Name: Youssef (Joseph) Antoun Makhlouf
Ordained Name: Charbel
Ordained Date: July 23, 1859
Born: May 8, 1828 in North Governorate Lebanon
Died: December 24, 1898 (age 70) in Monastery Saint Maroun, Aannaya Lebanon, from a stroke during the Divine Liturgy.
Buried: December 25, 1898 in Monastery Saint Maround Aannaya Lebanon. After burial there was a 45 minute glowing light over his grave.
Parents: Brigitta Chidiac, Antount Zaarour Makhlouf
Name Day: July 3 (Maronite Calendar) and July 24 (Roman Calendar)
Prayer to Saint Charbel. Lord, infinitely Holy and Glorified in Thy Saints, Who has inspired the Saint Monk and Hermit Charbel to live and die in the path of Jesus Christ, and gave him the strength to detach himself from the world in order to make triumph, in his hermitage, the monastic virtues: – We implore Thee to bestow upon us the grace to love Thee and serve Thee following his example. God Almighty, Who has manifested the power of Saint Charbel’s intercession, by the numerous miracles and favors, grant us the Grace (…) by his intercession. Amen.
In 1899, Father Charbel’s was exhumed and found incorrupt, flexible, moist and leaking a blood-like fluid. After the examination he was placed in a wooden coffin and placed in a private chapel at the Monestary of St. Maron in Annaya, Lebanon.
In 1927 and 1950 Doctors examined Father Charbel’s body, there was no signs of decomposition or embalming. The red fluid continued to flow, with no natural explanation.
In 1966, 67 years after his death, his body decayed, leaving only reddish bones that still secrete oil.
Today, there are over 29,000 medically documented healings attributed to his intercession. Many confirmed by scans, doctors and sworn testimony.
On July 24, 2025 at St. Ferdinand Church in Napels, Italy, the parish Priest Monsignor Pasquale Silvestri celebrated a Mass in honor of Saint Charbel attended by more than 500 mainly ill people.
On July 24, at the end of the Eucharist, the priest proceeded to anoint the faithful who approached the alter with blessed oil. “I didn’t imagine there would be so many people, so there came a time when the jar was almost empty, I turned the jar upside down several times to get the last drop, and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to satisfy everyone. However, I managed to anoint each sick person until the jar was empty. When I finished, I closed the jar and put it back in its case. But when I put it back in the safe, I realized it was full again. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”
The next day, on July 25, a group of Lebanese pilgrims arrived at the church. “They asked me if they could smell the oil, and when they did, they assured me it gave off the aroma of the cedars of Lebanon, the oil is fragrant, something that seems impossible.”
“Father Charbel was one of those saints who locked in a life of silence, humility and steadfastness, understood how to detach himself from everything except from the countenance of his Beloved.”
August 10, 1926 – Marie Zouain was stricken with rheumatism right after the birth of her first child. It became so severe that she could not move her hands or legs, she was unable to care for her newborn baby. She was carried to Father Charbel’s tomb. There she prayed and did not leave till she had obtained what she had come for. She suddenly felt her arms and legs get stronger, she was able to move her arms and stand up. (16 other cures were registered that year)
September 8, 1929 – Sister Marie Abel was diagnosed with pyloric ulcers which caused her liver, bile duct and one kidney to no longer function normally. In 1942 her right arms became paralyzed, her teeth started to fall out. In 1944 Dr. Ibrahim Abi Haidar diagnosed her as incurable. On July 11, 1950 she noticed drops of shining sweat on the wall that has Saint Charbel’s name engraved. She used her handkerchief to soak the sweat and wipe the sweat onto her sore places on her body. As soon as she did that, she stood up and started walking. She was cured on July 12, 1950.
1936 – A Nun with stomach cancer was instantly healed at his tomb.
1937 – Iskandar Oubaid had lost his sight, Doctor declared that the iris was deteriorated, which no longer permitted light to pass through. In 1950, he had a dream, his eye was cured. He woke up and was able to see.
