Blessed Stephen Nehmé

Esțfān Nehmé (born Yūsuf Nehmé, Arabic: يوسف نعمة; 8 March 1889 – 30 August 1938), was a Lebanese Maronite professed religious from the Lebanese Maronite Order. Nehmé worked to alleviate people's pain during World War I through the distribution of food to those suffering from famine and was known for an intense devotion to the Mother of God. He worked in the fields of his convent and other monasteries and also worked in construction for a brief period, he became well known and other monasteries sought him to live with them for his spiritual insight and work ethic. Nehmé was beatified on 27 June 2010 in Lebanon. Yūsuf Nehmé was born on 8 March 1889 in Lehfed in Lebanon as the last of seven children to Estephanos Bou Haykal Nehmé and Christina Badawi Hanna Khaled. He had three male siblings and two female siblings. He was baptized on 15 March 1889 at the church of Our Lady in Lehfed; it was Father Gerges Fadel that baptized him. His father died in 1903. Nehmé studied under the Lebanese Maronite Order at the Our Lady of Grace school in Sakii Rishmaya. A tale from his childhood reports that he once observed a badger enter a cave; Nehmé dug at that spot and unearthed a spring which is known at present as the "Badger's Fountain". In 1905 he entered the novitiate of the Lebanese Maronite Order at the convent of Saints Cyprian and Justina in Kfifan. Nehmé made his monastic vows on 23 August 1907 in the name of Esțfan. He made his solemn vows as a professed religious on 13 April 1924. At various monasteries he did manual labor in the fields and gardens as well as working in construction and as a carpenter. Nehmé's contemporaries made special note of his constant repetition of the mantra: "God can see me". During World War I he distributed food to those suffering from famine. Nehmé died of a severe fever that led to a stroke at 7:00 p.m. on 30 August 1938 at the convent in Kfifan.