Mary widely venerated in Egypt

Situated on the north-eastern edge of Africa and lying between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, Egypt can boast of having been the host country where the Holy Family took refuge from Herod's persecution, soon after the birth of the Incarnate Word in Bethlehem of Judea, in the first century.

400 years before them, the Hebrews had also been refugees in Egypt and settled there until one of their own, Moses, freed them from bondage and led them back to their original land of Palestine, after a 40-year crossing of the Sinai desert.

In this land of the ancient pharaohs and pyramids, Coptic Christians represent only 10-15% of the population, but their faith, permeated by a love of the Virgin Mary, is strong. In fact many Christian sites, some of which originated from a miracle, can be found in Egypt, including sites of Marian apparitions.

So great is the Egyptians’ love for the Mother of Jesus that this country was blessed by a highly unusual apparition of the Virgin in recent times, in Zeitoun, a suburb of Cairo, from 1968-1971. Amazingly, the apparition was visible to everyone, both Christians and Muslims (the latter form the majority of the population).

The Marie de Nazareth team