00:00On July 24, the church celebrates Saint Charbel Makhlouf, one of the most venerated saints in the Arab world.
00:08Maronite monk from Lebanon, hermit, man of silence and miracles,
00:15It continues to attract crowds, well beyond Christian borders.
00:21Youssef Makhlouf, born in 1828, in a small village in northern Lebanon.
00:28From a very young age, he was drawn to prayer, silence and stories of monastic life.
00:36At the age of 23, he left his family to enter the Maronite monastery of Maïfouk,
00:41then that of Anaïa, where he takes the name of Charbel, in reference to a Syriac martyr of the 2nd century.
00:50Ordained a priest, he became an exemplary monk, but yearned for solitude.
00:56He settled in a hermitage on the mountainside, where he spent 23 years fasting,
01:04prayer, manual work and Eucharistic adoration.
01:09Charbel died in 1898, on Christmas Eve.
01:15Very quickly, miracles were reported around his tomb.
01:19His body remains intact for years, harboring a mysterious liquid.
01:26Thousands of physical and spiritual healings have been attributed to his intercession,
01:33in Lebanon and abroad.
01:35Canonized in 1977, he became a universal figure of peace and unity.
01:42His simple but radically given life continues to move believers and non-believers alike.
01:50Saint Charbel, pray for us.
01:53O Saint Charbel, you who lived in silence and prayer,
02:00you who were faithful to God to the point of total sacrifice,
02:04obtain for us the grace to imitate your deep love for the Eucharist and the Virgin Mary.
02:10Intercede for me in this hour.
02:13Obtain from God peace of heart, healing of body and light of soul.
02:20Saint Charbel, monk of Lebanon, flower of holiness in the desert,
02:27refuge of the afflicted, pray for me and for the whole world.
02:33Amen.
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