SAINT TO SYRIA'S POOR

 

A woman I recently discovered, could become a patron of the poor of Syria, a county in much need of saints in this mostly Muslim country.

SOG MATILDE CHELHOT SALEM was born in Aleppo, Syria in 1904 to a wealthy family. She studied with the Armenian Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, who helped her develop an intense inner prayer life. 

In 1922, at the age 18, she married Georges Elias Salem, a wealthy businessman. Georges had an authoritarian and possessive character, but he was a good man and Matilde learned to be patient in times of difficult moments. Soon they discovered they could not have children, and Georges fell ill with diabetes. Matilde was close to her husband for 22 years. She loved him and took care of him, accompanying him on his business trips and participating in various negotiations. She was respected by the leaders of  great European companies.

Her husband, recommended by Archbishop Isidoro Fattal, Greek-Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop of Aleppo, dreamed of opening a vocational school that would form future Christian workers: but in 1944 Georges suddenly died.

Matilde could have made a new life for herself, but it was then that she discovered her true vocation: to dedicate herself totally to her neighbor with a greater love. She devoted herself completely to the project left in Georges' will by establishing and running the "Georges Salem Foundation", of which she was president.

Her family became the poor youth of the city, and she prepared herself to truly be their mother. In collaboration with Archbishop Fattal she went to Turin to deal directly with the Rector Major to entrust the work to Don Bosco's sons called there in 1947. She had a small house built near the Institute, and from now on, the Salesians would be her home and her family.

There she would lay her husbands remains and would herself be buried there. She became the “Mamma Margaret” (in reference to Venerable Mother Margaret Occhiena Bosco- the Mother of St. Don Bosco), of Aleppo's youngsters. She was enriched by various spiritual experiences: a Salesian cooperator, daughter of Saint Francis of Assisi, co-founder of the Work of Infinite Love. As for charity, there was no charitable institution that did not see her committed as a supporter: catechetical society, St. Vincent de Paul Conferences, summer camps for poor and abandoned children, vice-presidency of the Red Cross, Islamic charity, work for young delinquents.

On Pentecost Monday, May 26, 1958, she suffered from a hemorrhage while working in her garden. Her gynecologist said that it was due to a tumor. She was to be operated in Paris, but the disease grew so ravenous that the surgery had to take place in the USA to undergo cobalt radiation to treat the malignant proliferation of which was then diagnosed as cancer. In response to this diagnosis, she simply replied: "Thank you, my God."

The treatment was initially considered a success, which allowed her to return to her home that very same year. In March 1960 however, while slowly returning to her regular life of active service, the cancerous malignancy returned. She then traveled to Our Lady of Lourdes in France. She returned to Aleppo and died on February 7, 1961, aged 56. She was buried alongside her husband, Georges, and was interred into the Salesian Church there. Archbishop Fattal presided over the requiem, in which he referred to her as 'Santa Matilde'.