OUR PARISH & THE TITANIC
Beloved Parishioners and friends of St. Anthony + St. George Church,
I thank God for giving us the great moments in the Holy season that we spent together. I hope you gained many graces from Heaven to help you continue in your spiritual life.
My dear friends, a tragic event happened 100 year ago. The luxury steamship RMS Titanic met with a catastrophe. It collided with an iceberg and slowly sank to the bottom of the ocean. In the early hours of April 15, 1912, more than 1,500 people lost their lives in this disaster. Titanic has inspired countless books and several notable films while continuing to make headlines, particularly since the 1985 discovery of her resting place off the coast of Newfoundland. Meanwhile, her story has entered the public consciousness as a powerful cautionary tale about the perils in the oceanic travel.
My Beloved parishioners, you know the whole story about what happened and you know of our grieving about who we lost on this tragedy trip. Some Lebanese people were traveling on the Titanic. They escaped from death by Ottoman rule to this tragic accident, death to death. What a horrible story! Lebanon lost a lot, 13 people from Kefermashkee village (about 60 miles from Beirut) and 11 people from Hardine. Here we have both a tragic and a funny story. When the Titanic started sinking, some men from Hardine started chanting sayings in Arabic:
(Was written in Arabic and pasted in this space.)
It means:
Hardine you must mourn and cry for the young men who drowned. Eleven young men from Hardine drowned. Did not exceed twenty-five years of age. Seven of them are single, and the others were married. Not one was an old man, but all of them are 25 years old. And after that the sea became their tomb.
To still remember them and to pray for their souls, our church in Wilkes-Barre will establish a commemorative plaque to them and place it in our church. We will keep you informed of the details about it.
