In January 2026, two healings attributed to Saint Charbel were registered at his monastery in Annaya - an American woman's ten-month wound, and a Lebanese woman's spinal tumor that disappeared before surgery. Here is what was reported, what "registered" actually means, and how it differs from formal Church recognition.
Part of the Saint Charbel Encyclopedia. Read the full story of his life or browse all topics.
At a Glance
Latest: two healings recorded in the Annaya register on January 17, 2026, on two continents
Also in 2025: a Crohn's disease case and a herniated-disk case recorded in October; the Naples oil vessel report (July 24) remains under Church study, not registered
What "registered" means: the monastery has recorded the account - it is not a Vatican ruling or medical certification
On January 17, 2026, two healings attributed to Saint Charbel's intercession were officially registered at the Monastery of Saint Maron in Annaya, Lebanon - one from the United States and one from Lebanon - each involving a woman healed, in the words of the Catholic News Agency report, "against all medical expectation."
Georgianne Walker, an attorney born in South Bend, Indiana, in 1975, underwent abdominal surgery in December 2024. A serious infection followed, and though six weeks of antibiotics eased the symptoms, the wound stayed open and inflamed. For ten months she changed dressings daily for continuous bleeding, and her surgeon scheduled a second operation. In September 2025, a Lebanese friend, George Issa - who credits Saint Charbel with his own healing three years earlier - brought her a small vial of the saint's oil. She prayed for Saint Charbel's intercession and anointed the wound. She reports that it healed completely, and the second surgery was cancelled.
Racha Charbel (no known relation to the saint), born in 1987 in Jezzine, south Lebanon, was hospitalized on October 1, 2025 with severe back pain. An MRI supervised by her neurosurgeon, Dr. Christian Atiya, found a 2.3-centimeter spinal tumor - a meningioma - that her physician said medication could not touch; only surgery, with a repeat MRI scheduled first. On the night of January 6, she placed her hand on a picture of Saint Charbel above her bed and asked for healing. The next morning's MRI, she was told, showed the tumor completely gone - a scan her doctor said had no medical explanation. On January 17 she made a thanksgiving visit to Annaya and registered the healing, submitting her medical reports.
Both accounts come from Catholic News Agency reporting (January 2026). We retell them as what they are: the women's own testimonies, backed by medical records filed at the monastery.
The report that drew the most attention in 2025 came from Naples, Italy. On July 24, 2025 - Saint Charbel's liturgical memorial - Monsignor Pasquale Silvestri celebrated a Mass in the saint's honor at St Ferdinand Church, attended by more than 500 people, many of them ill. Anointing the faithful with blessed oil sent by the Maronite Curia in Rome, he watched the jar empty - then, putting it away, found it full again. "I'm not a miracle worker, absolutely not," he wrote to the saint's former postulator, "but in this case there was a production of matter; this is a very serious thing." Lebanese pilgrims who smelled the oil the next day said it carried the aroma of the cedars of Lebanon. As canon law requires, the priest reported the event to the postulator of Saint Charbel's cause. The fuller account, with the letter's text, is on our miracles and reports page.
An honest distinction matters here. When a healing is "registered" at Annaya, it means the monastery has recorded the person's testimony together with their medical documentation. The monastery's register holds tens of thousands of such reports - Catholic press commonly cites more than 30,000 - from Lebanon, the Americas, Europe, and beyond.
Registration is not Vatican certification. Formal Church recognition of a miracle is a separate, rare, and lengthy process with its own medical and theological scrutiny; the miracles formally recognized for Saint Charbel's beatification in 1965 and canonization in 1977 are covered on the miracles page. The 2026 healings are registered testimonies - remarkable, documented, and reported in good faith - and we present them exactly that way.
This site exists to help people pray, not to promise outcomes. Neither the Church nor this page guarantees healing to anyone who prays, uses the blessed oil, or visits the tomb. If you or someone you love is ill, see your doctor - every account above begins with doctors, and the women involved stayed under medical care throughout. What the devotion offers is prayer, hope, and a companion in intercession - and on the evidence of the register, a great many people have found reason for gratitude.
If these accounts move you to pray, start simple. The healing prayer page walks through praying for a sick person; the novena gives nine days of structured prayer; many families keep the 22nd of the month, the rhythm that began with Nohad El Shami's healing in 1993. And if you can make the journey, the tomb itself is at Annaya, where every registration in this story was recorded.
Two healings were registered at the Monastery of Saint Maron in Annaya on January 17, 2026: an American woman whose surgical wound healed after anointing with Saint Charbel oil, and a Lebanese woman whose spinal tumor disappeared before a scheduled operation. Both were reported with medical documentation, according to Catholic News Agency reporting.
No. Registration at Annaya is the monastery's own record, kept with medical reports submitted by the healed. Formal Vatican recognition is a separate, lengthy process that few cases ever enter. The miracles formally recognized for Saint Charbel's beatification and canonization are covered on the miracles page.
The monastery's register holds tens of thousands of reported healings - Catholic press commonly cites more than 30,000 - from Lebanon and around the world. These are testimonies recorded at the shrine, not individually certified by Rome.
On July 24, 2025, at a Mass for Saint Charbel's feast in St Ferdinand Church, Naples, the parish priest reported that a vessel of blessed oil emptied while anointing over 500 faithful was found full again. He reported it to the saint's postulator, as canon law requires, and the account was covered by EWTN and Catholic News Agency.
Anyone can ask for his intercession - that is the heart of the devotion. This site makes no promise of outcomes: the Church presents reported miracles as occasions of faith, not guarantees, and prayer never replaces medical care. The healing prayer page has a full pattern for praying for a sick person.