself, for someone you love, or the grace to carry a suffering you cannot change. Then pray the Opening Prayer, the petition for that day, and the Closing Prayer. You may add an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be.

Opening Prayer (say each day)

Saint Rafqa, faithful daughter of Lebanon, you asked to share in the sufferings of Christ and received them with open hands. For long years you carried blindness and pain in silence, and never let bitterness enter your heart. Teach me to trust God as you trusted him. Look kindly on me today, and carry my intention to the Lord, who healed the sick and loved the poor. Amen.

(State your intention.)

The Nine Days

Each day carries a theme to reflect on and a short petition to pray after the Opening Prayer.

Day 1 · Trust in God's will. Saint Rafqa, you gave your whole life to God without asking why. Petition: Help me to say, as you did, "Let it be as God wills," and to mean it from my heart.

Day 2 · Patience in suffering. You bore decades of illness without complaint. Petition: Teach me patience in what I cannot change, and keep bitterness far from me.

Day 3 · Healing of the body. You knew pain and weakness in your own flesh. Petition: Intercede for the healing of this body, mine or the one I name, according to God's mercy.

Day 4 · Light in darkness. You lived long years in blindness, yet your soul stayed full of light. Petition: When my way is dark, be a light for me, and help me see God's nearness.

Day 5 · Peace of heart. Your face remained serene through the hardest years. Petition: Give me peace in the middle of my trouble, the peace that does not depend on things going well.

Day 6 · Union with Christ crucified. You joined your suffering to the Cross of Jesus. Petition: Help me to offer my pain with yours and his, so that nothing I carry is wasted.

Day 7 · Strength for the weary. You were nearly paralyzed, yet your spirit never gave up. Petition: Strengthen me when I am tired, and lift me when I want to give in.

Day 8 · Compassion for the sick. You are a patron of all who suffer in body. Petition: Make me tender toward the sick and the suffering, and pray for those who have no one to pray for them.

Day 9 · Hope of heaven. Your long night ended in the joy of God. Petition: Fill me with hope that suffering is not the end, and that God keeps a place of rest for those who trust him.

Closing Prayer

Saint Rafqa, I have come to the end of these nine days, and I place my intention once more in your hands. I do not ask that everything go as I wish, but that God's will be done in me as it was done in you. If it pleases him, grant the healing I long for. If he asks me to carry this cross a while longer, give me your patience and your peace to carry it. Pray for me, dear Saint Rafqa, that whatever comes, I may remain close to God until the end. Amen.

(Conclude with the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.)

How to Pray It

You need nothing special to pray this novena. A few quiet minutes and a willing heart are enough. Here is a simple way to keep it.

Choose your intention before you begin. Name clearly what you are asking for: healing, patience, peace, or strength for yourself or another.
Pray at the same time each day. Morning or evening, whatever you can keep. A steady rhythm helps the novena take root.
Begin with the Sign of the Cross and your intention. Speak it aloud or hold it silently.
Pray the Opening Prayer, the day's petition, and the Closing Prayer. On the final day, use the full Closing Prayer above.
If you miss a day, simply pray twice the next day. You do not need to start over. God sees the sincerity of your heart.

Pray with trust rather than pressure. A novena is not a way of forcing God's hand. It is a way of staying close to him, and to Saint Rafqa, while you wait.

Saint Rafqa, Companion in Suffering

What sets Saint Rafqa apart is not that she escaped suffering but that she walked all the way through it without losing her peace. She did not pretend the pain was small. She simply refused to let it separate her from God. That is why she is such a gentle companion to the sick, the grieving, and the exhausted.

Healing, when it comes, is always the gift of God. Saint Rafqa does not act by a power of her own; she prays with us and for us, as a friend who stands before God on our behalf. Some who pray this novena receive the healing they ask for. Others receive something quieter and just as real: the strength to keep going, and a peace they cannot explain.

If your suffering is of the body, you may also wish to pray the Saint Rafqa prayer for the sick. If your heart is heavy with loss, the prayer for grief may bring comfort, and when you feel your strength failing, the prayer for strength is a good companion. Whatever you carry, you do not carry it alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you pray a novena to Saint Rafqa?

You pray the novena to Saint Rafqa over nine consecutive days. Each day, find a quiet place, make the Sign of the Cross, name your intention, and pray the Opening Prayer, the day's petition, and the Closing Prayer. Many add an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be. What matters most is a sincere heart and perseverance across all nine days.

What is Saint Rafqa the patron saint of?

Saint Rafqa is honored as a patron of the sick and the suffering, and she is especially invoked for illnesses of the eyes and for those in physical pain. Having spent about twenty-nine years blind and nearly paralyzed while offering her suffering to God, she is turned to by people carrying long or hidden illnesses who ask for healing, patience, and strength.

When should I pray the Saint Rafqa novena?

You can pray the novena to Saint Rafqa at any time of year, whenever you or someone you love needs healing, comfort, or strength in suffering. Many choose to end the nine days on her feast, March 23, so the novena begins around March 15. Others simply begin the moment a need arises.

Can I pray the novena for someone who is sick?

Yes. Praying the novena on behalf of a sick person is a beautiful act of intercession. At the start of each day, name the person and their need as your intention. Saint Rafqa, who understood physical suffering deeply, is a fitting companion to bring before God on behalf of the ill. Healing comes from God through her intercession, so pray with trust and without demanding a particular outcome.

What is Saint Rafqa's feast day?

Saint Rafqa's feast day is March 23, the anniversary of her death at the monastery of Saint Joseph in Jrabta in 1914. She was beatified in 1985 and canonized on June 10, 2001, becoming the first Maronite woman to be declared a saint.