Himlaya
is a village of North Metn, standing at an altitude
of 2,500 or more feet, twenty miles from the Lebanese
capital Beirut and only three from the town of Bikfaya.
It is a quiet and picturesque village overlooking
a valley full of forests and verdure.
Some think that Himlaya was a Phoenician village,
while others think that its name can best be explained
by a word meaning a granary, a loft for the storing
of grain. Yet another explanation is that it is
a composite name once given by a princess who lived
in the Shouf further south and who during the fifteenth
century was forced to flee and seek refuge in North
Metn. The princess was named Lëa and her refuge
Hima, the two names together making Himlaya.
Nowadays the place is easy to reach; one takes the
North Metn high road, leaving Beirut and passing
through Bikfaya. It has become completely modernized,
with centers, buildings, churches and clubs to be
found everywhere, and new roads, water supply, electric
power, and telephone network, all of which together
make it attractive for visitors and especially those
with religious interests. Himlaya is a mainly Maronite
village that has given mankind a great saint, Saint
Rafca (1832-1914). The name of the village has been
practically merged with hers, which now stands for
the whole town.
Saint Rafca is present everywhere. There are statues
of her alongside the parish church and in the main
town square. Rocks together with alleyways have
been arranged to form a sanctuary for prayer where
one sees several representations of the saint telling
her whole life story. Her house stands as a place
of prayer with its little grotto and her place of
birth. There is a statue of Jesus Christ close by
an olive tree resplendent with the beauty of its
more than a thousand years. Rafca died however at
Jrebta in the region of Batroun.
Himlaya has another distinction, that of being the
birthplace of our present Maronite Patriarch, His
Beatitude Beshara Cardinal Butros ar-Raï. The
Maronites love the Holy Father the Pope, but their
patriarchs are also loved and revered, and are considered
by the Maronites as their temporal and spiritual
leaders. So now Himlaya has become not only a summer
resort but also a center of pilgrimage. Visitors
come from the four corners of the world to pray
here and to beg favors of Saint Rafca.
Joseph Matar
William Matar
Kenneth Mortimer
- Himlaya Saint Rafca 1: >> View
Movie << (2014-09-15)
- Himlaya Saint Rafca 2: >> View
Movie << (2014-09-15)
