A global saint with ties to the Philippines
The saint that’s almost ours. That, perhaps, is how Filipinos can call St.Sharbel, the first Lebanese to be canonized a saint.
That’s because St. Sharbel has relatives who have lived in the Philippines since the early 20th century, when a group of Lebanese migrated to the Philippines. Among them was Butrous Fakhris, who was St. Sharbel’s cousin.
According to his son, UP Professor Pedro Abraham, their grandmother Hanna was the sister of Sharbel’s mother, Brigitta. Thus, Butrous and Sharbel were cousins. Butrous married Josefina Pagulayan Reyes, and they settled in Tuguegarao, Cagayan. Among their children were Joe and Professor Pedro Abraham, who in effect are the grandnephews of St. Sharbel.
Joe Abraham later married Julie Roa and it was through my friend Tess Bernales, who’s the cousin of Julie, that I first learned of St. Sharbel. That makes Julie the grandniece-in-law of St. Sharbel.
Born Yousef Antoun Makhlouf on May 8, 1828 in North Lebanon, St. Sharbel was the youngest child of Antoun Zaarour Makhlouf and Brigitta Elias al-Shediyaq. It was from them that the young Yousef learned piety and devotion. Religiosity, in fact, ran in the family. His two maternal uncles were monks who inspired him just as the hermits of the Lebanese Maronite Order did.
According to the organization Family of St. Sharbel USA, the young Yousef was so pious that the villagers called him “the Saint.” When he would take his small herd to graze in the fields, he would slip away to pray before a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
At 23, he entered the monastery of Mayfouk. It was then that he chose the name Sharbel (sometimes spelled Charbel) in honor of a second-century martyr. He was ordained a priest in 1859 in the Lebanese Catholic Maronite Order.
An early miracle was the “Miracle of the Lamp.” According to legend, he once asked a worker to refill the oil lamp he was using. Although the worker filled it only with water, the lamp continued to glow, spreading its wondrous light all through the night.
On Dec. 16, 1898, St. Sharbel suffered a stroke. He endured eight days of pain, all the while praying and saying the names of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. He died on Christmas Eve that year, and was buried on a bleak, snowy winter day.
Witnesses said that immediately after his burial, bright lights illuminated his tomb. When Church authorities opened his tomb, they found St. Sharbel’s body intact and incorrupt but emitting sweat and blood.
Soon, many began to flock to the Maronite monastery. Two spectacular miracles were the healing of Sister Maria Abel Kamari, S.S.C.C. and of Alessandro Obeid.
According to Family of St. Sharbel USA, Sister Kamari suffered from intense intestinal disorder. But after praying to St. Sharbel, she was healed. Likewise, Obeid regained his eyesight after praying to St. Sharbel.
According to St. Maron’s monastery, there have been at least 26,000 documented healings attributed to the intercession of St. Sharbel. These miracles happened not just in Lebanon but also worldwide, even to those who belonged to other religions.
One recent miracle happened in St. Joseph Maronite Catholic Church in Phoenix, Arizona. A woman regained her eyesight after praying over the relics of St. Sharbel. Subsequent medical tests confirmed that she had been healed.
Because of this, St. Joseph Maronite Catholic Church was designated a pilgrimage church by Bishop A. Elias Zaidan. A shrine dedicated to St. Sharbel was inaugurated in March 2017.
My friend Tess Bernales and her companion Dr. Fides Buenafe recently attended Holy Mass in that church. “It was a moving experience,” Tess said.
A more recent miracle happened to the mother of a Filipina working in Lebanon. In the website Family, Tradition, Property, Ben Broussard narrates the story of a Filipina who worked as a nanny in Lebanon. The nanny soon heard that her mother back in the Philippines was dying of cancer.
After praying to St. Sharbel the nanny called her mother, who excitedly said, “Tell the family you work for thank you for the doctor they sent.”
But they hadn’t sent any doctor. The doctor, she said, gave her some juice to drink, which immediately made her feel better. Her description of the mysterious doctor fitted the image of St. Sharbel exactly. Subsequent examinations by doctors confirmed her complete healing.
Miracles in Phoenix, the Philippines, Lebanon and all over the world. St. Sharbel has truly become a global saint. He belongs not just to Lebanon, to Catholics, and to the Filipinos. St. Sharbel belongs to the world.
