Every time I prayed the Rosary, I felt an extraordinary peace in my heart

A Syrian priest who spent 84 harrowing days in an ISIS prison says it was the Rosary and the prayer of Blessed Charles Foucauld that sustained him.

Speaking to Rome Reports, Fr. Jacques Mourad told the story of being kidnapped from his monastery in Qaryatyn on May 21st and taken to Raqqa, the capital of the IS caliphate, where he was held in prison for nearly three months.

“There are two things that helped me during my captivity,” Fr. Mourad said. “First, praying the Rosary. Mary, Our Lady, was always present and she helped keep me going from the first moment. Every time I prayed the Rosary, I felt an extraordinary peace in my heart. I cannot explain it. The second thing that helped me was the prayer of Blessed Charles de Foucauld, who was a victim of violence but decided to devote his life in a monastery to dialogue with Islam.”

These “weapons” sustained him for 84 days of captivity during which time he was constantly threatened by orders to “convert to Islam or be decapitated.”

Unlike too many IS prisoners in the past, Fr. Mourad and 25 other Christians were miraculously set free on September 1st.

Susan Brinkmann