In the Mount Lebanon region of Jbeil, perched on top of a hill at an altitude of 1200 meters, from where in the distance one can see the Mediterranean sea, is the Monastery of St. Maron in Annaya, the resting place of St. Charbel Makhlouf.
This Lebanese Maronite monk and hermit lived from 1828 to 1898 and led a life of extreme asceticism and devotion to God. Today, he is known for numerous miraculous healings attributed to his intercession, earning him the veneration of not only Christians and Catholics but also Muslims and people of other faiths.
Millions of people visit his resting place every year, and now for the first time, a Pope will as well. On the second leg of his apostolic journey that takes him to Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV will pray at the tomb of St. Charbel on December 1.
For Father Youssef Matta, one of 16 Maronite monks who live in the Monastery, the Pope’s visit “invokes healing from divisions and corruption, transforming the hope for physical healing from St. Charbel, into hope for healing” for Lebanon as a nation, but also for the Middle East and the whole world and its various conflicts.
This saint, he continued, is “a symbol of solidarity and of strengthening of Lebanese interreligious coexistence” and the Pope’s visit is “a historic recognition of St. Charbel’s role in the world and a powerful message of support and hope for a country in crisis.”
“The miracle worker for humanity”
Father Matta explained that there are two main reasons for St. Charbel’s “interreligious charm”. The first is the numerous miraculous healings attributed to his intercession, which are “perceived as a divine intervention that makes no distinction between Christians and Muslims,” Father Matta emphasized.
“The concrete result is that grace transcends specific doctrine. He is the miracle worker for humanity, and he does not care so much about religion in the strict sense.”
In fact, miracles started occurring as early as a couple of months after his death in 1898, with several monks saying they saw his tomb illuminated by unnatural lights. Later, it was opened, and his body was found to be incorrupt and exuding blood and water. Slowly, his reputation for holiness started spreading, and then Paul VI both beatified and canonized him in 1965 and 1977, respectively.
A life lived in seclusion while being close to God
The second reason for his popularity is “his asceticism, his life as a hermit, in poverty, and with a total devotion to God,” Father Matta emphasized.
St. Charbel joined the Lebanese Maronite Order in 1851, took his vows of obedience, poverty and chastity at the Monastery of St. Maron in 1853 and was then ordained in 1859. After 16 years of living in the Monastery with the other religious, he became a hermit and stayed in the hermitage for 23 years until his death in 1898 on Christmas Eve.
Father Matta explained that St. Charbel focused on prayer and work, which is “an ideal of spiritual purity revered in all Eastern religious traditions – Christian, Islamic, Druze – and even non-Eastern.”
St. Charbel “transcends religious divisions” and “represents a rare point of contact and common hope for all Lebanese denominations,” Father Matta highlighted.
In fact, given the difficult context that Lebanon is facing due to successive crises and conflicts that have plagued the nation in the last decades, “St. Charbel conveys hope, representing trust in help from above when earthly solutions fail,” he insisted.
“He is a rare symbol of coexistence and peace, demonstrating that spiritual strength can unite the different religions that politics divides.”
Read more: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2025-11/pope-leo-xiv-lebanon-saint-charbel-monastery-annaya.html
By Isabella H. de Carvalho | vaticannews
