✦Saint Charbel
Canonization

Why Saint Charbel Was Canonized

Short answer: Pope Paul VI canonized Saint Charbel Makhlouf on Sunday, October 9, 1977, at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. In his homily he presented the Lebanese Maronite hermit as a man who sought God alone, whom the faithful had long venerated. Paul VI had already declared him blessed on December 5, 1965.

Charbel's Life The Tomb Feast Day

The Canonization in a 3-Minute Timeline

  • May 8, 1828: Youssef Makhlouf is born in Bekaa Kafra, Lebanon (see Bekaa Kafra).
  • Age 23: he leaves his village and family for the monastery, as Paul VI recalled in the canonization homily.
  • 1859: he is ordained a priest. Paul VI's homily counts sixteen years of community life at Annaya after this.
  • 1875: he moves to the hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul, where the homily says he spent twenty-three years in complete solitude.
  • December 24, 1898: he dies on Christmas Eve at the age of seventy (see the tomb page).
  • December 5, 1965: Paul VI declares him blessed at the close of the Second Vatican Council.
  • October 9, 1977: Paul VI canonizes him in St. Peter's Basilica. According to The New York Times report the next day, he was the first Lebanese and the first member of an Eastern rite canonized by the Catholic Church.

Why Did the Church Canonize Saint Charbel?

A canonization names a person as a saint for the whole Church. The clearest account of the reasons is Paul VI's own homily that day, which is published by the Holy See (in French). Four threads in it:

  • He sought God alone. Paul VI called him a singular son of Lebanon and a paradoxical craftsman of peace, because he looked for peace apart from the world, in God alone.
  • The key to his life was holiness. The pope described it as the closest conformity to the humble and poor Christ: near-constant conversation with the Lord, a fervent celebration of Mass, and penance joined to intercession for sinners.
  • The people of God had already recognized it. The homily says his holiness shone during his life, that people of every faith came to him, and that since his death the light has shone above his tomb, where many still pray with fervor.
  • His kind of holiness matters to the Church. Paul VI answered the objection that such austerity seems strange to the modern world, and said the hermit's way carries great weight for the vitality of the Church. He held Charbel up as a model for the whole world and a worthy representative of the Eastern Churches and their monastic tradition.

Paul VI also welcomed Lebanon's representatives, among them the Maronite Patriarch Antoine Pierre Khoraiche, and spoke of the country's hope for peace after the recent war.

When Was Saint Charbel Beatified?

On December 5, 1965. We take that date from Paul VI's own canonization homily on the Holy See website, which says he declared Charbel blessed on December 5, 1965, as the Second Vatican Council closed. Other pages online give a January date; that date does not match this Vatican source.

What Happens on the Anniversary?

The Church's feast of Saint Charbel is a separate day: July 24 in the Latin calendar and the third Sunday of July in the Maronite calendar, explained on the feast day page. October 9 is the anniversary of the canonization itself. A simple way to mark it is to read his life on the history page or pray the novena.

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