{"id":16481,"date":"2025-07-25T09:10:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T13:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnewa.org\/ca\/?p=16481"},"modified":"2025-07-25T09:10:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T13:10:01","slug":"st-charbel-todays-saint-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnewa.org\/ca\/st-charbel-todays-saint-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Charbel: Today\u2019s Saint for All"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It must have been about 28 years ago. After a grueling visit to Mount Lebanon to review the work of CNEWA\u2019s Pontifical Mission team among the Christian and Muslim communities in the north, my colleagues and I traveled south. On our drive down to Beirut, a colleague suggested we visit the tomb of a sainted but unfamiliar (to me) Maronite monk. It was late evening, and I was not expecting much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As our car approached the courtyard that fronts the monastery, I was amazed to find the grounds teeming with people of all ages and religions. What struck me most was not to find Druze and Muslim families visiting the shrine \u2014 that was once commonplace throughout the Middle East \u2014 but young adults in their late teens and 20s, all dolled up for the dance clubs of Beirut, stopping first to pray at the tomb of St. Charbel, a monk and hermit who lived a life of \u201cprayer without ceasing\u201d near the village of Annaya and who died quietly on Christmas Eve 1898.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since that initial visit to St. Charbel, I have observed how the life of this monk and wonderworker have entered the mainstream of Christian devotion across the world. From Phoenix to Lviv, Ukraine, from Quebec City to Cefalu, Sicily, in churches Catholic and Orthodox, the familiar and haunting image of the bearded and hooded hermit looking downward has glowed from a sea of lighted tapers. Not unlike St. Nicholas<\/a>, perhaps the most popular saint in Christendom for nearly two millennia, St. Charbel, who was canonized in 1977, draws young and old, men and women, Christians and non-Christians, all who seek his favor, intercession and protection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
People tour the Maronite shrine of St. Charbel in Jbeil, Lebanon, which attracts more than 4 million visitors a year, including Christians, Muslims and Druze. (photo: CNS\/Nancy Wiechec) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople with good hearts come here,\u201d a Syrian Muslim man said<\/a> to CNEWA\u2019s one-time correspondent Marilyn Raschka in 2009,<\/a> as he and his wife had traveled to the monastery to seek the saint\u2019s intercession for their family. 

Today, on his feast day in the Roman liturgical calendar, may we seek St. Charbel\u2019s intercession, not only for our own personal needs, but for the needs of a broken world so bitterly divided by fear, anger and hate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God, infinitely holy and glorified in your saints,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You who inspired the holy monk and hermit Charbel 
to live and die in perfect likeness to Jesus, 
granting him the strength to detach himself from the world 
to make the heroism of the monastic virtues triumph in his hermitage 
\u2014 poverty, obedience and chastity \u2014 
we beg you to grant us the grace 
to love and serve you following his example.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Almighty Lord, who manifested 
the power of St. Charbel’s intercession 
through numerous miracles and favors, 
grant us the grace (state intention here) 
that we implore through his intercession.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
St. Charbel is depicted in a mosaic at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral in New York City. (photo: CNS\/Gregory A. Shemitz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St. Charbel, who was canonized in 1977, draws young and old, men and women, Christians and non-Christians, all who seek his favor, intercession and protection. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70080,"featured_media":16482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2315],"class_list":["post-16481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lebanon"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSt. Charbel: Today\u2019s Saint for All | CNEWA Canada<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"St. Charbel, who was canonized in 1977, draws young and old, Christians and non-Christians, who seek his favor, intercession and protection.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cnewa.org\/ca\/st-charbel-todays-saint-for-all\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"St. Charbel: Today\u2019s Saint for All\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"St. Charbel, who was canonized in 1977, draws young and old, Christians and non-Christians, who seek his favor, intercession and protection.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CNEWA Canada\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cnewacanada\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-25T13:10:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-25T13:10:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cnewa.org\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/20240509T1133-AUSTRALIA-MARONITE-CHARBEL-17762591.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael J. 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