Feast of St. Sharbel - July 23

At the closing of the Second Vatican Council, on December 5, 1965 Sharbel was beatified by Pope Paul VI who said:

“ ... a hermit of the Lebanese mountain is inscribed in the number of the blessed ... a new eminent member of monastic sanctity is enriching, by his example and his intercession, the entire Christian people... May he make us understand, in a world largely fascinated by wealth and comfort, the paramount value of poverty, penance and asceticism, to liberate the soul in its ascent to God."

Saint Sharbel, pray for us.

 

Thomas Merton, the American hermit, wrote in his journal:
"Sharbel lived as a hermit in Lebanon … he was a Maronite. He died. Everyone forgot about him. Fifty years later his body was covered incorrupt and in a short time he worked over 600 miracles. He is my new companion. My road has taken a new turning. It seems to me that I have been asleep for 9 years---and before that I was dead."