The more than 33,000 miracles of Saint Charbel Maklouf

Summary:

In itself, Saint Charbel's life is unremarkable, since he spent more than 40 years at the Saint Maron monastery in Annaya, northern  Lebanon, including 23 years as a hermit (He spent 23 years of his life as a lay person, another 23 as a monk and then priest, and the last 23 years of his life as a hermit). He was 23 when he began training as a monk of the Lebanese Maronite Order at the Monastery of Our Lady in Mayfouq. Originally from the mountain village of Bekaa Kafra, he was a quiet, almost self-effacing young man, with no university degree and no wordly ambition other than to serve God. His parents, Antoun Zaarour Maklouf and Birgita Chidiac, were humble peasants for whom life was far from easy. They gave Charbel and his two sisters and two brothers, a careful religious education; prayer was a daily routine in their home. Charbel's father died in 1831, and Birgita, left alone to raise her 5 children, remarried a man who went on to Holy Orders and became the Maronite parish priest of Bekaa Kafra.

Young Charbel had two uncles living in a hermitage (caves) attached to the monastery of Saint Anthony of Kozhayah. They were a source of inspiration and models for him. One day, Charbel left his family home and spent a year in complete solitude at the foot of the monastery of Our Lady of Mayfouq. His confessors then sent him to the monastery of Saint Maron in Annaya, where he took the habit on November 1, 1853. He was ordained a priest six years later. Until his death on December 24, 1898, he spent his time in prayer, contemplation, and worship, as well as in diligent manual labor in the fields and vineyards. He adored the Blessed Sacrament and recited the rosary every day. Pope Paul VI proclaimed him blessed in 1965, then raised him to the altars in 1977. The biographical details we have of him are pretty limited. 

However, Saint Charbel is world-famous and his shrine in Lebanon is considered one of the most important among the international shrines. Some 126,000 miracles are attributed to him, making him the greatest miracle-worker in history. Even during his lifetime, he interceded with God with immense success, and the cures continue to this day.

His biographers date his first miracle to around 1850. At that time, Charbel wanted to become a hermit and, to this end, he asked permission to settle in a cave belonging to the monks of Our Lady of Mayfouq monastery. Before making his decision, the abbot wanted a sign from God. One night, Charbel asked a worker to refill his lamp with oil. The worker filled it with water instead of oil. Despite this, the lamp still gave light as usual and kept burning throughout the night. The miracle was reported to the abbot, who allowed the saint to settle in the crevice of the mountain.

Charbel performed so many miracles of healing that it is difficult to single out just a few. Around 1875, he was called to the bedside of a dying child suffering from typhoid fever. The boy had already lost consciousness for several days. Charbel prayed by his side and passed a wet handkerchief over his forehead. Suddenly the child woke up and exclaimed: "Father Charbel!" Charbel then announced: "Glorify God, the sick child is well again! Give him something to eat!" The child lived to the age of 85 and, having become a doctor, treated the future saint several times.

On another occasion, a man brought his brotherto the hermit Father Charbel, because he had suddenly become mutetwo months earlier. Charbel asked them to bring the man inside the church, then rejoined the visitors, Gospel in hand and stole around his neck. In his palm, he mixed holy water with a powder of ground bones of martyrs, and made the mute man drink the mixture, saying to his brother: "Do not worry, he will get better!" Nothing happened on the spot, but ten minutes after they had left, the sick man exclaimed: "My brother!"

One day, a certain Maroun Abi Ramia went to the Annaya hermitage to ask for the saint's prayers and holy water for his seriously ill son. The doctors had told him that recovery was now impossible. After obtaining Charbel's assurance that he would pray for his son, Maroun left the hermitage. He remained distressed, however, and this did not escape Charbel's notice. Charbel asked a brother who was passing nearby to alert Maroun that there was no longer any need to hurry, explainining: "because his son is well!" When the man arrived home, he found his son cured.

The miracles performed through the intercession of the holy hermit are not limited to cures, however impressive and definitive they may be. Some of the recorded miracles are of biblical proportions. On several occasions, locusts invaded the area around the monastery, devastating the surrounding crops. Almost every year, the farmers would call Father Charbel to sprinkle the fields with holy water: each time, the locusts left the blessed fields and took off in a different direction. There is topographical evidence of these miracles: on some occasions, the miracle is so remarkable that only the fields blessed by Charbel remained intact, in the middle of a landscape completely devastated by swarms of insects.

A man from Batroun had a flock of sheep infected with yellow fever. Many of the animals were dying. Having heard of Father Charbel, the man came to tell him about his sheep's illness and to ask him for holy water. The hermit replied: "Am I God to prevent death?" About to leave, the man turned on his heels when he heard the hermit's voice: "Do you have a container to fill with water?" The man handed Charbel a small container, which he filled with holy water. The poor shepherd hurried to sprinkle the water on the sheep. It was his last chance. A few minutes later, all the symptoms of the disease had disappeared. After that, not a single animal died.

