Jump to content

Charbel Makhlouf

From Catholicism Wiki
Saint Charbel Makhlouf
Charbel Makhlouf
Ecclesial status Saint
Born 8 May 1828, Bekaa Kafra, Mount Lebanon
Died 24 December 1898, Annaya, Mount Lebanon
Church Maronite Church
Religious family Lebanese Maronite Order (O.L.M.)
Commemoration Optional Memorial, 24 July

Charbel Makhlouf was a Lebanese Maronite monk, priest, and hermit of the Lebanese Maronite Order whose hidden life of Eucharistic prayer and ascetic discipline became a powerful modern witness of Eastern Catholic monasticism. Pope Saint Paul VI canonized him in 1977.[1]

Devotional status: Approved devotion

Overview

Charbel Makhlouf, O.L.M.[2] (born Youssef Antoun Makhlouf; Arabic: شربل مخلوف, romanized: Sharbil Makhlūf, Syriac: ܡܪܝ ܫܪܒܠ) May 8, 1828 – December 24, 1898) was a Lebanese Maronite monk and priest. During his life, he obtained a wide reputation for holiness, and for his ability to unite Christians, Muslims and Druze.[3] He was a member of the Baladites.

He is known among Lebanese Christians as the "Miracle Monk of Lebanon" because of the favours received through his intercession, especially after prayers are said at his tomb in the Monastery of Saint Maron in Annaya, Lebanon.[4] He was beatified in 1965 and canonized in 1977 by Pope Paul VI.[5] His feast is celebrated on 24 July by the Latin Church, and on the third Sunday of July by the Maronite Church. The Medal of Saint Charbel was created in his honor.

From Bekaa Kafra to monastic profession

He was born Youssef Antoun Makhlouf in the mountain village of Bekaa Kafra to a Maronite farming family. His father died while Youssef was young; the household's prayer, fasting, parish worship, agricultural labor, and the example of two hermit uncles helped form his vocation. In 1851 he left home for the Lebanese Maronite Order, received the name Charbel at Mayfouq, and continued formation at Kfifan. Among his teachers was Saint Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini. Charbel made solemn profession in 1853, binding his ascetic desire to a concrete Catholic institute and its superiors.

A Maronite and West Syriac identity

Charbel cannot be reduced to a generic Western hermit. He belonged to the Maronite Church, celebrated its West Syriac liturgy, and lived the Antiochene monastic inheritance within full communion with Rome. The abbreviation O.L.M. identifies the Lebanese Maronite Order rather than the Latin Benedictines or an unaffiliated eremitical status. His formation shows that Eastern Catholic holiness is not a Latin copy: its discipline, liturgical language, ecclesial history, and spiritual emphases are proper gifts within the communion of the Catholic Church.[6]

Priest and hermit at Annaya

After theological studies, Charbel was ordained a priest in 1859 and returned to the monastery of Saint Maron at Annaya. For sixteen years he shared the Divine Liturgy, common prayer, manual work, fasting, and the ordinary obedience of the community. In 1875 his superiors permitted him to live at the nearby hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul. The permission matters: Catholic eremitical life is not spiritual independence. Charbel remained a professed monk under rule and authority, offering solitude for worship, repentance, intercession, and communion with the Church rather than escape from responsibility.

The Eucharist at the center

Accounts of Charbel's life consistently place the Divine Liturgy and prolonged preparation and thanksgiving at its center. Silence, poverty, work, vigils, fasting, and custody of the senses served communion with Christ rather than ascetic display. He became ill while celebrating the liturgy in December 1898 and died at Annaya on 24 December. His dies natalis therefore falls within the solemn celebration of the Lord's Nativity; the calendar assigns his universal Roman commemoration to 24 July so that his cult can be celebrated without conflict with Christmas Day.

