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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."
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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.
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