Saint Sharbel Makhlouf

Youssef Antoun Makhlouf was born on May 8, 1828, in the mountain village of Bekaa Kafra, in northern Lebanon. His father died when he was three, and he was raised by his devout mother and an uncle. At 23 he secretly left home to enter the Lebanese Maronite Order at the monastery of Our Lady of Mayfouq, taking the name Sharbel after an early martyr. He was ordained a priest in 1859 and lived for many years at the monastery of Saint Maron at Annaya.

In 1875 he received permission to live as a hermit at the nearby hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul, where he spent his last 23 years in prayer, fasting, manual labor and celebration of the Mass. He suffered a stroke while celebrating Mass and died on Christmas Eve, 1898. His body remained incorrupt for decades, and countless healings have been reported at his tomb. Saint Paul VI beatified him in 1965 and canonized him in 1977.

His monastery at Annaya draws pilgrims of every faith. In Mexico and across Latin America, where many Lebanese families settled, devotion to San Charbel is enormous: the faithful tie colored ribbons on his statues, often writing their petitions on them, and give thanks for favors received.