Miracles, cause, and historical discipline

Pilgrims reported light near Charbel's grave, an unusual condition of his remains, healings, and many favors after his death. These reports helped spread devotion at Annaya and supplied claims examined during the canonical cause. Catholic confidence rests on the competent Church's judgments, not on treating every later story, photograph, diagnosis, vial of oil, or internet testimony as authenticated. The apostolic documents record the miracles accepted for beatification and canonization, including the recoveries of Sister Maria Abel Kamari, Alexander Obeid, and Maria Assaf Aouad after medical and canonical examination.[7][8]

Canonization does not abolish evidence

Paul VI beatified Charbel on 5 December 1965 during the closing period of the Second Vatican Council and canonized him on 9 October 1977. The canonization definitively establishes his sainthood and universal public cult. It does not certify every alleged favor or devotional object, and it does not replace medicine with prayer. The faithful may confidently ask his intercession while physicians continue ordinary care and ecclesiastical authorities judge extraordinary claims. This sobriety protects both the truth of miracles and the dignity of the sick.

Cult in Lebanon and the universal Church

Paul VI presented Charbel as a glory of the Lebanese Maronite Order and a representative of the Eastern Churches' high monastic tradition. Annaya became a major place of pilgrimage for Christians and for many visitors outside the Church. The General Roman Calendar keeps Saint Sharbel Makhlūf, Priest, as an Optional Memorial on 24 July, while the Maronite Church and the order observe their proper liturgical texts and ranks. He lives in Christ and intercedes for the Church, especially for Lebanon, monastics, priests, the sick, and those seeking conversion.[9][10]

The apostolate of a hidden life

Charbel's worldwide influence does not contradict his withdrawal. Catholic monasticism understands contemplation as service to the whole Body of Christ: the hermit renounces public possession of his life so that prayer may become more completely ecclesial. Devotion is distorted when it turns him into a wonder-worker detached from the Eucharist, obedience, penance, and the Maronite Church. His genuine legacy is a demanding confidence that Christ is sufficient, that prayer bears fruit beyond visibility, and that Eastern Catholic patrimony belongs at the heart of universal Catholic life.

Life

Early life

Youssef Antoun Makhlouf was born on May 8, 1828, one of five children, in the mountain village of Bekaa Kafra, the highest by elevation in Lebanon. His father, Antoun Zaarour Makhlouf, was a mule driver who died in August 1831 while returning from corvée for the Turkish army, leaving his wife Brigitta (née Chidiac) a widow to care for their children. She remarried a man who went on to Holy Orders and became the parish priest of Bekaa Kafra.[11]

Makhlouf was raised in this pious home, and became drawn to the lives of the saints and the eremitical life practiced by two of his uncles. As a young boy, he was responsible for the family's small herd of cows. He would take the herd to a nearby grotto, where he had enshrined an icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He would spend the day in prayer.[11]

Monk

In 1851, Makhlouf left his family to begin training as a monk of the Lebanese Maronite Order at the Monastery of Our Lady in Mayfouq. He later transferred to the Monastery of Saint Maron in Annaya, in the Byblos District near Beirut. Here, he received his habit and took the religious name Charbel, after the 2nd-century Christian martyr of Antioch. He made his final religious profession in the Order on November 1, 1853.[11]

As a young monk, Makhlouf began to prepare himself for ordination by studying philosophy and theology at the Monastery of Saints Cyprian and Justina in Kfifan, Batroun District. Among his professors at the seminary was Nimatullah Kassab, who was himself later also declared a saint. He was ordained six years later, on July 23, 1859, in Bkerke. Charbel was then sent back to the Monastery of Saint Maron, where he lived a life of severe asceticism.

Eremitical life

In 1875, Charbel was granted by the abbot of the monastery the privilege of living as a hermit at the Hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul, a chapel under the care of the monastery. He spent the next 23 years living with other hermits until his death from a stroke on December 24, 1898.[12]

Death and relics

Makhlouf was interred at the Monastery of Saint Maron on Christmas Day that year. It was reported that during the transport of his corpse, inclement weather conditions hindered the pallbearers in carrying out their duty.

