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Sharbelogy 7, the book written by Father Hanna Skandar. This is the first book written about the Lebanese saint: Charbel Makhlouf. It describes Saint Charbel relationship with God and his brothers, the maronite monks. Relive his ascetic life and the mortifications he has experienced …

The original book was written in arabic. It is now available to download in other languages. An english version is going to be published later this year.

Screenplay by Mounir Maasri

Quick Facts

Released in 2009
Duration: 1hr46min
Language: Arabic
Film Location: Lebanon

Dr. Joseph Chamy, a cardiologist, received me and referred me to the Intensive Care Unit and to Dr. Antoine Nachakian and Dr. Majid Chamy, my family doctor. After many consultations, X-rays and medical tests, they deduced that the hemiplegia was due to the obstruction of 80% of the left-brain arteries and 70% of the right ones. “In this case, no treatment can cure you. Nevertheless, we still have the possibility to perform later a surgery and replace the obstructed arteries by plastic ones,” said the doctor. They advised me to go home and come back to Hotel Dieu Hospital within three months for new X-rays.

So, my eldest son, Saad, went to Annaya and brought me consecrated oil and soil from Saint Charbel’s tomb. When my daughter applied them on my body, I felt tingles in my hand and my foot. I left the hospital after staying there for 9 days.

At home, I couldn’t leave my bed. My husband had to help me go to the bathroom, and my children had to give me food and water through a straw. This is how I spent the next three days after leaving the hospital. While I was sleeping, I saw myself going up the stairs of the hermitage in Annaya and attending the mass in the presence of monks. During this mass, Saint Charbel was giving me the communion.

Between the fourth night at home, Thursday January 22nd, 1933, and early Friday morning, I was suffering from an awful headache and a pain in my right side. I started praying to the Holy Virgin and Saint Charbel, saying, “What have I done? Why have you done this to me? What sin have I committed to deserve all this? I have raised twelve children with lots of suffering, prayers and perseverance. I am not imposing my will on you, but if you are willing, you can heal me, or else take my soul. What ever you decide to do pleases me.”

My husband and children left me to get some rest. At 11pm, I had a dream: I saw a blinding light filling my room, and two monks approaching my bed; one of them placed his hand on my neck and said, “I am here to operate on you.” I turned around but couldn’t see his face for a blinding light was coming out of his body and eyes. I said, “Father, why do you want to perform an operation? They didn’t say I require one.” He replied, “Yes you do. I am Father Charbel and come to perform it.” I turned too looked at the Virgin Mary’s statuette near my bed and said, “Virgin Mary, please intercede on my behalf. How are these monks going to perform a surgery and stitch the incision without an anesthetic?” I was staring at the statuette, which took a place between the two monks. At that moment, I felt an awful pain while Saint Charbel was rubbing my neck. When he finished the surgery, the other monk approached me holding a pillow, helped me to sit up straight, put the pillow behind my back and gave me the cup of water which was beside me, that after taking away the straw. He put his hand under my head and told me, “Drink this water”. I said, “Father, I cannot drink without a straw.” He replied, “We have performed the surgery and now you have to drink and walk, too.”

At that moment I woke up and realized that the water was going down my throat normally and I was sitting the way the monk made me sit. I looked at the statuette and noted that it was back in its original place on the table. Then, I felt a pain in my neck and unconsciously I touched it and realized that I could use my disabled arm, and that I can move my leg under the blanket. I got ot of bed, and without being fully conscious, I knelt before the Virgin’s statuette and Saint Charbel’s portrait to thank them. Then, I went to the bathroom, looked in the mirror, and saw two incisions in my neck; one on the left and the other on the right, each of approximately 12 cm. It was two o’clock in the morning when I went to my husband’s room, which was near mine, and switched the light on. My husband looked at me and said loudly, “How did you come here all by yourself? You might fall, and this would lead to another catastrophe!” I moved my hand and said, “Don’t worry. Saint Charbel operated on me. I can walk…”

The following day, in the morning, I went to the hermitage with my son and my husband to show my gratitude to Saint Charbel for his miraculous deed. When I came back home, all my friends and relatives, who used to visit me when I was disabled, were very surprised to see me able-bodied. News spread very quickly prompting visitors to come from Lebanon and abroad. A week later, upon the request of the priest of our Parish in Halat, Father Abdo Yaacoub, and of Doctor Majid Chami, I agreed to stay at my son’s house for a couple of days to get some rest. During the night, Saint Charbel came to me and said, “Don’t leave the people. Keep on your faith. I incised you through divine intervention so that people can see you. A lot of them have strayed from the Church. They are neglecting both to pray and respect the saints. You can’t do anything for the people. Those who want anything from me, I am Father Charbel, and I am always at the hermitage. I want you to visit the hermitage every 22nd day of the month, and attend the mass for the rest of your life.”
The following day, I woke up in the morning to find three stitches on the right side of my neck and two others on the left side. Doctor Majid Chamy took out two of them.

