Saint Charbel Is The Patron Of Those Who Suffer Body And Soul. His Feast Day Is On July 24
By Rosario Lim
Saint Charbel
Yussef Antoun Makhlouf was born in Beqaa-Kafra, Lebanon, on May 8, 1828. At 23 years old, he secretly entered the monastery of Our Lady of Mayfouq, taking the name of a Syrian martyr, Charbel. He put into practice what his spiritual master, Blessed Nemtala El Hardini, said to him: “To be a priest, my son, is to be another Christ. To become there is only one way: that of Calvary! Commit yourself without delay. He will help you.” St. Charbel imitated the sacrificed Christ and made his Mass the center of his existence. His solitude at the hermitage was only disturbed by visitors attracted by his reputation for holiness. They sought him for advice, a promise of prayer, or some miracle.
One morning, in mid-December 1898, he suddenly fell ill and was helped to his cell where paralysis gradually overtook him. St. Charbel died in the Maronite monastery of Annaya on Christmas Eve 1898, repeating the prayer that he could not finish at the altar: “Father of Truth, Your Beloved Son, Who makes an incredible sacrifice for us, accept this offering: He died that I might live. Take this offering! Accept it…” These words summed up a life of seventy years.
At the monastery of Annaya, his body emanates liquefied blood, like those of St. Gennaro of Naples, St. Nicholas of Tolentino and St. Pantaleon in Madrid. He was beatified in 1965 and canonized in 1977, the first saint of Lebanon.
Prayer to St. Charbel
God, infinitely Holy and Glorified in the midst of Your saints, You Who inspired the holy monk and hermit Charbel to live and die in perfect union with Jesus Christ, giving him the strength to renounce the world and make the heroism of his monastic virtues triumph from his hermitage: poverty, obedience, and holiness. We ask You to grant us the grace to love You and serve You following his example. Almighty God, You Who manifested the power of the intercession of Saint Charbel through his numerous miracles and favors, grant us the grace that we supplant You through his intercession (…) Amen. (Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be).
