Rafieh Mansour -- patient handmaiden of God

Rafieh Mansour

In 1889, when Rafieh was three years old, her family had the joy of being invited by Baha'u'llah to move to the Holy Land where she lived until 1938. During the first three years of her stay in 'Akka, she was many times permitted into the presence of Baha'u'llah. Her uncle, Muhammad Hasan had served Baha'u'llah as a secretary when He was in Adrianople. Baha'u'llah had sent him back to Baghdad with a promise that he would be invited to rejoin Him in one Vahid (nineteen years) -- which happened in 1889! Her grandfather, 'Abdu'l-Rasoul was one of the famed martyrs of the Heroic Age of the Faith. Her mother, Zekrieh, was asked by 'Abdu'l-Baha to take on the responsibility for caring for the House of 'Abud. Her mother's parents were the first believers in Baghdad. They accepted the Faith in the days of Tahirih and it was her grandfather who helped to escort Tahirih from Baghdad back to Iran. (Adapted from Baha'i News, April 1974)

Kanichi Yamamoto: the world's first Japanese believer

Kanichi Yamamoto: the world's first Japanese believer (Baha'i News July 1977)

Howard Colby Ives - the outstanding promoter of the Faith

Howard Colby Ives

Mable and Howard Ives

Jimmy Seals and Dash Crofts

Jimmy Seals and Dash Crofts

May Bolles Maxwell and daughter Mary

May Bolles Maxwell and daughter Mary

May Bolles Maxwell was one of that first group of pilgrims from the West who, in 1898-99, visited ‘Abdu’l-Bahá while He was still a prisoner in ‘Akká. She records her memories of the occasion in the following pages.

Those days in the prison-city oriented forever the course of her life. She gave her heart, her entire being to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and served Him and His appointed successor, Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Faith, to the end of her days.  Her first mission, under ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s direction, was to teach the Faith in Europe, particularly France.  She returned to Paris and quickly gathered about her a group, which by 1901-02 numbered some thirty Bahá’ís. Among them were Edith MacKaye (the first convert), Herbert Hopper, Marie Squires, Helen Cole, Laura Barney, Edith Jackson, Thomas Breakwell (first English believer), Hippolyte Dreyfus (first French believer), Agnes Alexander.

Hand of the Cause Corinne True and her daughters

Hand of the Cause Corinne True and her daughters at the time of the dedication of the House of Worship in Chicago on May 1, 1953. From left, Dr. Katherine True, Arna True Perron, Mrs. True, and Edna True. Both Katherine and Edna were members of the National Spiritual Assembly at that time. Edna was appointed a Continental Counsellor by the Universal House of Justice in 1968. (Baha'i News, February 1976)

Corinne True, "Mother of Temple" in Chicago