Fathi Baladi

Information from "A Star from the East" 

"Do you want to understand life? Hold a weeping infant in your arms. Dry the 
tears of a mother who has lost her child. Life is often hidden, but never 
completely disappears. Indeed, one can never forget past moments, nor the 
hours of childhood. One cannot forget those who have left us. Although they 
seem far from us, they are closer than ever, in silence, we hear their gentle 
voices; in their stillness , we see them in the act of moving. 
If you sometimes feel cold at night, look around you and notice those who are 
shivering even more than you, and you will be warmed. if you suffer hunger or 
thirst one day, look around you at those who are dying of hunger and thirst, 
and you will be calmed. Do not look for life in distant wonders, it is close 
to you in the very act of looking, it awaits you with arms outstretched, 
smiling, bearing the sheaf of wheat and heather of flower."

Fathi Baladi, the only son of a pious Christian family belonging to the 
Melkite-Greek Catholic Church, was born September 22, 1961 in Beirut, 
Lebanon.   Abboud Baladi, a bank manager, and his wife Nelly Medawar-Baladi, 
lived their Christianity with conviction, and passed this trait on to their 
three children: Nicole, Fathi, and Gina.

From the time he was a small child, Fathi saw life on earth as a gift given 
by God with a mandate for service to others. As a teenager, he wrote in his 
spiritual diary: I believe in one God, whom I love: the one and only great 
God, in whom one must believe; ... for those whose life is no more a joy I 
pray; to those who suffer, starve or die, I cry for them. Children of the 
world, I love you. O my God, I love Your! I swear You are great... I thank 
You, O God, for having created me, for having adorned me, and for having 
glorified me."

Fathi's childhood was characterized by his eagerness to learn.  He enjoyed 
school.  He loved to read, and catechism and art were his favorite subjects.  
From the age of six, he particularly loved to draw pictures of the Virgin.  

Fathi had a sweet, calm temperament, and was always obedient to his parents.  
Just like any other normal children, Fathi and his sisters shared their 
things and played together.  The rare times they squabbled, little Gina was 
usually the instigator.  Although she was also a good student, Gina loved to 
play and when her brother tried to ignore her, she took his things and hid 
them.  Even then, without becoming angry, he would try in a nice way to get 
her to leave him alone.  Sometimes he resorted to making a deal with her to 
keep her from pestering him.  Once he gave her some money telling her that if 
she went to buy him some chocolate bars he would give her one of them plus a 
dollar.  

Compassionate and helpful, Fathi enjoyed visiting the elderly and the sick 
with his father.  He enjoyed just talking and listening to them, kindly and 
respectfully.. 

A bright student, he was always willing to help his classmates with their 
homework. He was so willing, in fact, that when a friend didn't really care 
about his school work, Fathi offered to stay with him in the classroom during 
recess to help his friend do the assigned work. 

When the school asked the children to bring donations for the poor, Fathi 
asked his mother to let him take some of his good clothes, not just the worn 
out, old ones.  He also asked for some of her homemade jam because it was so 
tasty he knew the poor would enjoy it.  And, of course, he also would often 
also give his own pocket money.

When Fathi was a ten year old student at Holy Wisdom School in Beirut, his 
catechism tutor, who knew his soul, told him,  ''Fathi, one day you will be a 
great saint!'' 

Apparently, Fathi had begun to think of a vocation to the priesthood.  Twice 
he told his mother, "If I devote myself to the clerical life, I can 
accomplish great things."

Lebanon has been afflicted with a civil war for many years.  Fathi, like many 
of the Lebanese youth knew of the problems and prayed for their end.  He 
shared the common human discouragement, but he took the problems of his 
country to God in prayer.  Although he prayed for himself, his constant 
prayers were for others: " I think that the future is dark for I feel that 
the whole world is even more dark. I fear that the war will destroy both our 
hearts and our homes. One is sad for those who are loved. One must refuse to 
accept their death, their suffering, their exhaustion. One rebels; one is 
distraught; one grieves. Lord, hear this melody which is being sung; do not 
leave us like this, O You who are so great and powerful. Look upon us! Remain 
in us."

"One is saddened, yes, for it is necessary. One weeps, for it is necessary to 
weep. One is left desolate in order to be found. And you decline all this; 
nevertheless, it is joyful. The tears are beautiful; sadness is a path to 
You; and solitude is a hymn of glory to Your greatness and to man. "

"Lord, do not abandon me. Do not abandon those who suffer, those who are 
hungry, thirsty, those who are bound by the cruelty of men, those who are 
behind the bars of prison. Do not forget those who are loved, who are 
lamented, who see life as of simple men, whom You love above all, and whom 
You look upon, lifting up the head as they smile and glorify Your goodness 
and strength. Lord, help us." 

On New Year's Eve in 1980, Fathi was on his way to Araya to visit a fellow 
student, to wish him a Happy New Year and to review some of their classes in 
architecture.  He did not return.  His parents found him riddled with 
bullets, lying on the seat of his car.  His arms were folded in the form of a 
cross.  His face was serene, suggesting a peace of soul and resignation to 
his tragic fate.

After Fathi's death, his mother looked through his notes and his books.  She 
found an array of religious drawings and a number of prayers that he had 
written for the weak, the hungry, the miserable and prisoners.  Fathi kept a 
spiritual journal, recording his thoughts, while the war in Lebanon evolved 
around him. His notes show a spiritual maturity rare in one so young.

Some days after the death of their son, his parents were favored with an 
amazing consolation. Plunged in grief, they suddenly heard the voice of their 
son, Fathi. He spoke with them , calling them by name. He told them not to 
grieve, assuring them that he was in heaven with the angels and saints. The 
house was suddenly permeated by the fragrance of exquisite incense and filled 
with a radiant light. 

Fathi was buried at the Greek Catholic cemetery of Beirut which is located on 
the green line that once divided Beirut into two sectors.  

Word of the consoling event experienced by Fathi's parents soon spread.  
Friends of the family, and then others, began to ask his intercession.  
Miraculous healings and apparitions began to be claimed. Soon these events 
were brought to the attention of the ecclesiastical authorities. 

Fathi's body was transported to the monastery of St. Saviour in Sarba, 
Jounieh, a house of the Aleppian Basilian Fathers. Many remarkable phenomena 
described as prodigies are attributed to his intercession, including cures, 
apparitions, lights, tongues of fire, voices, strains of music and fragrances 
of incense. To those, volumes of signed statements bear witness. 

On July 30, 1994 the Holy Synod of the Melkite Church made a decision to 
pursue the procedure for canonization. His cause for beatification was opened 
on November 23, 198(?)4 under the presidency of the late Archbishop Peter 
Rai.