A Light from Lebanon: St. Sharbel

It is amazing that holy and hidden souls who seek and do the will of God in their state of life can become very great saints, known the world over, when during their lives they only knew a few people.  Here is yet another wonderful example:

Joseph Makhlouf was born in 1828, the son of a mule driver. He was raised by an uncle who opposed the boy's youthful piety.  As a youth Joseph's favorite book was Thomas a Kempis's The Imitation of Christ.

At age 23 he snuck away to join the monastery of Saint Maron at Annaya where he took the name Charbel in memory of an early martyr. He professed his solemn vows in 1853. Ordained in 1859, becoming a heiromonk.

After joining the monastry, he always sought to live that life perfectlly and his obedience became legendary. In his humility, he would seek the lowest of tasks and his penances and prayer life were most strict. As no surprise, the Saint had a most special devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to the Blessed Mother.

Later the Saint asked for permission to become a hermit in the monastery's nearby hermitage. He was initially refused this request but later permission was granted when a strange thing happened: the lamp in his room kept burning even though it held not oil but water.

For the next 23 years of his life he lived in the hermitage in ever increasing in union with God. He would offer his Holy Mass at noon so that he could spend each morning in preperation and then every afternoon in thanksgiving for the greatest of all gifts.

He died at age 70 and his body was then buried unembalmed and coffinless. And then it was only after his death that his remains became an attraction. For 45 nights a bright light shone from his tomb and it was decided to exhume the body which was found in the mud but not decayed, rather it was the same as when it was buried. So the body was cleaned and a habit placed on it and it was left in the chapel. And then a liquid began to come from the body that seemed a mixture of perspiration and blood. This liquid, collected on cloths, started to work cures.

The body was examined again in 1927 and 1950, and found still lifelike and flexible. And pilgrimages began and thousands of miracles were reported leading to the beatification of St. Sharbel in 1965. Only then did the body decay. Pope Paul VI canonized him in 1977. ( It should be noted that St. Charbel's name is sometimes also spelled Sharbel)