St Sharbel Makhlouf

This is a saint who did nothing special in his life, but became popular and well-known mainly after his death. Youssef Antoun Makhlouf was born in 1828 in the upper part of Lebanon. He had a Christian upbringing through which he devoted much time to prayer. This led him to follow in the footsteps of two of his uncles who were hermits in the monastery and hermitage of St. Atonius Kozhaya. In 1851 he entered the Maronite order under the name of Sharbel, and continued to study theology in the monastery of St. Kobrianus and Gustina. He was ordained a priest in the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerky in 1859, and lived for 16 years in the monastery of St. Maron in Annaya. From there he went to the monastery of Saints Peter and Paul where he spent much of his time praying and celebrating the liturgy, and rarely left his hermitage. He lived in this hermitage for 23 years. On 16 December 1898, while he was celebrating Mass, he was struck by a severe illness and died a week later, on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1898, and was buried in the monastery of Saint Maron, in Annaya. A few months after his death, bright lights began to appear around his tomb, and his body was placed in a special coffin because many people began to gather where he was buried. They began to recover from their illnesses and received special graces. In 1925 the cause of beatification was opened by Pope Pius XI. In 1950, his tomb was reopened and his body was found in a preserved condition, even after 60 years of his death. The miracles then began to multiply, and now thousands of pilgrims began to gather around his tomb in the Annaya monastery. Among these were many people who were not even Christians, so much so that Sharbel Makhlouf attracted sympathy. And as a result, many people from Lebanon returned to their faith. He was beatified in 1965 and canonized by Pope Paul VI on October 9, 1977. This was a saint who lived a quiet life, rather alone as a hermit, but he attracted the admiration of many people, especially in his country of Lebanon.