Blessed Estephan's Prayer

Blessed Estephan was a good and pious monk, he prayed and meditated a lot, he was like an angel in the skin of a human, committed to prayer and to the adoration of the Holy Eucharist. He was in a state of continuous prayer, even when he was silent it was obvious that he was praying quietly. He repeated all day long the expression:”God can see me”. He was the first to enter the church for prayer and the last one to leave it, he always attended the morning and evening prayers with the believers without hesitation.

Whenever the priests and the students gathered at the church around the wooden pulpit, that he has made, to recite a liturgical office, brother Estephan knelt down on the floor to participate to the prayer.

Blessed Estephan was fulfilled with God’s graces, he was constantly praising and giving thanks to the Lord for everything, he prayed the very old and famous maronite hymn for the Virgin Mary: “O mother of God”. Father Youssef El Khoury testified:”It was very touching to hear his tender and lovely voice singing this prayer especially when he said: Intercede for us O Virgin.”

Statue of the virgin Mary at the monastery of Kfifane

Brother Charbel Nehme testified about him saying:”I came to the monastery of kfifane around the period of his last days and I worked with him, he encouraged me to become a monk. He was taking care of the cultivation of the summer vegetables like tomatoe, cucumber and others. He was alone at this task and worked hardly. He often prayed joyfully to the sacred heart of Jesus while working and he used to get caught by another world, he often took some time to respond whenever I called him.”