In 1898,  while saying Mass, Father Charbel suffered a seizure and died eight days later on Christmas Eve at the age of seventy. He was buried simply in the monastery cemetery, dressed in the full habit of the Order and placed into the ground without a coffin. Several unexplained phenomena were observed by all those present at Charbel's funeral on Christmas Day 1898. On that day, a great many villagers and soldiers from the surrounding area (particularly from Shiite villages) saw from afar a very bright and sometimes moving light next to the monastery, in the adjoining cemetery, and on the site of Brother Charbel's tomb.

But the greatest miracle of Saint Charbel is undoubtedly the full incorruptibility of his body and the flowing of a holy oil from his tomb without interruption for 125 years. A first exhumation was performed on April 15, 1899, prompted by the many times observed phenomenon of light rising from his tomb. To everyone's astonishment and joy, the body was in perfect condition, a fact all the more baffling that it was removed from mud and water. The expression on his face was beautifully serene. None of the bodies of the 32 other monks buried in the same place and in the same fashion (without a coffin) were preserved. This time, Saint Charbel's remains were placed in a wooden coffin and buried in the monastery chapel.

On November 16, 1921, 23 years after his death, Saint Charbel's body was exhumed a second time. Doctor E. Elonaissi, from Lehfed, who was present that day, recounted: "When I approached the coffin containing the body, I smelled an odor similar to that emanating from living bodies [...]. Having examined the corpse carefully, I noticed that the pores of the skin were giving off a substance that looked like sweat, a strange and inexplicable thing according to the laws of nature for a body that had been inanimate for so many years. I have had many occasions to repeat the same examination at different times and to observe the same phenomenon." In other words, Charbel's body, which, according to Maronite tradition, had been eviscerated and exposed to the sun on the day of the funeral to allow the faithful to approach it, continued to exude a "pinkish liquid" years later and, even more incredibly, began to bleed when a cut was made in the skin.

On July 24, 1927, the remains were placed in a double coffin made of zinc and cedar, which was tilted to facilitate the draining of the serous fluid. Dr A. Jouffroy, from the Faculty of Medicine in Beirut, and Dr B. Malkonien described a body that was totally preserved from the natural deterioration of corpses. Their reports were archived in a metal cylinder placed in the coffin.

The  1950 opening of Saint Charbel's tomb was a highly public and memorable event. Among the witnesses, His Beatitude the Maronite Patriarch Antoine Pierre Arida, Metropolitan Bishop Y. Diryan and Mgr Paul Aql, Vicar General of the Maronite Patriarch of Byblos, were moved to tears: the saint's appearance had not changed and his body still had the appearance of a living one. Rust had devoured the metal cylinder containing the 1927 medical reports and, inexplicably, the liquid coming out of the body had leaked through the wall of the crypt. Other witnesses (Dr C. Bellan, Director of Public Health in Lebanon, J. Hitti, Member of Parliament, Dr T. Maroun, Professor of Anatomy at the French Faculty of Medicine in Beirut, etc.) observed that "all the clothes" were "literally soaked in serous fluid and, here and there, stained with blood, especially his alb". What's more, his limbs were still flexible.

Two years later, the fourth exhumation led to identical observations. Father J. Mahfouz, a Maronite, said: "I personally touched his body: it looked like he was alive. It'snot a unique case for a corpse to be preserved; but for mortal remains to remain supple, tender, pliant and to perspire incessantly, that's unprecedented."

In the 1950s, the number of pilgrims visiting the tomb - more than 41,500 between 1950 and 1957 - exploded. Numerous healings and conversions were authenticated, such as that of E. Lahloud, Minister of Finance, a Muslim who became a Christian.

Father Joseph Mahfouz, the postulator of the cause, certified that in 1965 the body of Saint Charbel was still preserved intact with no alteration. But what is extraordinary is that in 1976, he again witnessed the opening of the grave and this time the body was completely decomposed. Only the skeleton remained. However this was a slow decomposition that also escaped the laws of nature: no bad odour was ever released from the body (in fact, the opposite was true: an aromatic fragrance always remained) and the bones "retained a certain freshness and a reddish color".

Rigorous analyses were carried out on the exudation of sweat and blood from the saint's remains. The conclusion was that no scientific explanation can be put forward. The human body contains 5 liters of blood. If, every day, one gram of this blood leaks out, over a period of 54 years (from 1898, the year of the saint's death, to 1952) we obtain more than 19.7 kg of liquid. Since in 2024 pilgrims still soak cloths, handkerchiefs, photos, etc. in it, the amount of blood exuded daily by Saint Charbel far exceeds one gram. The first two years after his death represented a special period of unparalleled intensity as the oozing of blood was almost permanent. "The flow should have dried up, since it hadn't been fed for half a century", noted Dr G. Choukrallah in 1952 (the latter conducted 34 successive observations at the monastery over 17 years). Dr H. Larcher, a French specialist in thanatology, agreed with this statement.

