Saint Charbel Makhlouf was born in Lebanon, nearly 200 years ago. His name was Yussef or Joseph. He was orphaned when he was a young child and raised by his mother and uncle. When he was 23, he joined the monastery of Saint Maron and changed his name to Brother Charbel after Saint Charbel, a martyr from the early church. When he was 31, he was ordained a priest, so his name became Father Charbel.
Saint Maron had been a hermit, so Saint Charbel wanted to become a hermit too. But his superiors did not think he was capable of the strict lonely life of a fasting hermit. His brother monks played a trick on him. They took Saint Charbel’s oil lamp and filled it with water. Miraculously, the water in the lamp burned just like oil! Saint Charbel’s superiors heard about this and inspected the lamp. Agreeing that it was a miracle, his superiors decided that Saint Charbel was ready to be a hermit. For the next 23 years, he lived alone and prayed and fasted for the love of Christ and the Blessed Sacrament.
While celebrating the Divine Liturgy in 1828, Saint Charbel had a stroke. Eight days later, on Christmas Eve he died. Monks of the Monastery of Saint Maron are buried without a coffin, so Saint Charbel was buried directly in the earth. People began to report seeing a light coming from his grave, so the Church permitted Saint Charbel’s body to be dug up. His body was incorrupt, that means it had decayed or been damaged at all. His body looked as though he were sleeping and it stayed this way for many years. When the miracle of Saint Charbel’s body spread throughout Lebanon, there were many miraculous cures and conversions of the Lebanese people. This is why Saint Charbel is the patron saint of Lebanon.
Saint Charbel never went very far from his hometown, and he was never very famous when he was alive. He was a quiet, simple, obedient priest for God. Saint Charbel shows us how God can turn our ordinary simple lives into incredibly holy lives just by listening to and obeying God’s will. Ask Saint Charbel to help you hear God’s voice in your life, so that you too may become a saint.