"Father Charbel died on the eve of Christmas; the snow was heavy. We transferred him to the monastery on Christmas Day. Before we moved him, the snow was falling rapidly and the clouds were very dark. When we carried him, the clouds disappeared, and the weather cleared." – George Emmanuel Abi-Saseen, one of the pallbearers[13]

One story claims: "A few months after his death, a bright light was seen surrounding his tomb and the superiors opened it to find his body still intact. After that day, a blood-like liquid flowed from his body. Experts and doctors were unable to give medical explanations for the incorruptibility and flexibility." In 1950 and 1952, his tomb was opened and his body still had the appearance of a living one.[14] Additionally, the 1950 television tape of his exhumation showed Makhlouf's body as still intact, despite the grave having become severely rusty.[15] The official site mentions: In this century his grave has been opened four times, the last time being in 1955, and each time "it has been noticed that his bleeding body still has its flexibility as if it were alive".[16] The Catholic Tradition website[17] says: "Father Joseph Mahfouz, the postulator of the cause, certified that in 1965 the body of Saint Charbel was still preserved intact with no alteration. In 1976, he again witnessed the opening of the grave; this time the body was completely decomposed. Only the skeleton remained."[18]

On 2 September 2017, Saint Charbel's relics were translated to Saint Elisabeth Cathedral in Košice, Slovakia, where a monthly pilgrimage is held, called "Púť k sv. Šarbelovi" (Pilgrimage to St. Charbel). The cathedral is the first in Slovakia to receive his official relics from Lebanon, and attracts pilgrims from across the country as well as neighbouring states like Poland, Ukraine and Czech Republic.[19]

On 1 December 2025 Pope Leo XIV visited the tomb of Saint Charbel at the Monastery of Saint Maroun. He stated that he entrusted "Lebanon and its people to the protection of Saint Charbel, that they may always walk in the light of Christ. Let us thank God for the gift of Saint Charbel! And thank you for preserving his memory. Walk in the light of the Lord!”[20]

Veneration

The cause for Makhlouf's beatification was formally opened on April 4, 1929, and he was granted the title Servant of God.[21] On December 5, 1965, Pope Paul VI presided over his beatification at the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council. The pope said: “A hermit of Mount Lebanon is enrolled in the number of the blessed… a new eminent member of monastic sanctity has by his example and his intercession enriched the entire Christian people … may he make us understand, in a world largely fascinated by wealth and comfort, the paramount value of poverty, penance and asceticism, to liberate the soul in its ascent to God.”

On October 9, 1977, the pontiff canonized Makhlouf. At the time, Bishop Francis Zayek wrote, “St. Sharbel is called the second St. Anthony of the Desert, the Perfume of Lebanon, the first Confessor of the East to be raised to the Altars according to the actual procedure of the Catholic Church, the honor of our Aramaic Antiochian Church, and the model of spiritual values and renewal. Sharbel is like a Cedar of Lebanon standing in eternal prayer, on top of a mountain.” Reflecting on the canonization of Makhlouf and the causes for canonization of other Maronites active at the time, Zayek further proclaimed “the Aramaic Maronite Antiochian Church is indeed a living branch of the Catholic Church and is intimately connected with the trunk, who is Christ, our Savior, the beginning and the end of all things.”[22]

Owing to his role as a Maronite Saint as well as his piety and morals, Makhlouf serves as a role model for many Maronite Catholics and is venerated by Catholics from all sui iuris churches in communion with Rome.[23][24]

On October 28, 2017, a shrine dedicated to Makhlouf was inaugurated at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.[25] The Lebanese Maronite Patriarch, Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, attended the inauguration ceremony giving his blessing and a dedication, as well as Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan. The shrine has a mosaic of Makhlouf along with national emblems of Lebanon such as the cedar and a relic of Makhlouf. It was donated by SGBL Bank chairman Antoun Sehnaoui in the name of his parents, May and Nabil Sehnaoui.[26]

Feast Day

Miracles

Among the many miracles attributed to Makhlouf, the Catholic Church chose two to confirm his beatification, and a third for his canonization:

  • the healing of Sister Mary Abel Kamari of the Sacred Hearts;
  • the healing of Iskandar Naim Obeid from Baabdat; and
  • the healing of Rached Salim Zoorob from Alma El Chaab;
  • the healing of Mariam Awad from Hammana.[33]

