Saint Charbel Makhlouf (1828-1898)
The reason this site exists: the hermit of Annaya, monk of the Lebanese Maronite Order, whose tomb became a place of pilgrimage and healing for Christians and Muslims alike. Begin with his story.
Saints & Blesseds
The holy women and men whose stories this site tells - the hermit of Annaya first, then the saints around his tradition, and now the blesseds whose causes are still unfolding. Titles are kept exact: a saint is canonized by the universal Church; a blessed is beatified, one step earlier. Each card says which is which.
"And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us…"
The saints on this site are not distant. Each one ran with patience and left a trail to follow.
Find a Saint
39 saints and blesseds, grouped by who they were and when they lived. Titles are exact: a saint is canonized, a blessed is beatified.
39 saints and blesseds
No saint matches that search.
Lebanese saints and blesseds
Saints and blesseds who lived, prayed and served in Lebanon, and the hermit who gave the Maronites their name. Maroun and Marina are ancient traditions, with no firm dates.
St Maroun
The hermit on the mountain whose disciples gave the Maronite Church its name - healer of body and soul, friend of John Chrysostom, root of the whole tradition Saint Charbel grew from.
St Nimatullah al-Hardini (1808-1858)
The monk who taught Saint Charbel - scholar, ascetic, and teacher at Kfifan, where his tomb and shrine still receive pilgrims.
St Rafqa (1832-1914)
The blind saint of Lebanon, first woman of Lebanon to be canonized - a nun of Saint Charbel's own order who called a lifetime of suffering a gift. Her shrine is at Jrabta.
Blessed Estephan Nehme (1889-1938)
The silent monk of Kfifan - a lay brother of Saint Charbel's own order who lived by three words, "God sees me," and whose intact body still rests at Kfifan beside St Nimatullah's tomb.
The Massabki Brothers (martyred 1860)
Francis, Abdel Moati and Raphael - three Maronite laymen of Damascus, martyred in 1860 for refusing to renounce their faith, and canonized by Pope Francis on October 20, 2024 as the first Maronite lay saints.
Saint Marina of the Qadisha
The monk who was a woman - she entered Qannoubine in men's clothing, bore a false accusation in silence, and was known only after her death. Her relics came home on pilgrimage in 2018.
Blessed Abouna Yaacoub (1875-1954)
The Apostle of Lebanon - a Capuchin friar who walked the whole country preaching, founded the Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Cross, and built hospitals, schools and orphanages for the poor. Beatified in Beirut in 2008.
- Patriarch Estephan Douaihy Blessed (venerable 3 Jul 2008, beat. 2 Aug 2024) · feast 3 May Page coming
- Patriarch Elias Hoyek Venerable (5 Jul 2019); not yet beatified Page coming
Saints in the children's books
Each of these has a children's book on this site, and a short account of their life on the book page.
Saint Joseph
The carpenter of Nazareth who took Mary into his home, led the family to Bethlehem and then to Egypt, and raised Jesus. The Gospels record no words from him, only what he did.
Saint Peter
The fisherman from Galilee called Cephas, "the rock." He denied Jesus, was forgiven beside the lake, and led the first Christians after Pentecost.
Saint Mary Magdalene
A disciple from Magdala who stayed near Jesus at the cross and was the first to hear him speak after the resurrection. The Church calls her the apostle of the apostles.
Saint Jude Thaddeus
One of the Twelve, not Judas Iscariot. The Gospels keep one thing he said, his question at the Last Supper, and the answer Jesus gave about love.
Sts Sarkis and Bakhos (Sergius and Bacchus)
Two Roman officers and friends, martyred in Syria about 303. Not Lebanese, but honored by the Maronite Church, with a monastery named for them at Ehden. In Arabic, Mar Sarkis and Bakhos.
Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
A Carmelite nun who died at 24 and taught a "little way" of trust and everyday love. Pope John Paul II named her a Doctor of the Church in 1997.
St. Francis of Assisi (1181/1182-1226)
The poor man of Assisi: a merchant's son who heard Christ from the San Damiano cross, rebuilt the Church in poverty, met the Sultan, received the stigmata, and sang the Canticle of the Creatures - the most imitated saint in Christian history.
