Holy Family Maronite Church

SAINT SHARBEL MAKHLOUF,

Mystic of the East (1828-1898)

Perhaps the most amazing phenomenon in the modern world is the existence of the perfectly incorrupt and life-like body of the holy Maronite monk, St. Sharbel Makhlouf, who was born on May 8, 1828, in the village of Biqa-KafraNorthern Lebanon. Given the name of Joseph at his baptism, he was the last of the five children born to very poor but religious parents. From early childhood he showed a strong attraction to prayer and solitude, arid when he attained his twenty-third year, he left home in spite of the displeasure of his family and settled happily in the Monastery of St. Maroun at Annaya. After being received into the novitiate, he was given the name Sharhel, the name of an early martyr. Having received a thorough theological education at seminaries conducted by his order, he was ordained a priest on July 23, 1859 and was assigned to the Monastery of St. Maroun, where lie spent sixteen years in the practice of monastic virtues. In 1875 he received the permission of his superiors to retire to the Hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul, which was a little distance from the monastery and which was used by the priests during days of quiet retreat. It was in this secluded sanctuary that he spent the remaining twenty-three years of his life in the practice of severe mortification. It is recorded by his companions that he wore a hair shirt, practiced corporal discipline, slept on the hard ground, and ate only one meal a day, that being the remains of the meats of his companions.

Nothing outstanding is recorded of him except his remarkable devotion to the Holy Eucharist arid his preference for saying daily Liturgy at 1:00 am., so he could spend almost all the morning in preparation and the rest of the day in thanksgiving. In 1898 lie suffered a seizure while celebrating the Divine Liturgy, and a priest assisting at the Holy Sacrifice was forced to pry the Holy Eucharist from his grasp. The holy monk died eight days later on Christmas Eve at the age of seventy. Interment was in the monastery cemetery where so many saintly monks before him had been buried. According to monastic custom, the body, which was not embalmed, was dressed in the full habit of the Order and was consigned to the grave without a coffin.

In all probability he would have been forgotten had not a certain phenomenon occurred at his grave in the form of an extraordinary bright light, which surrounded his tomb for forty-five nights following the interment. Because of this and the enthusiasm of the many witnesses of this prodigy, the officials of the monastery requested permission from the ecclesiastical authorities to exhume the body”a ceremony which took place four months after the saint's death.

When the common grave was opened in the presence of the superiors of the Order, the monks of the monastery, and many villagers. The body was found in perfect condition, even though, as the result of frequent rains which had inundated the cemetery several times since the burial, the body was found floating on mud in a flooded grave.

Alter being cleansed and re-clothed in fresh garments, the body was reverently laid in a wooden coffin and placed in a corner of the private chapel of the monastery. A strange phenomenon accompanied this exhumation, one that has continued to occur to the present day. From the pores of the body there exuded a liquid described as perspiration and blood, which had the distinct odor of blood. As a result of this transpiration, the bloodstained clothing on the relic was changed twice a week. Small pieces of cloth soaked in this mysterious fluid are distributed as relics and these frequently relieve pain and effect cures.

On July 24, 1927, after the body of Father Sharbel was minutely examined by two physicians of the French Medical Institute at Beirut, it was clothed in sacerdotal garments and was placed in a new coffin of wood covered with zinc. Various documents drawn up by the physicians, the Judge of the Ecclesiastical Commission, the Defender of the Faith, a notary and superiors of the Order, were placed in a zinc tube, which was firmly closed and placed beside the body. Sealed with the episcopal crest of the Commission, the coffin was placed in a new tomb especially prepared in the wall of an oratory. The coffin was placed on two stones to prevent contact with the dampness of the soil, and after being carefully sealed with masonry, the tomb was left undisturbed for twenty-three years.

On February 25 of the Holy Year 1950 pilgrims to the shrine noticed a liquid seeping from a corner of the tomb and flowing onto the floor of the oratory. The lather superior of the monastery, on examining the liquid and fearing damage to the contents of the tomb, had it opened in the presence of the assembled community. The tomb was found dry and the cot fin in the same condition as when it was placed in position, except that a viscous liquid was seen dripping through a crack in the loot of the casket. This liquid flowed in the direction of the west wall, eventually finding its way into the oratory.

Permission to examine the contents of the sealed casket was obtained, and in the presence of many ecclesiastical authorities, officials of the Order and attending physicians, the seal was broken on April 22, 1950. The body was found completely free of any trace of corruption and was perfectly flexible and lifelike. The sweat of liquid and blood continued to exude from the body, and the garments were found stained with blood, the white content of the fluid having collected on the body in an almost solidified condition. Part of the chasuble had rotted and the zinc tube containing the official documents was cove red with corrosion.

While the examination of the body was taking place, the monastery and church were thronged with sick and crippled pilgrims who have continued their visits in ever increasing numbers. Estimates have been made of the number of souls visiting the shrine on various days, and these number not less than five thousand each day to approximately ten or fifteen thousand on Sundays and feast days, many people traveling from distant countries in anticipation of a cure or a favor. Numerous, well-authenticated miracles have been performed at the shrine. After the exhumation of 1950, the monastery began keeping records of the miracles and with in a two-year period had collected over twelve hundred reports. Two of the cures acknowledged as being miraculous and accepted by Pope Paul VI as the required miracles for the beatification occurred during 1950. The first involved Sr. Maria Abel Kawary, S.S.C.C., who suffered for fourteen years from a gastric ulcer which neither surgery nor medication could cure or relieve. Unable to eat and compelled to stay in bed, she was in such grave condition that she was anointed three times. After fervent prayers at the tomb of St. Sharbel, she was completely and spontaneously cured. The doctor who examined the nun after the miraculous cure recorded it as œa supernatural happening which is beyond man's power to explain.

The second miracle accepted by the Sacred Congregation occurred to Mr. Alexander Obeid, who was blinded when the retina of his eye was torn when it was struck by the branch of a tree. His sight was miraculously restored at the tomb, and he was privileged to see his heavenly benefactor in a vision. The physician who had treated Mr. Obeid during his blindness and who examined the effects of the miracle attributed the cure to the Almighty Will which operated only by divine grace. There is no other explanation and it is certain that we have seriously sought an explanation without finding one.

Probably the most startling and frequently mentioned miracle involved a fifty-year-old seamstress, Miss Mountaha Daher of Bekassin, Lebanon. Since childhood she had been the object of ridicule because of a disfiguring hunchback, which several doctors could not reduce. Her cure was obtained after a visit to the tomb, during which she prayed not for herself, but for certain needy relatives. Her physician testified that he had examined her many times before the cure and declared that besides the deformity of the huge hump she had other deformities, including a misshapen shoulders. The figure of the woman after the cure was of normal proportions.

For 67 years the body of the saint remained perfectly preserved and exuded a blood fluid described by all accounts as being supernaturally sustained. However, at the time of the beatification in 1965, the body was found to have complied with the laws of nature. Only bones remained, and these were of a curious reddish color.The fluid, of course, had ceased, but enough had been gathered before the beatification to furnish a supply from which small quantities are still distributed. Small pieces of cloth from St. Sharbel's garments and those that were saturated in the fluid are likewise distributed. After more than 20 years the hones still maintain their reddish tint.

Christ gives as the relics of saints as health-giving springs through which flow blessings and healing. This should not he doubted. For if at Gods word water gushed from hard rock in the wilderness. Why should it seem incredible that healing medicine should distill from the relics of saints? ”St. John Damascene.