Charbel Makhluf

Scharbel Machluf (often Charbel Makhlouf written; born May 8, 1828 Joseph Machluf in Biqa - Kafra, Lebanon, † December 24, 1898 in Annaya, Lebanon ) was a Syro- Maronite monk, and the first to be published in the modern era of Catholic Church in 1977 officially canonized. ( Remembrance Day on 24 July )

Life

Joseph Machluf came from a simple Christian peasant family in the then difficult to reach high mountain region in northern Lebanon, the single today inhabited still almost exclusively by Christians region in the Arab world, whose culture is heavily influenced by the numerous there existing Maronite monasteries and hermitages.

Joseph, who was said to be very devout as a child, came with 23 years in the monastery of Notre Dame de Mayfouk (north of Jbeil ( Byblos ) ). In 1853 he moved to the monastery of St. Maroun Annaya and made there the monastic vows and took the religious name Scharbel (after the ancient oriental martyr Sarbelius ) to.

He spent the next years in the monastery Kfifan, where he at Father Nimatullah al - Kafri and Father Nimatullah al - Hardini (last in 2004, canonized by John Paul II ) studied theology. In 1859 he was ordained a priest and returned to Annaya. In 1875, he opted for a life as a hermit in the Hermitage of St. Peter and Paul above Annaya. On December 16, 1898, he suffered while he celebrated the Holy Mass in the Hermitage, a stroke, the consequences of which he died on Christmas Eve 1898.

Scharbel been rumored as far back as several miracles. Soon after his death, it was discovered that his body did not see corruption or had dried, but still contained bodily fluid and secreted. This was also confirmed in later reburials. These phenomena as well as numerous healings of the sick after a visit at the grave Scharbels made ​​him very quickly become an integral part oriental -Christian popular piety. Two cures of 1950 eventually led to the initiation of a beatification process in Rome, on December 5, 1965 with the official beatification Scharbels by Pope Paul VI. took his degree. Due to a third healing in 1967 then took on 9 October 1977, the Saints again in Rome by Pope Paul VI. Instead.

" Mar Scharbel " whose image in numerous Lord angles, at taxi windshields, and in churches and chapels can be found in the Orient, is one with St. Rebecca Ar Rayes (2001 by John Paul II canonized ) and St. Nimatullah al - Hardini, the academic teacher Scharbels ( canonization in 2004 by Pope John Paul II ) was officially canonized by Rome to the three Lebanese saints.

The Feast of the Holy Scharbels is celebrated in the Catholic Church on July 24. In the German-speaking area of the Holy Scharbels is thought since February 2006 in Stans in Nidwalden in the Swiss Alps, where he, together with the holy Niklaus von Flue, whose life story in Switzerland is very similar to that of the holy Scharbels in Lebanon, former Capuchin church is venerated.