A great number of other miracles have been attributed to Makhlouf since his death. The most famous is that of Nohad El Shami, a 55-year-old woman at the time of the miracle who was healed from partial paralysis. She tells that on the night of January 22, 1993, she dreamt of two Maronite monks standing next to her bed. One put his hands on her neck and operated on her, relieving her from her pain, while the other held a pillow behind her back. When she awoke, she found two wounds in her neck, one on each side. She was completely healed and recovered her ability to walk. She believed it was the saint who healed her, but did not recognize the other monk. The next night, she dreamt of Makhlouf, who said: "I did the surgery to let people see and return to faith. I ask you to visit the hermitage on the 22nd of every month, and attend Mass regularly for the rest of your life”. People now gather on the 22nd of each month to pray and attend Mass in the hermitage of Saint Charbel in Annaya.[34]

In 1994, a Lebanese Maronite Catholic named Raymond Nader was praying at the hermitage in Annaya when he had a mystical experience. “I found myself in another world…I saw a strange and amazing Light unlike any light I had ever seen; it was a sea of light that extended from one end of the universe to the other. I wanted that Light to stay permanently.”[35] After the vision, Nader was leaving when his arm felt hot and itchy near the statue of Saint Charbel. When he rolled up his sleeve in his car, he saw the imprint of five fingers. “They were engraved like a hand on my arm and encircled by a red glare as if imprinted through fire. But I felt nothing but warmth.”[36]

Dr. Nabil Hokayem, a plastic surgeon from Beirut, examined the mark and believed it was a third-degree burn.[37] The mark has since repeatedly faded and returned. Inspired by his experience, in 1995 Nader began a prayer group called the Family of Saint Sharbel. Its mission is “to contribute to the Catholic Church’s evangelizing mission through living the spirituality of Saint Sharbel in the world.”[38] Nader claims Saint Charbel has appeared to him many more times, and 16 of the saint's locutions to Nader have been published.[39]

