Celebrating the Feast of St. Sharbel Makhloof



Biography of Saint Sharbel - Written by Subdeacon Brian Dunn

Saint Sharbel was born in a part of northern Lebanon known as, Bka’kafra.  This is an area of large forest of Cedars and is a historical place.  His parent’s names were Antoon Za’roor & Brigita Makhlouf.  His mother’s maiden name was Shediac and she came from a town known as Besharreh.  Saint Sharbel was one of five children born to Za’roor and Brigita.

At a very early age Saint Sharbel suffered a great loss.  When he was only four years old, his father passed away on August 8, 1831.  It was up to his mother to raise him after his fathers passing.  He grew up with his mother and siblings and learned Arabic and Syriac while going to school in the local village.  He was known in his village as the “saint” because he demonstrated a very pious and god like life.

Saint Sharbel entered the monastery of Our Lady of Mayfouk in the year 1851.  Within one year of his entrance into the monastery Saint Sharbel moved with other novices to the Saint Maron Monastery in Annaya.  Then in 1853 he took his solemn vows and changed his name from Joseph to Sharbel.  Saint Sharbel then started his schooling at the St. Cyprian’s Monastery in Kfeefan and this is where Saint Sharbel was prepared for the priesthood.

While at the St. Cyprian’s Monastery, Saint Sharbel learned from a priest known at that time as Fr. Nemetallah Kassab Hardini.  We know this priest as Saint Hardini.  While at the Monastery, Saint Hardini was a mentor for the young students.  It is known that Saint Sharbel obtained a final blessing from Saint Hardini before he died.

In July of 1859 Saint Sharbel was ordained a priest with his family present from his home town of Bka’kafra.  After his ordination he remained at the Monastery of Saint Maron in Annaya and remained there until 1875.  In this same year, he was asked to go to the Hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul.

While Saint Sharbel was at the Monastery of Saint Maron and the Hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul he would take on the most difficult chores.  Throughout these he was dedicated to his calling and his superiors and always did what they asked of him.  He was obedient to his mother and his superiors all his life.  Saint Sharbel always had God on his mind and he consecrated his entire life to God. The people also remembered his continuous communication with God, his love of the Blessed Sacrament, his devotion to the Virgin Mary and his compassion to the poor and the sick.

Saint Sharbel passed away on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1898 surrounded by many priests and brothers of the Monastery and Hermitage.  Many people came to see him and kissed his hands and feet. At that time people said that he was already a saint and that he was lucky, when they came to pay their respects.

That night when the body of Saint Sharbel was in the Church, the monks could see a light coming from the door of the Tabernacle that was shining around the body of Saint Sharbel.

Saint Sharbel was buried the next day in a very bad snowstorm.  The roads were covered with snow and it made it difficult to get to the funeral.  When Saint Sharbel was being moved from the church to the muddy grave, the sun came out and the sky cleared with the snow stopping and the wind as well. He was buried in the burial area of Saint Maron’s Monastery. 

After Saint Sharbel was buried in the mud of the burial area at the Monastery, the neighboring people could see light emanating from his gravesite each night.  The light that emanated from his grave brought many people to the Monastery.

Upon the time of his death, Saint Sharbel’s superior was not at the monastery.  When his superior, Fr. Anthony Mishmshany returned to the monastery, he learned of Saint Sharbel and his passing.  He went to his grave and prayed for intercessions on behalf of the monastery. Later when Fr. Mishnshany addresses the community near the monastery he was quoted saying,

“With the death of Fr. Sharbel, we have lost the lightning rod which was protecting the Order, the Maronite Church and Lebanon with his saintly life.  We pray God will have mercy on us and grant that the mission of his servant, Sharbel, will remain with us here on earth, just as God promised the house of David that their lamp would be extinguished on earth for the glory of his servant, David.”  

He also prayed,

“Lord, of the monastery, for the Order and for Lebanon, preserve the lamp of water which you lighted for your servant, Sharbel, in a miraculous way.  Preserve this lamp shining in his body, so that it will illuminate our way in this darkened world.  Deliver us from the dangers that surround us.  Help us to walk in the path of poverty, chastity and obedience, which we promised to follow in this life when we made our solemn vows.  May we reach Heaven, the Promised Land, for this lamp of exile. Amen!”

Also after the first night of his burial in tomb at the monastery, the people who lived in this area could see a bright light that came from the tomb.  This light also shined on the church, monastery and cells.  It also moved around these and then would return to the tomb.

Why is he Important to the Church?

During the beatification process of Saint Sharbel, Pope Sixtus V, “Give me a monk who observes the spirit and the letter of his monastic rules and I will beatify him in his life.”Saint Sharbel lived a monastic and hermitical in all he did and throughout the days of his life.

Abbot Ignatius Tannoory who was superior of the Maronite Lebanese Order was in the Vatican for the cause of the beatification of Fr. Nematallah, Fr. Sharbel and Sister Rebecca Trayes.  The date was October 4, 1925 and he was there to discuss that these three had performed miracles while they were still alive.

