Saint Charbel, the Lebanese hermit monk, with his simple and hidden life, became an inspiration and model for all of Christianity - and beyond. His fame spread only after his death, which occurred on Christmas Eve in 1898. The unique story of the miracles that made him known only after he had ascended to heaven has much to teach us. It tells us, in fact, that the most important thing is to respond to life with love, wherever we are, with the people around us, in the precious faithfulness of each passing day.
A glimpse into his life
Charbel was born in 1828 in northern Lebanon to a peasant family. When his father died and his mother remarried a deeply religious man, the child felt carried along and drawn by the spirituality he experienced at home. His two hermit uncles helped him discern what was moving in his heart and what his desires were. When he began working as a shepherd, he withdrew to a cave to join his God in contemplation and seized every moment to raise his song of praise to the Lord. Charbel was in the world, but it was clear to everyone that he did not belong to it.
He was 23 when he was able to fulfill his highest aspiration: entering a monastery. He spent the first fifteen years of his religious life between the Monastery of Saint Maron in Annaya and that of Saint Cyprian in Kfifan, but an intense longing lived in his heart: the eremitic life.
Charbel the hermit
When his request to withdraw into solitude was finally granted, the hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul, not far from Annaya, became his home. Thus began a life of hiddenness and unceasing prayer. His life passed in great simplicity, and his death itself was marked by prayer. He felt ill while celebrating Mass and died on Christmas Eve in 1898, eight days later, after enduring his agony in the deepest union with God.
Charbel's light illuminates the world
After his death, the Monk was buried in the monastery's common grave and, inexplicably, for many days, when evening fell, a light emanating from the burial site spread throughout the valley. The sight was astonishing. Needless to say, that light attracted the local people. Since the number of people arriving at the monastery increased day by day, the monks decided to move the body into the convent.
A “living” body
The “surprise” of the light from the tomb was only the first of the countless miracles that would mark his story. Indeed, when the tomb was opened, the brothers found a flexible body that exuded a strange liquid. The cloth used to dry Charbel's body is preserved in the monastery of Annaya and soon became an instrument of healing for many people. Over time, the body was examined four times, and each time it was found to be soft, as if it were still alive.
The most striking miracles
The physical and spiritual miracles attributed to the intercession of Saint Charbel are countless, but we want to tell the stories of those that led him to the glory of the altars, first through beatification and then through canonization.
The first recognized miracle was received by Sister Maria Abel Kamari in Bikfaya. The nun suffered from a pyloric ulcer that had caused her severe pain for fourteen years. On July 11, 1950, her fellow sisters decided to take her to the tomb of the monk Charbel. They wanted her to touch the tomb to find some comfort. What happened was sensational: the nun said that she felt an electric shock pass through her, and the next day she got up on her own, to everyone's amazement, completely healed.
The second involved Iskandar Obeid, a blacksmith from Baabdat. After an accident, the man suffered a detached right retina. Doctors wanted to remove the diseased eye to prevent it from infecting the other, but Iskandar categorically refused. In 1950, he decided to make a pilgrimage to the hermit Charbel's tomb. After only three days, he felt severe pain in the diseased eye, which, after swelling, regained its sight as it had been before the accident.
The third miracle was the one that led the Monk to canonization. A Syrian woman living in Lebanon, Mariam Assaf Awad, had undergone three operations because of a tumor. Doctors had told her that nothing more could be done. By then, all the woman could do was await death; her devotion to Blessed Charbel was great, and she had long turned to him to accept in faith what awaited her, but one night in 1967 her prayer became more fervent. The following morning, a strange sensation suggested to her that she had been healed, which was later confirmed by doctors.
Saint Charbel is a great miracle worker, but above all he is a man of God. May his life teach us humble and sincere faith, capable of living fully through faithful adherence to God's will!