See also

References

  1. Back to citation Paul VI, canonization homily for Charbel Makhlouf — Official papal homily establishing the 9 October 1977 canonization, extending Charbel's cult to the whole Church, and presenting his Maronite eremitical life as a gift of the Eastern Churches.
  2. Back to citation "Order of Lebanese Maronite (Maronite Institute of Consecrated Life - Men) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org.
  3. Back to citation Beaurepaire, Pierre-Yves (2017). Religious Interactions in Europe and the Mediterranean World: Coexistence and Dialogue from the 12th to the 20th Centuries. Taylor & Francis. p. 9. ISBN 9781351722179.
  4. Back to citation "Lebanese St. Charbel Makhlouf known for miraculous healings and uniting Christians and Muslims". Brockhaus, Hannah. Catholic News Agency. January 10, 2019.
  5. Back to citation "Saint Sharbel Makhlouf", Franciscan Media
  6. Back to citation Paul VI address for Charbel's beatification — Papal address locating Charbel within the ancient monastic traditions of the Maronite Church and explaining the ecclesial significance of a monk and hermit at the close of Vatican II.
  7. Back to citation Quamvis Libanus — Apostolic decretal letters recording Charbel's canonical cause, approved miracle for canonization, formal enrollment among the Saints, and authorization of universal public veneration.
  8. Back to citation Gloria Libani — Apostolic letter of beatification documenting the judgment of heroic virtues, approved miracles, Maronite and monastic identity, and authorization of public cult as Blessed in 1965.
  9. Back to citation Vatican News profile of Saint Charbel — Holy See news service profile for 24 July identifying the saint, priestly state, Maronite monastic vocation, hermitage, death, posthumous cult, and canonization by Paul VI.
  10. Back to citation Mysterii Paschalis and the General Roman Calendar — Saint Paul VI's promulgation of the revised liturgical year and universal calendar supplies the governing framework for the Roman Rite ranks and fixed dates stated in these biographies.
  11. Back to citation occurrence 11.0 Back to citation occurrence 11.1 Back to citation occurrence 11.2 "Monastery of St. Maron "Saint Charbel"". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  12. Back to citation Hovannisian, R & Sabagh, G; Religion and culture in medieval Islam, Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0-521-62350-6 p113
  13. Back to citation Awad, Mansour (1990). Three Lights from the East: A Biographical Account of the Lives of Saint Sharbel Makhlouf, Father Nematallah Hardini, Blessed Rebecca Rafka Er-Ryies. Norman Ferris (private publication).
  14. Back to citation "St. Charbel(Sharbel) Makhluf". The Byzantine Forum.
  15. Back to citation فتح قبر القديس شربل سنة 1950 - Opening the tomb of Saint Charbel, October 13, 2013, archived from the original on December 22, 2021, retrieved March 28, 2020
  16. Back to citation "Charbel.org - Saint Charbel Miracles". www.charbel.org.
  17. Back to citation "Saint Charbel".
  18. Back to citation Bell, Ann (1991). Modern Saints: Their Lives and Faces.
  19. Back to citation "Do košickej katedrály prichádza čoraz viac ctiteľov svätého Šarbela". www.tkkbs.sk. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  20. Back to citation "Pope Leo prays at tomb of Saint Charbel Makhlouf - Vatican News". www.vaticannews.va. December 1, 2025. Retrieved December 1, 2025.
  21. Back to citation Index ac status causarum beatificationis servorum dei et canonizationis beatorum (in Latin). Typis polyglottis vaticanis. January 1953. p. 50.
  22. Back to citation Faulk, E; 101 Questions and Answers on Eastern Catholic Churches, Paulist Press, March 1, 2007 ISBN 978-0-8091-4441-9 p67; ""Beatification and Canonization of Saint Charbel", Saint Maron Monastery". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2012; "Saint Charbel, canonized 40 years ago, a saint for all Lebanon". www.asianews.it; [Canonisation de Charbel Makhlouf, Homélie du pape Paul VI, Dimanche, 9 octobre 1977] vatican.va, article in French
  23. Back to citation "Maronite History Project". Archived from the original on July 25, 2013.
  24. Back to citation ""St. Sharbel Makhluf", Saint of the Day, American Catholic". Archived from the original on October 4, 2012.
  25. Back to citation "St. Charbel shrine revealed in prominent New York cathedral". The Daily Star. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  26. Back to citation "Press Release - Dedication of the Chapel of Saint Sharbel". St. Patrick's Cathedral.
  27. Back to citation Thua, Laban (July 18, 2017). "Saint Sharbel (Charbel) Makhluf - Feast Day - July 24". Catholic Daily Readings. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  28. Back to citation "Zapis imienia "Szarbel" zgodnie z polską uproszczoną transkrypcją orientalistyczną". Maronicka Fundacja Misyjna | المؤسسة المارونية الإرسالية في بولندا. January 21, 2019. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  29. Back to citation CNA. "St. Charbel Makhlouf". Catholic News Agency. Archived from the original on July 17, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  30. Back to citation "28 lipca: Św. Sarbeliusza (Charbela) Makhlufa, prezbitera". ordo.pallotyni.pl. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  31. Back to citation "24 lipca: Św. Kingi, dziewicy". ordo.pallotyni.pl. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  32. Back to citation Catholic Church (2004). Martyrologium Romanum (2004).
  33. Back to citation ""Beatification and Canonization of Saint Charbel", Saint Maron Monastery". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  34. Back to citation A Living Miracle, Hardyart.com Archived June 14, 2012, at the Wayback Machine; Nohad El Shami, Marcharbel.com; "Charbel.org - Saint Charbel Miracles". www.charbel.org.
  35. Back to citation Raymond Nader's Experience (in English) with Saint Sharbel (October 1995), August 18, 2019, archived from the original on December 22, 2021, retrieved October 7, 2021
  36. Back to citation "Raymond Nader's Experience with Saint Sharbel". FAMILY OF ST. SHARBEL USA. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  37. Back to citation CNA. "Lebanese man finds hand of Providence in mystical experience". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  38. Back to citation "About Us". FAMILY OF ST. SHARBEL USA. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  39. Back to citation "Experiences of Raymond Nader with Saint Sharbel". FAMILY OF ST. SHARBEL USA. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
Retrieved from "https://catholicism.wiki/index.php?title=Charbel_Makhlouf&oldid=58686"