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5/9/2013 - RMG - Matilde Salem: a model for Syria today
Photo for the article -RMG – MATILDE SALEM: A MODEL FOR SYRIA TODAY

(ANS – Rome) – The situation in Syria, stricken by conflict and violence for more than two years, has moved Pope Francis to proclaim a special day of prayer and fasting on 7 September. For this intention, the Salesian Family is invited to look to the little know figure of the Servant of God Matilde Salem (Aleppo 1904-1961) as the inspiration and support of Salesian work in Syria.

Matilde Salem was a modern woman, practical and capable of learning for herself. Seeing the situation of the people of Syria, she understood that the young people needed professional competence.  Suitable work and secure employment would create a new future for her native land.

She lived for her country. She did not adopt the ideology of any political party nor any partial vision. She tried to see each and every person with the eyes of God. In her beloved Syria, now lacerated by war, she tried to build a new culture. To this end she contributed very generously from her own family wealth and that of the family she married into. She also offered her life and her illness for the good of her people.

Matilde lived a life of intense prayer and was able to balance the different facets of her personality. She was a wealthy owner, an intelligent manager, a mother to the small orphans she washed and groomed, an observant traveller, an elegant woman, a generous and very pleasant hostess.  She was characterized by an ecumenical and interreligious outlook at a time when any such talk was seen as suspicious. She had a practical enthusiasm which was contagious and she was able to build a relationship of respect and help with all – with the Muslims who were her great friends, with the Orthodox and with representatives of Christians of Eastern rites.

She was a Syrian woman, a woman of the Middle East, a respected manager in her field, with a rich sense of humour – a modern woman and a Servant of God.

Commenting on her death on 27 February 1961, Archbishop Fattal exclaimed “Saint Matilde”!

A short prayer to invoke the intercession of the Servant of God Matilde Salem is available on the website sdb.org.

Published 05/09/2013

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