I started organizing a procession every Thursday (day of the miracle) at my house, in Halat. While I was in my village on the 15th of August, 1993, Saint Charbel came to me in my dreams and said, “Nouhad, I ask you to recite the Rosary in a gathering on the first Saturday of each month at your house.”

As usual, I woke up in the morning, took the incense to the small altar, lit the candle and started praying. I looked at the portrait of Saint Charbel to discover that it was secreting oil and still is to this day. On the 6th of November while we were reciting the Rosary in a gathering, as Saint Charbel asked me to, with a large number of visitors in my house, the portrait of Saint Maron started secreting oil and still does to this day.

On the 2nd of September, Saint Rita appeared to me in my dream in which I was praying in front of the shrine of the Virgin Mary next to my house in the village. She placed her hand on my shoulder, kissed my forehead, and said to me, “God bless you for your faith.” I turned around to tell her what had happened to me, but she interrupted, “I know. Saint Charbel has operated on you. The monk who gave you water to drink was Saint Maroun.”

May 8, 1828: In a small hut perched amidst the hills and meadows of North Lebanon’s serene village of Biqa-Kafra, baby Joseph is born to a family of 5 brothers and sisters. His father, enslaved like many others by the onerous Turkish regime, soon finds his death on the fields of slavery while Joseph was still an infant. His mother soon re-married, Joseph lived with his brothers at their paternal uncle’s home for much of their childhood years. He was to be re-united for a brief moment with his mother at the age of 6.

Joseph grew up an independent child, shepherding, assisting the family, and devoting much of his days to prayer. At 12 years of age, he discovered his recluse at the now sacred cave of Biqa–Kafra, a venue where he sought serenity, a prayer refuge where symbolism has now become a relic of sainthood frequented by hundreds of thousands of believers every year.

As a young man, Joseph was challenged by many a worldly influence, including the powers of Eve. His solitary passion for religious wisdom only seemed to grow by the day, until he let down the curtain on a whole episode of his life once he visited Our Lady of Lebanon Monastery (north of Byblos) at the age of 23. All feelings and senses were now turned to the source of life, and there emerged a new direction that was marked throughout by sacrifice. Renouncing life with the family he sincerely loved was the cornerstone of all sacrifices as Joseph took the critical decision to become a novice at the Monastery, seeking that most precious love of all, the Altar. At 25, Joseph pronounced the monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience at St. Maron Monastery, studied philosophy and theology at the Monastery of Kiffan, finally receiving his ordination to priesthood in 1853. Joseph was now Charbel, a name that is to be later cherished by millions across the globe.

Modesty, wisdom and obedience shaped his character as Charbel vowed for a life of scarcity dedicated to prayer. Many a historical event and many a human life were touched by his presence throughout almost two decades of living at the Monastery. Earning the privilege to finally experience a life of solitude, Father Charbel, now a middle-aged priest, vowed to continue a life of seclusion as a hermit of St. Peter and Paul hermitage on Mount Annaya, dedicating an undivided heart to Christ. Prayer and contemplation, frequent fasting and manual labor shaped the rest of his days.

The life and times of 19th century Lebanon parade through as Charbel begins to manifest extraordinary gifts of healing and clairvoyance. From the lantern miracle to healing through prayer, his active spirit embarked on healing pains and reaching souls long before his death.

As with every night throughout his 23 years of hermitage, Father Charbel unwaveringly spent his last night before Christmas 1898 in church, lying down, this time neither awake nor asleep, but releasing his soul to God for an eternal awakening. His death was only the beginning of life-long dedication to Christ. His mission on earth had only started.

The extraordinary brightness surrounding Charbel’s grave was only the beginning of a series of miracles that manifested through time. His body was observed to be continuously secreting blood-like liquid on each of the four occasions when his grave was opened, while showing no signs of deterioration. To date, St. Charbel continues to touch the lives of many, as if watching over humanity, by the power of God healing and guiding both body and soul.

(State your intention(s) here…)

through his intercession.

Amen.