On December 1, 2025, Pope Leo XIV knelt in Annaya, Lebanon, under an arch of stone, facing the carved cedar tomb of St. Charbel Makhlouf.
Pope Leo gazed at the image of the saint displayed above the tomb—a quiet, white-bearded religious priest and hermit robed in black. Charbel (Sharbel) Makhlouf was declared a saint in 1977, the first canonized monk belonging to the Lebanese Maronite Order. The memory of the holy hermit, whose feast day is July 24th, is valued by Christians and Muslims alike.
“What is the legacy of this man who wrote nothing, who lived a hidden and silent life, yet whose fame spread throughout the world?” Pope Leo XIV reflected while standing near St. Charbel’s tomb. “Even during his earthly life, many went to him to receive comfort, forgiveness and advice from the Lord. After St. Charbel’s death, his work multiplied and became like a river of mercy.”
St. Charbel’s Monastery of St. Maroun has recorded more than 33,000 miracles and counting. According to National Catholic Register, “In many of the reported miracles, Sharbel [AKA Charbel] is said to have performed ‘surgery.’ That was the case with Eskandar Obeid, a Lebanese ironmonger who in 1937 lost sight in one eye but who was cured by Sharbel, leading to the saint’s beatification. Sharbel appeared to Obeid in two dreams: In the first, he told him to go to the monastery to pray; and in the second, the monk told him, ‘You’ll feel agonizing pain, but you’ll be cured.’”
As OSV News reported, Pope Leo XIV became the first pope to set foot at St. Charbel’s burial place in Annaya, which Maronite Father Youssef Matta called “a historic recognition of St. Charbel’s role in the world and a powerful message of support and hope for a country in crisis.”
This hope seems all the more needed today, as Lebanon has continued to experience violence and unrest throughout this year.
St. Charbel himself was no stranger to national unrest and personal grief. Born in 1828, Youssef Antoun Makhlouf hardly had the chance to know his own father. Compelled to labor for Turkish forces, his father fell ill on the return journey, passing away when his son was only three years old. Almost thirty years later, in 1859, Youssef became a priest. By that time, he was already a monk going by “Charbel.”
Throughout his lifetime, he endured a civil war that claimed the lives of fellow monks, a national economic crisis, and the departure of his brothers to Mexico for hopes of a better future.
St. Charbel found strength by staying close to Jesus in the Eucharist. National Catholic Register reports that “he is said to have celebrated Mass each day at noon and would spend eight to 10 hours praying before and after receiving Communion.”
He died on Christmas Eve of 1898, enduring a painful illness throughout his final days. His faith continues to touch lives, as thousands of Catholics ask for his intercession during difficult and frightening moments.
Here are the testimonies of some of those who have felt his presence in awe-inspiring ways.
Dafne Gutierrez’s Story: Sight Restored
A mother from Phoenix, Arizona, Dafne Gutierrez had gone blind by 2015.
As National Catholic Register reported, Gutierrez’s blindness was a result of benign intracranial hypertension (BIH), causing pressure to build in her brain, triggering seizures and also injuring her optic disk. By November 2015, Gutierrez had become permanently blind.
However, in January of 2016, Gutierrez’s sister suggested praying at St. Joseph Maronite Church, a local parish hosting relics of St. Charbel.
Little did they know the suggestion would change the lives of their whole family.
On January 16th, Gutierrez prayed with the relics of St. Charbel. While at St. Joseph Church, she also received the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and the pastor anointed her with holy oil.
“Gutierrez recalled that, immediately afterward, her body felt ‘different,’” National Catholic Register states. Attending Sunday Mass the next day at St. Joseph Church, Gutierrez was revisited by the same feeling.
The next day, January 18th, everything changed.
That morning, she began feeling severe pain in her eyes. She told her husband that she was suddenly able to see shadows, and he stated her nostrils had emitted a smell like burned meat.
When she visited her ophthalmologist the next day, her optic nerves were still deemed abnormal. Her status was legally blind. However, when she visited another ophthalmologist two days later, her eyesight and optic nerves were inexplicably normal—her vision was 20/20.
One week later, the first ophthalmologist checked her vision again and confirmed: her eyesight was indeed back to normal.