St. Anthony of Padua (c. 1195-1231)
Lisbon's Fernando became a Franciscan, astonished Europe with his preaching, taught theology with Saint Francis's own blessing, and was canonized less than a year after his death - the saint the world asks for lost things.
St. Padre Pio (1887-1968)
The Capuchin who bore the stigmata for fifty years, heard confessions for up to sixteen hours a day, built a hospital, and left the world one counsel: "Pray, hope, and don't worry." His story, his prayers, his way, and the pilgrimage.
St. John Paul II (1920-2005)
The pilgrim pope: a quarry worker who became the first Polish pope, survived an assassin's bullet and forgave him, carried the Gospel to 129 countries, and told the world not to be afraid. Canonized the two Maronite saints closest to Saint Charbel.
St. Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)
The Albanian schoolteacher who heard a call within a call and spent fifty years with the poorest of the poor - the home for the dying, the Nobel Peace Prize, and a hidden darkness she turned into fidelity.
Famous saints around the world
Beloved saints and blesseds from every century and country.
St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
The restless heart: a brilliant young professor who ran from God across the Mediterranean, heard a child's "take and read" in a Milan garden, and became the bishop of Hippo whose Confessions and City of God shaped the Western mind. His mother Monica's feast is kept the day before his.
St. John Chrysostom (c. 349-407)
The Golden Mouth: Antioch's greatest preacher, made archbishop of Constantinople, twice exiled for preaching Christ in the poor to an imperial court. He died on the road to exile with "Glory to God for all things" on his lips - a Father of the Antiochian tradition the Maronite Church grew from.
Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
The media bishop: Emmy-winning host of Life Is Worth Living, beatified in Saint Louis, Missouri before some 50,000 pilgrims. His life, what beatification means, and where to watch his talks.
- Bernadette Soubirous Saint (beat. 14 Jun 1925, canon. 8 Dec 1933) · feast 16 Apr Page coming
- Elizabeth Ann Seton Saint (beat. 17 Mar 1963, canon. 14 Sep 1975) · feast 4 Jan Page coming
- Faustina Kowalska Saint (beat. 18 Apr 1993, canon. 30 Apr 2000) · feast 5 Oct Page coming
- Maximilian Kolbe Saint (beat. 17 Oct 1971, canon. 10 Oct 1982) · feast 14 Aug Page coming
- Joan of Arc Saint (beat. 18 Apr 1909, canon. 16 May 1920) · feast 30 May Page coming
- John Vianney Saint (beat. 8 Jan 1905, canon. 31 May 1925) · feast 4 Aug Page coming
- John XXIII Saint (beat. 3 Sep 2000, canon. 27 Apr 2014) · feast 11 Oct Page coming
- John of the Cross Saint (beat. 25 Jan 1675, canon. 27 Dec 1726) · feast 14 Dec Page coming
- Martin de Porres Saint (beat. 29 Oct 1837, canon. 6 May 1962) · feast 3 Nov Page coming
- Rita of Cascia Saint (beat. 19 Oct 1626, canon. 24 May 1900) · feast 22 May Page coming
- Pier Giorgio Frassati Saint (beat. 20 May 1990, canon. 7 Sep 2025) · feast 4 Jul Page coming
- Carlo Acutis Saint (beat. 10 Oct 2020, canon. 7 Sep 2025) Page coming
- Teresa of Avila Saint (beat. 24 Apr 1614, canon. 12 Mar 1622) Page coming
- Ignatius of Loyola Saint (beat. 27 Jul 1609, canon. 12 Mar 1622) Page coming
- Francis Xavier Saint (beat. 25 Oct 1619, canon. 12 Mar 1622) Page coming
How This Series Works
One page per holy person, built to the same standard: a plain statement of their status (saint or blessed), a sourced life, honest distinctions between what the Church has formally recognized and what devotion reports, and links to pray, visit, and learn more. New saints and blesseds join this page as their pages are written - one card each.
New here? Start with Saint Charbel: the key dates of his life and a map of every guide on this site.
More lives around this tradition: Maronite history, the feast day, and becoming like Charbel in daily practice.