Today is the optional memorial of St. Sharbel Makhluf, the Maronite hermit whose incorrupt body and ongoing miracles have drawn pilgrims to Lebanon for over a century. He lived most of his adult life in complete solitude, yet his intercession has reached millions since his death in 1898.
Who St. Sharbel Makhluf was
Youssef Antoun Makhlouf was born May 8, 1828, in Bekaa Kafra, a mountain village in northern Lebanon. At 23, despite his family’s objections, he entered the Monastery of Our Lady of Mayfouq and took the name Sharbel after an early Antiochene martyr. He was ordained in 1859 and spent 16 years in monastic community at the Monastery of Saint Maron in Annaya.
In 1875, at age 47, he received permission to live as a hermit in the nearby Hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul. There he spent the final 23 years of his life in near-total silence, sleeping on the ground, eating once a day, and celebrating Mass each morning with profound devotion. His only regular visitor was the monk who brought him bread and olives.
He died on Christmas Eve 1898, struck by paralysis while celebrating Mass at the moment of elevation. He was 70. His body was buried in the monastery cemetery in the common grave.
What he’s known for
Four months after burial, monks noticed a strange liquid seeping from Sharbel’s grave. When they exhumed the body, they found it intact and supple, still exuding a mixture of blood and perspiration that soaked his clothing. The body remained incorrupt and the flow continued for 67 years. The phenomenon was examined by French doctors in 1899 and again in 1927, with no natural explanation found.
Thousands of miracles have been attributed to his intercession, both during the preservation period and after. The Vatican investigated hundreds of these for his beatification in 1965 and canonization by Pope Paul VI in 1977. The flow of liquid finally ceased in 1965, the year he was beatified. Today his body rests in a glass reliquary at the monastery in Annaya, and pilgrims from across Lebanon and the Levant visit daily, Christian and Muslim alike, seeking healing through his prayers.
For today
St. Sharbel kept vigil before the Blessed Sacrament every night from 11 PM until dawn. Most of us cannot do that, but we can borrow five minutes. Tonight before bed, sit before a crucifix or religious image in silence. Set a timer for five minutes. Don’t read, don’t pray aloud, just sit. Let the silence do what it did for him: clear space for God to work.
He spent 23 years alone and has spent 128 years among crowds. Try his solitude tonight.
