Our Lady of the Clock

Mosul - the ancient Nineveh - is Iraq's second-largest city after the capital Baghdad. It is bordered by the Tigris, the great river that partly outlines Mesopotamia. The city was divinely doomed to destruction on account of its impiety, but the inhabitants heard the call to conversion made by the prophet Jonah (after he had emerged from the whale), and repented of their ways.

Twenty-eight centuries later, the residents of 2014 were not so lucky. Occupied and made the capital of the Islamic State, emptied of its Christian and Yezidis citizens, the city was then bombed and almost entirely destroyed by the US-led Western coalition.

In the center of the town is a church called Our Lady of the Hour, next to a Dominican convent of the same name, also known locally as Al-Saa'a. This unusual name comes from the clock adorning the church's bell tower, which dates back to 1882. Financed by Empress Eugénie de Montijo, wife of Napoleon III, the clock also gave its name to the district.

From the outset, the convent had a religious, cultural and social role. It included a church, a seminary, a school for boys and one for girls, a hospital and, later, a school for teachers. The convent was also home to Mesopotamia's first modern printing press, with the Dominicans having published the first Arabic version of the Bible and the first Kurdish grammar.

After the looting and ransacking carried out by the Islamic State, it was time to think about reconstruction. In March 2020, UNESCO launched the preparatory phase of reconstruction with the Dominican Order and the Iraqi authorities, followed by the active phase starting in March 2022.

While the project is named after the clock, the church is actually dedicated to the Virgin Mary, who is honored both by Mosul's Christians and by their Muslim neighbors. She is the one who gives the tempo or sets the time, and it is to her that we entrust the future of Iraqi Christians.

Marc Fromager

SOS-Chrétiens d'Orient