The Qadisha Valley Remembers Padre Escobar

An emblematic figure of the Holy Valley of Qadisha in northern Lebanon, high in the mountains of Bsharri, Padre Dario Escobar passed away a few days ago at the age of 92. Born in Medellín, Colombia, in 1934, he chose to leave behind the comfort and privilege of his affluent family background to come to Lebanon in the early 2000s, join the Maronite Church, and live as a hermit at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Hawqa in Qannoubine.

Before embracing the hermit's life, he received a solid academic education in theology, psychology, and Biblical Greek in Colombia. He then devoted himself to contemplation and religious life in the solitude of the Qadisha mountains, which will preserve the memory of the hermit Escobar, who came from the distant land of Colombia.

Report by Maxime Pluvinet.