Although this saint never traveled far from the Lebanese village of Beka-Kafra, where he was born, his influence has spread widely...  the Aramaic Maronite Antiochian Church is indeed a living branch of the Catholic Church.

    Joseph Zaroun Maklouf was raised by an uncle because his father, a mule driver, died when Joseph was only three. At the age of 23, Joseph joined the Monastery of St. Maron at Annaya, Lebanon, and took the name Sharbel in honor of a second-century martyr. He professed his final vows in 1853 and was ordained six years later.

    Following the example of the fifth-century St. Maron, Sharbel lived as a hermit from 1875 until his death. His reputation for holiness prompted people to seek him to receive a blessing and to be remembered in his prayers. He followed a strict fast and was very devoted to the Blessed Sacrament. When his superiors occasionally asked him to administer the sacraments to nearby villages, Sharbel did so gladly.

    His pillow was a piece of wood covered with an old cloth, a remnant from an old habit. His bed was made of goat hair and laid directly on the floor.

    He died in the late afternoon on Christmas Eve. Christians and non-Christians soon made his tomb a place of pilgrimage and of cures. Pope Paul VI beatified him in 1965 and canonized him in 1977.

    Starting on the night of his death, Sharbel's tomb emanated a bright light.

    Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk known as "the American Hermit", discovered Saint Sharbel nine years after becoming a monk and he wrote in his journal: "...Saint Sharbel is my new companion. My road has taken a new turning. It seems to me that I have been asleep for nine years --and before that I was dead." (Benedict 1977: xii)

    Incorrupt Body:
    After getting permission from the Church authorities, the superior opened the tomb for the first time on April 15, 1899, four months after Sharbel's death. The body was found to be intact and as of that day exuded a blood-like moisture for the next 67 years. Between 1950 and 1975, his tomb was opened eight times and was examined by medical doctors in the presence of the Protector of the Faith and representatives of the Maronite Patriarch and of the Vatican, who found that his body still resembled a living one. Experts and doctors were unable to give any medical explanation for the incorruptibility and flexibility of the saint's body. (St. Charbel Makhlouf 1989: 78-82; Hayek 1956: 114-125; also see 'Awwad 1952)

    Comment:

Pope John Paul II has often said that the Church has two lungs (East and West) and it must learn to breathe using both of them. Remembering saints like Sharbel helps the Church to appreciate both the diversity and unity present in the Catholic Church. Like all the saints, Sharbel points us to God and invites us to cooperate generously with God's grace, no matter what our situation in life may be. As our prayer life becomes deeper and more honest, we become more ready to make that generous response.