History

In 1873, some important personalities from the Latin Patriarchate visited Zababdeh and found its people in a poor situation, working in serving Jarrar's family which had a great authority in that region.

At that time Zababdeh people were followers of the Orthodox Church, and after the death of the priest, his position remained vacant for years, because the Patriarchate did not appoint a successor for him.

In 1874 Zababdeh's notable men contacted the priest of Nablus , Fr. Julian Boust, and requested to join the Catholic Church, because of the lack of an Orthodox priest, and they wanted the Latin Patriarchate to take care of them and defend them against the Turkish authorities. And so, Fr. Boust wrote to the Patriarch Bracco (The Patriarch of the Latin church at that time) teling him about the situation, and that was on the 28th of July 1874, and Fr. Anton Rizq succeeded in persuading the Patriarch of the importance of starting a religious mission in Zababdeh, so the Patriarch sent the Maronite father Hanna Trad to the village on the 1st of January 1883. Fr. Hanna Trad was accompanied by a school teacher who lived with him in one room which was used as a school and a church at the same time.

In May 1883, Fr. Anton Rizq visited Fr. Hanna in Zababdeh and bought a piece of land, suitable for building a church and a monastery, but they faced a lot of problems with the Turkish authorities who banned the building new churches, but the priests of the Patriarchate had enough experience in that filed so they demanded the building of a small house for the priest. The architectures were keen on including a large room which was actually used as a reception room that could be turned easily to a temporary church until the conditions got better and the official church was built.

During Fr. Hanna's age, the Rosary Nuns joined the congregation, a school was opened and the number of the people in the congregation was about 160.

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