Historic Site of Saydet el-Mantara

In 1997, Pope John Paul II declared Lebanon "land of holiness". It has abundant holy sites, martyrs and saints. Mentioned more than 70 times in the Bible, including in the psalms, there is no doubt that Lebanon is at the heart of Christian history.The Gospel is clear that Jesus himself preached in Tyre and Sidon, with his encounter with the Canaanite woman, particularly her faith, being recorded for all generations to remember.

The love of the Lebanese for the Theotokos is also tangible, with over 900 places of prayer in her name. Almost every Christian neighbourhood and house has a little "mazar", a small niche or special location, with a statue or icon of Our Lady. Despite this admirable love and veneration to the Mother of God, few Lebanese, and even fewer non-Lebanese, are aware that tradition tells us she had visited, during her life on earth, the coastal regions of this small country.

The tradition goes as such: Mary would visit Lebanon with Jesus during his travels there. Given that Sidon was a Canaanite city, and Jewish women would not enter pagan towns, Mary would wait for him in a cave by the Roman road joining Jerusalem to Sidon.

Statue of the Theotokos waiting outside the cave.

Tradition also tells us that the early Christians knew of this, as well as the location where the Theotokos would rest. Indeed, the remains of a Roman road were found next to the cave. As Empress Helena toured the Holy Land to find the important locations of the life of Christ, the local Christians informed her of the presence of the cave, and as such she built a chapel in 324AD, with a rock-cut Altar, furnished it and gifted the community an icon.

When the Muslim Khalid Ibn-al-Walid defeated the Byzantine Heraclius at the Battle of Yarmuk and took over the region, the Christians of coastal Sidon, who would have been largely Byzantine, retreated to the Mountains of Lebanon, a stronghold of the Syriacs. They hid the cave-chapel, but its memory was passed down through generations for a 1000 years. The cave was so well-hidden, and possibly almost forgotten, that the Crusaders had a fort within meters of it and were unaware of its presence. The cave itself is 150m above sea-level, and some 5km from the city of Sidon, today largely Sunni Muslim, but with a strong Melkite and Maronite presence.

In 1721, a shepherd's goat fell through an opening in the ground. He followed it down and there discovered the Icon and Altar. The Christian population connected it to the site of Mary's awaiting, thus calling it "Our Lady of the Awaiting", or Saydet el-Mantara in the local language.

Rock-cut altar in the Mantara cave.

The Melkite Catholic Church took ownership of the site in 1860, turning it into a pilgrimage site. Due to the number of miracles associated with it, it has been called "the miraculous cave of the Lady of the Awaiting". For example, Sir Jack, British Consul, built in 1867 the decorative arches that exist to this day at the entrance of the cave. It was in thanksgiving for his miraculous healing from an illness that had defeated the doctors of his time.

Today, the site includes a 29m tower with a bronze statue of Our Lady from Italy, weighing 7 tons and rising to the length of 8m. Given that it was damaged during the Civil War of the late 1900s, it was then renovated by Bishop George Kwaiter, who also renovated the chapel beneath it. He included an oil painting of Our Lady waiting for Christ, himself depicted healing the daughter of the Canaanite woman in Sidon.

Given the increasing numbers of pilgrims, a Basilica has been built on the site with a dome 32m high, and a 1000 person seating capacity. It is decorated with Italian icons depicting the life of Christ, with a mosaic of the Annunciation.

Let us take ourselves back 2000 years to what these villages and towns looked like, with Our Lady sitting there on the rocks near Sidon, waiting for her Son, Saviour of the World, as he walked on dusty roads. Perhaps in the evening, as she gazed down the hill to the Mediterranean Sea in self-recollection and contemplation, she would see him coming back, weary but peaceful, and she would greet him with gentleness.

View of the Mediterranean Sea from the top of the tower at Saydet el-Mantara site.

Maybe she would give him some water, and maybe he would kiss her hands in reverence and love as so many Middle Easterners still do to their mothers. Maybe they sat next to each other and watched the sun setting in the sea, he who has given the sun its glow, and she surpassing its glory.