Saint Charbel (Sharbel) Makhlouf

Today, Mon 24 July, is the feast of St. Charbel, a Maronite monk from Lebanon. In light of what is going on right now in his homeland, it is right that we take a look at his life.

He was born Youssef Antoun Makhlouf in Bekaa Kafra On 8 May 1828, the youngest of 5 children. His family was poor but very devout. He had 2 uncles who were hermits at St Antonious Kozhaya monastery. His upbringing gave him a great devotion to prayer. At age 2 his father died. In 1851 at the age of 23 he left home to go to the Monastery of Our Lady of Mayfouq where he entered the novitiate. He was later transfered to the Monastery of Saint Maroun at Annaya where in on 1 Nov 1853 he pronounced the monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience & took the name Charbel. At the St Kobrianous and Justina monastery in Kfifan, Batroun he finished his theological studies. St. Nimatullah Kassab El-Hardini was 1 of his teachers. He was ordained a priest on 23 July 1859 in Bkerke. He returned to St. Maroun's & stayed there for almost 16 yrs exercising his priestly ministry. On 15 Feb 1875 he was given permission by his surperiors to move to the nearby Hemitage of Ss. Peter & Paul. He spent the next 23 yrs of his life there in prayer, fasting, contemplation, study of Scripture & manual work. The Eucharist was the center of his life & he had a deep devotion to Mary. On 16 Dec 1898, while reciting the "Father of Truth, here is Your Son, Victim of Expiation; here is the Blood which intercedes for me, it is my offering, accept it" during the elevation of the Host at the Holy Liturgy, he suffered a stroke. On Christmas Eve 1898 he died in church having received the sacraments of the Church. Soon, bright lights were seen arround his grave at the St. Maroun cemetary. His body was later found to be exuding a blood-like substance. A cloth used to collect some of this fluid has touched many sick people who either received relief or complete healing. Several times over the yrs his body has been examing & found to be still intact & flexible. In 1925 his cause was opened by Pope Pius XI. On 5 Dec 1965, at the close of Vatican II, he was beatified by Pope Paul VI. On 9 Oct 1977, Pope Paul declared him a saint.

I would recommend some websites with more about him, including information about the miracles God has worked thru St. Charbel's intercession: http://www.marcharbel.com/ http://www.maronite.org.au/stcharbel/saintcharbelife.html & http://www.charbel.org/ The 2nd link is from the Maronite Eparchy of Australia & has a lot of information on the Maronite Church. The Maronite Church is the only Eastern Catholic Church that does not have a coresponding Orthodox equivalent as they never were seperated from Rome. (The only other Eastern Catholic Church that never seperated was the Italo-Greek also known as the Italo-Albanian Church in Southern Italia.)

St. Charbel, confessor, holy hermit, we ask your intercession before the Throne of Him whom you served, Jesus for a peaceful solution to the problems in Southern Lebanon. AMEN!

Note: The sources I used to get information from use various English spellings of the Lebanese names. I have used what I felt was the best variation. I realize that I may not have always opted for the best or most accurate. I apologize for my ignorance.