The hermit of Lebanon

For healing — a devotion that crosses religious lines.

Charbel Makhlouf was a Maronite monk who spent his last twenty-three years as a hermit in the Lebanese mountains. Since his death in 1898, healings have been reported at his tomb in such numbers that Muslims and Christians alike make the pilgrimage.

The Prayer

O St. Charbel, who lived hidden and unknown,
and who now works wonders across the world:

intercede for me and obtain from God the healing I ask [name it].

You who chose silence, prayer and the mountain,
teach me to be still enough to hear God,
and to trust Him when the answer is slow.

Heal me if it is His will;
and if it is not, come and sit with me in it. Amen.

About This Devotion

His feast is kept on the third Sunday of July in Lebanon and on 24 July in the general calendar. The devotion is one of the few that reaches beyond the Church’s own boundaries — a Maronite hermit whose shrine draws people of several faiths.