A Franciscan recounts the horrors of Aleppo
Ibrahim Alsabagh is a Syrian Franciscan. He became a priest at Saint Francis Parish in Aleppo in December 2014. His book, "A Moment Before Dawn", recounts his work among the starving, terrorized population.
From the library of the Franciscan convent on rue Marie-Rose in Paris, Father Ibrahim Alsabagh’s gaze often drifts off through the window. It is as if, in this peaceful, silent environment, his spirit is drawn back to the chaos and violence in Syria.
As a priest in the Latin Parish of Saint Francis in Aleppo from December 2014, the 46-year-old Syrian Franciscan’s daily life is one of fear, hunger, and thirst, as his book recounts (1).
Since the war (July 2012 to January 2017), two-thirds of the city’s residents have left the once bustling economic hub whose pre-war population was over 4 million.
Alsabagh and three other Franciscans, spread out in three different areas of Aleppo, have been doing everything they can to “slow down the city’s population hemorrhage”.
The exodus has been even greater among Christians. All Christian communities combined, a total of 40,000, remain in Aleppo. There used to be ten times that number.
Wealthy families and men of working age have left, leaving mostly the poor, the elderly, women, and children.
“Altogether 95% of families are living below the poverty line. This is due to unemployment which has reached 85% among adults. The ratio of men to women in Aleppo is one to twelve!” exclaims Ibrahim Alsabagh.
In the Azizieh quarter, the parish of Saint Francis supports hundreds of families. They use tankers to distribute water from a well in the convent, they provide diesel (for generators) and food packages (over 3,000 per month).
Saint Francis also pay school fees, doctors’ and dentists’ fees, and finance loans which were taken out before the war.
In winter, the Franciscans open a heated reading room for school children and students to come and study after school.
“We give €20 per month to each student to cover the cost of travel so that they can come and further their study here. In summer, we run camps for over 350 students,” Father Alsabagh explains.
He points out that even though the greater part of Aleppo is under military control, there are still some pockets of resistance.
Shooting and bombing continue, so residents are always under the threat of water or electricity outages.
“We have gone up to 70 days without tap water," says the Franciscan Father, lamenting the number of children who are sick as a result of malnutrition.
Adults suffer from depression, insomnia, eczema and stress from trauma.
“To keep going in such a horrific environment, you need a reserve of patience and humility," he says.
"Only the tender presence of Christ, which we feel among us, through the work we do, provides us with the strength to keep going.”
Although Father Alsabagh himself feels no hatred towards those responsible for the bombings and shooting, he sees it as “natural” to react with anger to violent attacks that result in death and injury.
“It is my responsibility as a priest to help people go beyond this type of reaction."
He tells the story of the shell launched by Jihadists that hit the dome of the church on Sunday 25 October 2015. It hit “right in the middle of mass”, and “miraculously” did not kill anyone. They covered it in flowers and placed it at the foot of the altar.
“This symbol of hatred and death was transformed into an offering of love which forgives and gives life.”
Ibrahim Alsabagh is currently touring around France with a message asking us not to forget the residents of Aleppo. Not only because the city’s population “depends entirely on humanitarian aid”, but also because “prayer and spiritual communion across the world help sustain us.”
He also hopes that the French government will mount pressure to find a solution that is practicable at an international level. This solution should “involve all implicated actors” so that Syrians can remain in their country.
“No one has the right to uproot the tree of Christianity which was planted here and which has been growing for two thousand years, watered by the blood of martyrs and witnessed by innumerable saints."
(1) The Custody of the Holy Land indicates that the title in English will be A Moment Before Dawn.
The Facebook page of the parish in Aleppo notes that an English edition is being planned sometime after Easter.