Dr. Anne Borik, a board-certified internal medicine physician, became the head of a medical committee that investigated the healing for the Catholic Church, searching for a scientific explanation for Gutierrez’s astounding recovery of sight.
“We have pictures to confirm that [Gutierrez’s] optic disc was chronically atrophied,” said Dr. Borik, herself Catholic. “In the post-healing pictures, her optic disc is back to normal. Her vision is completely restored. She has no more seizures.”
“That is why I, as a medical doctor, have no explanation,” Dr. Borik added—an opinion shared by the medical committee.
Christopher Safi’s Story: A Cancer Survivor with a Mission
Long before Christopher Safi became the founder of a nonprofit, he was a 14-month-old child battling neuroblastoma.
Safi knows well the struggles of dealing with childhood cancer. As a four-year-old, he developed a malignant tumor on his neck. He went into remission when he was six but was forced to undergo brain surgery as a 17-year-old after the cancer came back.
However, instead of letting fear rule as an adult, the cancer survivor from Brooklyn has found peace through St. Charbel’s accompaniment. “I wouldn’t be here it if it wasn’t for St. Charbel. He’s been on my side since day one of diagnosis,” shared Safi on a Currents News interview posted on the Family of St. Sharbel USA website.
He pulled out his wallet, holding up a St. Charbel prayer card. “Every time I’m walking around, every day, he’s always in my pocket, protecting me.”
In 2018, while still in high school, Safi began his nonprofit, Little Golden Light, with the goal of bringing Christmas toys to pediatric cancer patients in New York City. Outreach has expanded to providing a transportation assistance program, Christmas in July events, Halloween goodie bags, and virtual bingo.
According to the current estimate, Little Golden Light has donated over 30,000 toys to kids in cancer hospitals—coincidentally, around the same number as the miracles currently attributed to St. Charbel.
“God has a path for everybody,” said Safi, “and I think my path is to focus on helping these children, helping these families.”
Georgianne Walker’s Story: One Friend Bringing Healing to Another
On January 17, 2026, Georgianne Walker’s testimony was recorded alongside the thousands of other miracles attributed to St. Charbel. Walker believes St. Charbel’s intercession is responsible for her healing after her friend, George Issa, shared with her oil blessed by the saint’s relics.
Originally from South Bend, Indiana, Walker suffered from an abdominal infection resulting from a December 2024 surgery. After six weeks of antibiotics, she eventually saw an improvement—except for the surgical wound, which refused to heal. Throughout the next 10 months, her wound continued bleeding.
Her surgeon determined that a follow-up surgery was needed.
In September 2025, as the scheduled surgery loomed in Walker’s future, George Issa came by with oil blessed by St. Charbel’s relics. According to the EWTN News report, “Monks at the Monastery of Saint Maron in Annaya continue to bless oil using the saint’s relics and distribute it to the faithful who request his intercession for healing and other graces.”
Three years prior, Issa himself had experienced healing through St. Charbel. He told Walker to commend herself to St. Charbel’s prayers and to put the oil on her wound.
She agreed, and the wound, which had been bleeding for months, subsequently closed up. Her surgery was canceled.
Her friend’s healing through St. Charbel had led to her own.
If you’re facing any challenges today—physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually—consider asking St. Charbel to accompany you with his prayers.
St. Charbel Novena Prayer
(courtesy of Aleteia)
Lord, infinitely Holy and Glorified in Your Saints,
You have inspired Charbel, the saint monk,
to lead the perfect life of a hermit.
We thank You for granting him the blessing
and the strength to detach himself from the world
so that the heroism of the monastic virtues of poverty,
obedience, and chastity,
could triumph in his hermitage.
We beseech You to grant us
the grace of loving and serving You,
following his example.
Almighty God, Who has manifested
the power of St. Charbel’s intercession
through his countless miracles and favours,
grant us…
[Mention your intention here]
through his intercession.
Amen.
Author’s Note: Special thanks to Saint Charbel Lebanon, the Family of St. Sharbel USA, Vatican News, and the Catholic Church Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
Image by FOSS-the-world via Wikimedia Commons
