The monastery was established in 1927, under the then
British Mandate of Palestine, by the
Latin Patriarch Luigi Barlassina and contained a boarding school, an orphanage and convent. Currently the convent is running a guest house and a retreat center for believers and Holy Land pilgrims. The façade of the convent church bears the Latin inscription "Reginæ Palæstinæ", lit. "to the Queen of Palestine", and carries a 6-metre statue of the
Virgin Mary. The church ceiling is decorated with a painting showing angels carrying banners with the first words of the
Hail Mary prayer in 280 languages. Since 2009, the convent is in the care of the female branch of the Catholic order known as "the
Monastic Family of Bethlehem, of the Assumption of the Virgin and of Saint Bruno", called the monastic Sisters of Bethlehem. File:Deir Rafat doors.jpg|Wooden doors with "Ave Maria" carving in different languages File:PC160010.JPG|Church interior File:DeirRafatNov172021 01.jpg|Deir Rafat File:DeirRafatNov172021 02.jpg|Deir Rafat compound ==References==