Saint Rafqa Prayer for the Sick and Those Who Suffer
When someone we love is ill, or when our own body has become a place of pain, we look for a companion who understands. Not someone who will explain the suffering away, but someone who has walked through it and kept their peace. For Maronites, that companion is Saint Rafqa.
She is loved as the patron of the sick and of those who suffer, and especially of anyone whose eyes are failing. Her life makes her trustworthy. She did not pray about pain from the outside. She carried it in her own flesh for nearly thirty years, and she carried it with a serenity that still astonishes those who read her story.
Saint Rafqa, Patron of the Sick and Suffering
Saint Rafqa was born in Lebanon in 1832 and entered religious life as a Maronite nun. For many years she lived an ordinary, hidden life of prayer, teaching, and work in the monastery. Her holiness in those years was quiet and unremarkable to the eye.
The turning point came in 1885. Moved by love for Christ and a desire to be close to Him in His Passion, she prayed to share in some part of His sufferings. Almost at once, a severe pain began in her head and eyes, and it never truly left her.
Over the years that followed, her condition grew heavier. She lost her sight and became completely blind. In time she was nearly paralyzed, unable to move without help. Through it all, across roughly twenty-nine years of illness, she was known for her patience, her gratitude, and her refusal to complain.
She died in 1914, and was canonized on 10 June 2001 by Pope John Paul II. Her feast day is 23 March. Because of the way she suffered, Maronites turn to her for the sick, for those in long illness, and above all for those whose eyes are failing. You can read her full story in our life of Saint Rafqa.
It is important to say clearly what devotion to her means. Healing, when it comes, comes from God, granted through Saint Rafqa's prayers. She is asked to pray with us and for us, as a friend before God. No prayer guarantees a cure, and her own life shows that God's answer is sometimes deeper than the one we ask for.
Prayer to Saint Rafqa for the Sick
This prayer can be said for yourself or, aloud, over someone who is ill. Where there is a name, speak the name of the sick person.
Saint Rafqa, faithful daughter of Lebanon, in your long illness you never turned your face from God. You met each day of pain with trust and thanksgiving. Look now with tenderness upon [name], who is sick and afraid.
Ask the Lord, if it is His will, to bring healing to this body and rest to this weary heart. Where healing does not come, obtain the grace that carried you: patience without bitterness, peace within the pain, and the sure knowledge of being loved by God.
You who know suffering from the inside, do not let [name] feel alone. Stay near, pray with us, and lead this soul closer to Christ, who took our infirmities upon Himself. Amen.
Many pray this together with the Novena to Saint Rafqa, especially for a serious intention.
Prayer to Saint Rafqa for Healing of the Eyes
Saint Rafqa is turned to in a special way by those losing their sight. She knew that darkness, and she found light within it.
Saint Rafqa, you who lost the sight of your eyes and yet never lost sight of God, hear the prayer of all who fear the coming of darkness. You did not curse your blindness. You received it as a share in the Cross, and your soul stayed full of light.
Intercede for [name], whose eyes are weak and whose sight is failing. Ask the Lord, the giver of every good gift, to restore what can be restored and to protect what remains. If the darkness must come, ask that it come as it came to you, with grace enough to bear it and inner sight to see God still.
Teach us that the eyes of the heart matter most, and that no illness can close them to the love of God. Holy Rafqa, patron of those who suffer in their eyes, pray for us. Amen.
A Prayer for Those in Chronic Pain
For pain that does not go away, for illness that has become a long companion, this shorter prayer offers the sufferer to God in union with Saint Rafqa.
Saint Rafqa, friend of the suffering, you carried pain for years and made of it a gift of love. When my strength runs low and the days feel long, pray for me.
Help me to join what I endure to the sufferings of Christ, not because God delights in my pain, but because nothing I suffer need be wasted when it is placed in His hands. Ask for me the peace you knew, and the trust that God is near even now. Amen.
