Jerusalem - In the corner of a pristine Jerusalem church, the tomb of Marie Alphonsine Ghattas looks out over just a small part of her legacy, days ahead of her canonisation in Rome.
A box under an altar holds her earthly remains, and Catholic worshippers have already scribbled prayers in Arabic to "Saint Marie Alphonsine", in a notebook placed next to her tomb in the chapel.
Ghattas and Mariam Bawardy, another nun born in the 19th century, are on Sunday to become the first modern-day Palestinian saints, at a ceremony Pope Francis will lead at the Vatican.
The canonisation has Palestinians buzzing with excitement, and president Mahmud Abbas is travelling to Rome to attend.
The Vatican said Wednesday it was preparing to sign its first accord with Palestine, two years after recognising it as a state, but the canonisation comes without political baggage.
Ghattas, through her focus on women's education and community work, left behind a network of convents, schools and religious centres -- a more palpable legacy than Bawardy, who lives on more through the memory of her tough and mysterious life.
The west Jerusalem church -- circular with stain-glass windows featuring an image of Ghattas -- is housed in a convent of the Rosary Sisters, the order that she founded for Arab women in 1880.
It is one of many Rosary Sisters institutions across the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and even further afield.
"Her message was to educate Arab women and girls," Sister Hortance Nakhleh said, sitting in the church of the Mamilla Monastery, below a large poster imploring their founder to "pray for us".
"The period she lived in was a difficult one for Arab women, and their education was very limited," Nakhleh said.
"This daughter of Jerusalem existed to educate Arab girls and mothers."
Ghattas was born in 1847 in the Holy City during its rule by the Ottoman Empire, and died there during the British mandate period in 1927.
AFP