December 1949 – Mhammad Ali Mourouwe (muslim) was diagnosed with arthritis and a stomach ulcer. February 14, 1950 Doctor said he had lost 80% of his eye sight in the left eye, and based on his age this was no hope for improvement. On May 11 he washed his eyes, hands and feet with holy water that was brought from Annaya. Doctor examined his eye, it was red and filled with tears. The next day Mohammed visited the doctor and said he was cured, he could see, he could bend his fingers.
February 3, 1950 – Sheik Salim el-Hashem was laying unconscious with a livid color, irregular pulse, blood pressure less than 6 and a barely perceptible heart beat. He was 70 years old and suffering from a stomach ulcer which caused frequent haemorrhage. He was vomiting blood and each time it totaled more than 1 liter. Since the doctor arrived, in less than 1 hour he had vomited 3 times. 3 Doctors concluded that he had not more than 1 and a half hours to live. His heart stopped beating, one of the Doctors pronounced him dead and left the room. Shortly after the mans daughter brought an incense burner which had incense from Father Charbel’s tomb. She held it under the dead mans nose and placed the relic on his chest. Then one of the Doctors gave the man an intermuscular injection of Holy Water from the hermits tomb and the man came back to life! Since that day, his condition has gradually improved to the point where he now enjoys excellent health.
May 11, 1950 – Mountaha Boulos contracted typhoid fever at the age of 1, which left her with a hump on her left shoulder blade. it grew day by day year by year. She had a very pronounced hunchback, a concave chest and deformed shoulders. On May 11 he visited Saint Charbel’s tomb (almost 50 years later). Three days after his visit he had a dream that he was at a church praying alone, when he woke up that morning he got dressed and realized that the hump on his shoulder blade was gone.
May 14, 1950 – Miss Mansour el-Mohair a 24 year old had a leg deformity since child birth, her right leg was 3 to 4 inches shorter than her left leg. She would visit Saint Charbel’s tomb and would rub her right side with holy water and earth collected from the tomb. Each time she did that she would hear her hip crack but there were no results. Her mother would say “you are annoying us with all this praying. If God wanted to cure you, he would have done so long ago.” She once again went and rubbed her leg as she normally did with the water and earth, this time the cracking had stopped. She measured her legs and they were both the same length. Due to her changed condition an atheist began to believe in the holiness of Father Charbel.
1993 – A woman with blocked arteries had a dream of two monks. One said “I am father charbel.” She woke up healed, with fresh surgical marks.
March 7, 2017 – Beginning of February 2017 Sevan Kjderian got so sick and for a week she couldn’t walk, Doctor said she had a muscle inflammation and said she can either takes pills or she could stay overnight for observation. Her kids and husband insisted she stay over night at the hospital and thank God they did. The following day she had two MRIs before the doctors confirmed she had a benign tumor on her brain. The tumor was 6 cm big and had roots all over her sensory cortex, if left untreated she could lose some of her senses or the roots may grow bigger and control all her brain which leads to death. On March 6, she had a dream “I saw someone wearing red coming towards me and causing me lots of anger. Then all of a sudden two big hands came closer and closer to me and put St. Charbel’s hat on my head, then all of a sudden that person in red disappeared. I knew right then that St. Charbel was going to save me from this surgery.” On March 7 she was schedule for a 9 hour long surgery to remove the 6 cm long tumor on her brain. All went well and she was cured.
July 15, 2016 – I was working in Hell on night shift (for the second time) while my husband took care of our 1 year old daughter all while becoming a priest. In July, my mother-in-law told me about Saint Charbel’s 9 day prayer, so I began, I asked Saint Charbel to help me return to day shift and somehow open the door for me to leave that Hell hole. After only 4 days of prayer in July, I was brought back to day shift. By June 2018 I was fired from that company and was given my freedom to become a full time Mother to my two little girls. The details of my story and what I endured at that God forsaken place is beyond words. I pray that all who worked there during my years have been touched by God and have asked for forgiveness as I have asked for forgiveness. I know God let me go through that journey, because He knew I would find him at the end of that very dark tunnel. After I began the prayers to Saint Charbel 3 things happened – I got closer to God; I learned and saw what evil was and how it works; and I began researching about Saints.