Many years after his death, Saint Charbel continued to intercede successfully with God. The miraculous healing of Miriam Awad from throat cancer in 1967 was accepted as the official miracle for canonization. Another famous miracle was the healing of Nohad El-Chami, a 55 year-old Lebanese woman, the mother of twelve children, who suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. The double blockage of the carotid artery paralyzed the left side of her body (hemiplegia). She was bedridden, unable to feed herself, and with no hope of recovery. One night, she "had a dream":  "Two monks came towards my bed. One of them, St Charbel, came nearer, uncovered my neck, put his hand on it and said: I have come to operate on you. I turned my head to see his face, but I couldn't, because the light coming from his body and eyes was too blinding and powerful. I was so confused, and asked him: Father, why do you want to operate on me? The doctor didn't say I need an operation. But St Charbel said: Definitely, you need an operation, and I, Father Charbel, have come to do it for you. I looked towards the statue of the Virgin, placed near me, and said: Holy Mary, please help me; how are these monks going to operate without anesthetics or sutures ? Then I realized that the Virgin's statue was standing between the monks. "Suddenly, I felt a terrible pain under Charbel's fingers, which were rubbing my neck. When St Charbel finished the operation, the other monk approached, put me in a sitting position, and placed a pillow behind my back. He reached for a glass of water, put his hand behind my head and said: Drink this water. I cannot drink without a straw, I said. He replied: We have operated on you, and now you will drink this water; then you will stand up and walk." The vision disappeared. In the morning, Nohad could move her hand. Surprised, she leapt to her feet and discovered two large scarson each side of her neck: she was cured. The next day, she went to Annaya to give thanks. Saint Charbel appeared to her a second time and said: "I have healed you by the power of God so that they may see you, because some people have drifted away from prayer, the Church and respect for the saints. Whoever wants something from me, I, Father Charbel, am always present at the hermitage. I ask you to visit the hermitage on the 22nd of every month and to attend Mass throughout your life."

In 2005, a Filipino woman working as a maid in a Lebanese family learned that her mother was dying. She was unable to travel to her native country and suffered from not being able to be at her mother's bedside. The family she was living with suggested that she visit the tomb of Saint Charbel in Annaya. She spent over two hours praying at the tomb. On her return, the young woman received a call from her mother thanking her for the doctor she had sent from Lebanon. Surprised, she replied that she hadn't sent anyone, but her mother insisted, saying that the doctor had introduced himself as a Lebanese doctor sent by her daughter. She described him dressed in a long black robe, with a white beard, and said that he came by at around 1:15pm. The young woman then realized that Saint Charbel himself had treated her mother at the very moment she herself was praying at his tomb.

On a very cold night in 1994, an 11-year-old girl had to spend the night alone at home, as her mother had to take her very sick younger sister to the hospital. The prospect frightened her. Suddenly, she saw an "elderly imam in a black robe, wearing a hood over his head and with a long white beard ", who said to her: "Don't be scared!" There was no heating oil in the house. The imam carried a can with which he filled the heating tank, lighted the fire and then disappeared. After several hours' absence, the mother returned. The little girl asked her: "Didyou see the imam come out? - No. Who is this imam? - He put the heating on, gave me lessons and told me several times: "Don't be afraid!" A few days later, during a visit to a Christian friend's house,the little girl saw a photo of Saint Charbel hanging on the wall, and showed it to her mother, exclaiming, "It's him, the imam who came to the house the other night! "

Many miracles have taken place throughout the world: in 1995, the hermit of Annaya appeared in Burkina Fasoto help a young man who had run out of fuel in the bush. In Argentina, a pilot and his three companions had just taken off when the plane's engine broke down. Armed with a small image of the saint, they called out to him for help. The plane crashed, but the four passengers escaped unhurt.

More than 3 million visitors come to pray at the saint's tomb every year. It is estimated that at least 10% of the cures obtained through his intercession involve non-baptized people, including Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Druze, Alawites and Buddhists.

Beyond reasons to believe:

The global fame of this humble monk, whose entire life was dedicated to austerity and charity, is a miracle in itself.

Going further:

Lamp of Eternal Lights: The Biography of Saint Charbel Makhlouf (1828-1898), by Elias Turk, Independently published (November 1, 2016)

More information:

• Love is a Radiant Light: The Life & Words of Saint Charbel, by Hanna Skandar, Angelico Press (February 15, 2019)
• Saint Charbel, by Paul Daher, Saint Maron's Monastery (Jan. 1 2012)
• Talk by Father Chris Alar MIC (part of Fr. Alar’s series “Explaining the Faith”): “St. Charbel: The Saint with Most Miracles Ever?”