1. Nimatullah Kassab, known as "Al-Hardini" in reference to his birth village, was a Lebanese monk, priest and scholar of the Maronite Church.
18 Facts About Nimatullah Kassab
1. 2.
Nimatullah Kassab has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church.
3.
Nimatullah Kassab was born Youssef Kassab, in 1808 in the village of Hardine, in the North Governorate of Lebanon, one of the seven children of George Kassab and Marium Raad, the daughter of a priest of the Maronite Church.
4.
Nimatullah Kassab spent the period of his initial formation in the monastic life in frequent prayer, sometimes passing the night in prayer in the monastery church, praying to the Blessed Sacrament.
5.
Nimatullah Kassab made his religious profession of vows on 14 November 1830, after which he was sent to the Monastery of Saints Cyprian and Justina in Kfifan, in the Batroun District, to pursue higher studies in preparation for ordination, which took place on Christmas Day 1833.
6.
Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini founded a free school in Kifkan and later in Bhersaf.
7.
Nimatullah Kassab was severe on himself but a model of patience and forbearance to his fellow monks, to the point where he was reprimanded for his leniency.
8.
Nimatullah Kassab bore all this as part of the challenge of monastic life.
9.
Nimatullah Kassab declined, saying that community life was the true challenge for a monk.
10.
Nimatullah Kassab's body was then buried in a small chapel.
11.
Nimatullah Kassab is believed to have performed many miracles during his life due to his deep spirituality and his high virtues.
12.
Nimatullah Kassab then went to the boy's room and asked him to get up and serve mass.
13.
Nimatullah Kassab was thought to have once prayed over and blessed the provisions box at the monastery of El-Kattara which was almost empty.
14.
Saliba visited Nimatullah Kassab's tomb, praying and asking for his blessing.
15.
Nimatullah Kassab's doctors had abandoned all hope of a cure.
16.
Nimatullah Kassab woke up and started to feel both of his legs which were now full of blood and flesh, and after he stood up he found himself totally healed.
17.
The cause for Nimatullah Kassab's canonization began at the local level on 4 April 1929.
18.
Nimatullah Kassab was later canonized on Sunday, 16 May 2004, by the same pope.