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St Charbel
Feast Day July 23
 
Patron of Hurting Hearts, Healers, and Converts.

St Charbel comes from the Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church.  His love of those in need of healing inspires those who pray for prodigals to trust in the power of God to heal hurting hearts that eyes might see the love that waits for those who return to the Lord and His Church.

Who was Saint Charbel?

St. Charbel, (1828-1898) a monk, ordained priest, and hermit, took the name of a 2nd century Antioch church martyr. He spent his years in prayer and worship, living his vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Since 1926, healings and conversions attributed to his intercession have been recorded by the monks. These include sworn statements, often with medical reports attached.

In 1950, his grave was opened and his body found incorrupt. Healings rapidly multiplied. In 1950, from April to July, 350 miraculous cures were recorded. Twenty of them for non-Christians. More important for us, are the numerous conversions and returns to God which continue through his intercession. Beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1965, Charbel was canonized in 1977.

St Charbel is said to be extremely loving towards all—"a great intercessor who knows no obstacle between him and those asking his help." Huge numbers visit his grave. There are many thousands of physical healings, but, the most important healing is that of the soul. Many have returned to God due to the intervention of St Charbel, sometimes as soon as they step into St Maron Monastery where Charbel began his religious vocation or the hermitage of St Peter and Paul where he died.

The miracles through St Charbel for those who ask his intercession, for people from all walks of life, are spread all over the world. Ten percent have been to the non-baptized.

Archbishop Francis Zayek tells of a comment by a prelate of the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints, at the time of St Charbel’s beatification. "Reading about the holy hermits who lived in the desert, we used to consider many reported facts as mere fables. In Blessed Charbel‘s life, we see that they are authentic. He is another St. Anthony of the Desert."

 Prayer Asking
the Intercession of St. Charbel

St. Charbel, lover of souls in need of healing, we ask your intercession for peace, good will, and healing among all God’s people. We especially ask for your intercession for the return of our loved ones to Jesus and His Church. Amen.

Another St Anthony of the Desert

Bishop [Francis] Zayek wrote: “St. Charbel is called the second St. Anthony of the Desert, the Perfume of Lebanon, the first Confessor of the East to be raised to the Altars according to the actual procedure of the Catholic Church, the honor of our Aramaic Antiochian Church, and the model of spiritual values and renewal. Charbel is like a Cedar of Lebanon standing in eternal prayer, on top of a mountain.”   The bishop noted that Charbel's canonization plus other beatification cases prove “that the Aramaic Maronite Antiochian Church is indeed a living branch of the Catholic Church and is intimately connected with the trunk, who is Christ, our Savior, the beginning and the end of all things.”
~Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons and Feast, By Leonard Foley, O.F.M.; revised by Pat McCloskey, O.F.M.