In every age of the Church’s history, at every latitude of the world’s geography, saints belong to every age and every state of life; they are the concrete faces of every people, language, and nation. Today we invite you to discover Lebanon by following the traces of the most important Christian saint in the Middle East: Saint Charbel (1828-1898), a monk of the Maronite Order. Lebanon, a small country in the Middle East, is perhaps one of the most fascinating places in the world. Unfortunately, its extraordinary beauty is marred by a war that has never ended and that necessarily lives on through evident contrasts and contradictions.
The true distinctiveness of Lebanon lies above all in its inhabitants: approximately 4 million people divided among many ethnic and religious groups. The friars of the Maronite Order succeeded in making Lebanon a place of refuge for all those persecuted in the Middle East, because they loved freedom and defended human dignity with their blood. Indeed, it is thanks to them that Lebanon became a safe refuge for the persecuted.
The Lebanese land and the Maronite tree have given the world many fruits of holiness, and Saint Charbel belongs precisely to this Order: a hermit who lived out his mission in absolute seclusion at the Lebanese monastery of Annaya (near Beirut) and was beatified on December 6, 1965, the final day of the Second Vatican Council. Rather than beatifying a missionary, the Council raised a hermit to the glory of the altars—one who later became a missionary “through a succession of miracles.”
Yes, because the miraculous healings that have occurred through his intercession are continually increasing throughout the world and concern people of every faith and belief.
But who is Saint Charbel? Let us discover him together. What is most striking about him is the paradoxical nature of his story. Having lived as a very secluded monk and hermit, he was little known during his lifetime. To serve God and humanity, he chose the solitude of the hermitage and lived in complete obscurity. He left no writings, initiated no social or spiritual works, created no spiritual movements or schools, and founded no congregations. The few who knew him during his lifetime testified to an extraordinary holiness, a radical commitment to evangelical and religious life, and an impressive spiritual rigor. A very obedient, humble, reserved monk, a man of very few words, far from any limelight. His fame in fact only exploded after his death.
The saint died on Christmas Eve in 1898. The next day, he was buried in the monastery's common grave. For several months, a bright and mysterious light, visible throughout the valley, emanated from his tomb every night. Since electricity had not yet reached those places, the sight was truly impressive. Charbel's reputation for holiness quickly attracted many people, and a few months after the burial, the monks decided to move the body inside the convent. When they opened the tomb, they discovered that the body was still intact and flexible, like that of a person who was sleeping. A viscous liquid seeped from his pores: they soon discovered that this liquid had extraordinary healing properties. The entirely inexplicable phenomenon lasted for 79 years, until 1977, the year of his canonization.
It is impossible to list all the miracles that occurred through the intercession of Saint Charbel: the Annaya Monastery has received more than 6,000 testimonies of physical and spiritual healings. But what is most striking is not the great number of miracles, but the fact that they concern people of every faith and creed! Fostering encounters among different faiths directed toward the one God who is the Father of all: this is the greatest miracle performed by Saint Charbel.
