St. Sharbel Makhluf, Priest (1828-1898)
Joseph Zaroun Makhluf was born in a small mountain village of Lebanon. Raised by an uncle who opposed the boy's youthful piety, he snuck away at age 23 to join the Baladite monastery of Saint Maron at Annaya where he took the name Charbel in memory of a 2nd century martyr. He was ordained in 1858.
Devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he spent the last twenty-three years of his life as a hermit. Despite temptations to wealth and comfort, Sharbel lived as a model monk on the bare minimums of everything. He gained a reputation for holiness, and was much sought for counsel and blessing. He had a great personal devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and was known to levitate during his prayers. He was briefly paralyzed just before his death.
Several post-mortem miracles were attributed to him, including periods in 1927 and 1950 when a bloody "sweat" flowed from his corpse. His tomb has become a place of pilgrimage for Lebanese and non-Lebanese, Christian and non-Christian alike.
Sharbel taught the value of poverty, self-sacrifice, and prayer by the way he lived. He was beatified in 1965 and canonized in 9 October 1977 by Pope Paul VI.
July 24th is the feast day for St. Sharbel Makhluf on the Universal Church. The Maronite Church celebrates him on the 3rd Sunday of July and on December 24th (the day he went to heaven).
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