Since the 12^th century, the Holy See and Papacy was given the authority to beatify and canonize.  Here it was the 20^th Century and not one person or any cause for beatification or canonization had been presented to the Holy See from a Christian of the Eastern Rite Catholics.

Beatification of Fr. Nematallah, Fr. Sharbel and Sister Rebecca Trayes, would help the Maronite Order and it would also help others following the Maronite Order to imitate their lives. If these three were to become Saints, it would only communicate to the entire world that the Maronite Church and the Lebanese Order were in union with Rome and the Holly See.

Also on October 10, 1926 the Maronite Archbishop and Patriarch Elias Peter Hoayek (1843 – 1931) requested from Pope Pius XI to make the Massabki brothers and the Franciscan martyrs of Damascus to start the case of beatification and canonization.  That same day, the Pope declared them all blessed.

It was not until the end of the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican in December of 1965, did the Maronite Catholic known as Fr. Sharbel Makhlouf become a Saint of a Maronite Catholic from the East, by the actual procedures of the Catholic Church.  Fr. Sharbel Makhlouf becoming a Saint was a sign of unity from the Pope, Vatican and West as symbol of unity for the East and West and for the entire Christian community worldwide.

His family prepared him for his life in the Monastery, from his parents to his uncles who were in an eremitic life.  His own mother was turned away from the monastery when she came to see Saint Sharbel and prayed that he would be a Saint.  The qualities of a good family and home and parents and extended family members are the type of life and surroundings that encourage vocations of all types.  These are the qualities of developing vocation to the church for the up building of the church.

There are more than 350 cases that have been identified as miraculous. These consist of healing the blind, deaf and paralyzed.  Over 100 cases of diseases that were thought to be incurable, were cured by Saint Sharbel.  Some of these cases were not just Christians seeking to be cured by his intersession as it has been noted in history that the Muslims were cured.

Information added July 24, 2011

Although this saint never traveled far from the Lebanese village of Beka-Kafra, where he was born, his influence has spread widely.

Pope John Paul II often said that the Church has two lungs (East and West) and it must learn to breathe using both of them. Remembering saints like Sharbel helps the Church to appreciate both the diversity and unity present in the Catholic Church. Like all the saints, Sharbel points us to God and invites us to cooperate generously with God's grace, no matter what our situation in life may be. As our prayer life becomes deeper and more honest, we become more ready to make that generous response.

Quote:

When Sharbel was canonized in 1977, Bishop Francis Zayek, head the U.S. Diocese of St. Maron, wrote a pamphlet entitled “A New Star of the East.” Bishop Zayek wrote: “St. Sharbel 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. Sharbel is like a Cedar of Lebanon standing in eternal prayer, on top of a mountain.” The bishop noted that Sharbel'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.”

Joseph Zaroun Makluf was raised by an uncle because his father, a mule driver, died when Joseph was only three. At the age of 23, Joseph joined the Monastery of St. Maron at Annaya, Lebanon, and took the name Sharbel in honor of a second-century martyr. He professed his final vows in 1853 and was ordained six years later.

Following the example of the fifth-century St. Maron, Sharbel lived as a hermit from 1875 until his death. His reputation for holiness prompted people to seek him to receive a blessing and to be remembered in his prayers. He followed a strict fast and was very devoted to the Blessed Sacrament. When his superiors occasionally asked him to administer the sacraments to nearby villages, Sharbel did so gladly.
He died in the late afternoon on Christmas Eve. Christians and non-Christians soon made his tomb a place of pilgrimage and of cures. Pope Paul VI beatified him in 1965 and canonized him 12 years later.

Things to do:

• Make a virtual visit to Our Lady of Lebanon Shrine. (Private site but has many nice pictures of the Shrine.)
• Listen to an Arabic prayer for God's Mercy from the Great Paraklesis (Supplicatory Prayer) to the Most Holy Theotokos. Notice the frescoes in the video of the praying saints which are from an obscure ancient Byzantine church in Maad, Lebanon, named after St. Charbel the old.
• Learn more about the Maronites.
• view this blog back in October 2010 - http://bmdunn.blogspot.com/2010/10/post-of-day-st-sharbel-october-21-2010.html

Cited Sources:

Claire M. Benedict (1977,1990). Saint Sharbel, Mystic of the East.  The Ravengate Press, Cambridge, Mass.

Fr. Mansour Awad, Translated by Fr. George I. Saad and edited by Chorbishop Norman J. Ferris(1986, 1990). Three Lights From The East, publishing company unknown.

The Most Reverend Pierre Dib, Bishop of Cairo, translated by Very Reverend Chorbishop Seely Beggiani, S.T.D. (1971). History of the Maronite Church. Imprimerie Catholique, Beirut, Lebanon and Maronite Apostolic Exarchate, Detroit, USA

Chapman, J. (1909). Eutyches. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved December 27, 2009 from New Advent:http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05631a.htm

Wikipedia. Patriarch Elias Peter Hoayek, last updated December 28, 2009 and retrieved January 16, 2010 from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elias_Peter_Hoayek