If the weight you carry is grief as much as pain, you may also find comfort in our prayer for grief.
Uniting Our Suffering with Christ
At the heart of Saint Rafqa's life is a truth that is easy to misunderstand, so it must be said carefully. She believed that suffering, when it comes, can be joined to the sufferings of Christ and offered to God as an act of love. This is what gave her pain its meaning.
This is offered as a comfort, never as a demand. The Church does not teach that the sick must suffer in silence, or that seeking relief shows weak faith. It is right to pray for healing, to seek medicine, and to ask for the pain to be taken away. Saint Rafqa herself received care from those around her.
What her life shows is that when suffering cannot be removed, it does not have to be empty. Placed in God's hands and united to Christ on the Cross, even pain can become a prayer. This is a gift the sufferer may accept, gently and freely, when they are ready, and not a burden laid on anyone who is already struggling to breathe.
For a Maronite prayer that gathers these longings for the ill, see our Maronite prayer for healing.
How and When to Pray to Saint Rafqa
There is no complicated method. You can pray to Saint Rafqa in your own words, at the bedside of someone you love, or quietly on your own. Speaking her name and asking her to pray with you is enough to begin.
Many people light a candle, sit for a moment in silence, and then say one of the prayers above. For a pressing intention, a novena of nine days is a beloved Maronite practice; you can follow the Novena to Saint Rafqa day by day. Her feast on 23 March is an especially fitting day to pray for the sick.
Prayer and medical care belong together. Anointing a loved one in prayer and continuing to seek proper treatment are not in conflict. Faithful Maronites have always done both, trusting God through the hands of doctors as well as through the prayers of the saints.
Saint Rafqa is not the only Maronite intercessor for the sick. Many pair her intercession with the Saint Charbel prayer for the sick, another beloved patron of healing. Together they surround the suffering with the prayers of Lebanon's holy ones.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Saint Rafqa the patron saint of?
Saint Rafqa (1832-1914) is honored as a Maronite patron of the sick and of those who suffer, and she is especially associated with illnesses of the eyes because of her own blindness. After asking in 1885 to share in the sufferings of Christ, she bore nearly twenty-nine years of illness, blindness, and near-total paralysis with remarkable patience and peace. People in chronic pain, the seriously ill, and those losing their sight turn to her as a friend who understands their trial.
Is there a prayer to Saint Rafqa for the sick?
Yes. A simple prayer asks God, through the intercession of Saint Rafqa, to grant healing, relief, and peace to a sick person, and to give them the same trust in God that she had. Devotees pray in their own words or with a set prayer, often adding a Hail Mary or an Our Father, and asking Saint Rafqa to carry their intention to God. Healing comes from God, granted through her prayers, and is never guaranteed.
Why is Saint Rafqa invoked for eye illness?
Saint Rafqa gradually lost her sight and became completely blind in the later years of her long illness. Because she endured this loss with such peace and never complained, Maronites naturally turn to her for those suffering from diseases of the eyes and failing sight. She is asked to pray for physical healing where God wills it, and always for the inner light and patience she herself received in her blindness.
How do I pray to Saint Rafqa for a sick loved one?
Speak to God about the person you love and ask Saint Rafqa to pray with you for them. You can light a candle, hold a moment of silence, and say a prayer for the sick in your own words or from a set text, naming the person and their need. Many pray a novena of nine days for a serious intention. Continue to seek proper medical care alongside prayer; the two belong together, not in tension.
What is Saint Rafqa's feast day?
Saint Rafqa's feast day is celebrated on 23 March. She was canonized on 10 June 2001 by Pope John Paul II. Her feast is a fitting day to pray for the sick and suffering, to ask her intercession for those in chronic pain or losing their sight, and to thank God for the witness of her patient endurance.
See also: Saint Rafqa. Novena to Saint Rafqa. Saint Charbel Prayer for the Sick. Prayer for Grief. Maronite Prayer for Healing. Maronite Saints.