Saint Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas

Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas, OP (4 October 1843 – 25 March 1927) was a Palestinian Catholic nun who founded the Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of Jerusalem (the Rosary Sisters), the first Palestinian religious congregation. She was beatified by Archbishop Angelo Amato on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI in 2009. On 6 December 2014, Pope Francis recognized a miracle that had been attributed to her intercession, a requirement for her canonization. The date of her canonization was announced on 14 February 2015, and she was canonized on 17 May 2015. Born Soultaneh Maria Ghattas on 4 October 1843 to a Palestinian family in Jerusalem, she spent her whole life working among the poor of Palestine. Her early education was at a school in Jerusalem founded by the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition. At the age of 9, she received the sacrament of Confirmation. When she was 14, Ghattas joined the Congregation of St. Joseph of the Apparition as a postulant. Just before her 17th birthday, she received the holy habit of the Religious of St. Joseph of the Apparition and the name, Marie-Alphonsine. In 1862, after her vows, she was sent to teach catechism in Bethlehem. There she also established religious associations promoting devotion to Mary through the Rosary. In Bethlehem, she received several apparitions of Mary directing her to found a Palestinian congregation known as the "Sisters of the Rosary." In 1880 seven young girls prepared by Joseph Tannous, priest of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, received the religious habit of the new foundation from the hands of Patriarch Bracco. That same year, Ghattas received a dispensation from Rome to leave the community of the Sisters of St. Joseph and entered the new congregation. She received the habit from the hands of Bishop Pascal Appodia, auxiliary and patriarchal vicar, on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, 7 October 1883.