St. Charbel in The Year for Priests

St. Charbel Makhlouf

We recently celebrated the feast of St. Charbel. It seems to me that we should take note of his life and example especially in this Year for Priests.


Youssef Antoun Makhlouf was born in May 1828. He later took the name Charbel, in memory of an early martyr, when he became a monk. He came from a poor Lebanese family and was the youngest of five children. His parents were devout Christians. His father died when Youssef was only two years old, but his uncle helped to support the family and the Christian atmosphere of the house was maintained. There were two other uncles, both hermits, and he would visit them often. They would often say something like, “All here below is nothing, the world is vanity, and life is short. The true beauty is God – near Him there is true happiness” By the age of sixteen, Youssef was known to be devout. He often hid himself in a cave so that he could spend time in prayer. He served Mass every morning, and developed a strong devotion to the Mother of God.

The Monastery

When Youssef was twenty-three he quietly left home one morning and went to the Monastery of Our Lady of Maifouk. His uncle and tutor, Tanios, tried to persuade him to return home. He was unsuccessful. Youssef’s mother also appealed to him to leave the monastery but he refused. A week later he received a monastic habit and chose the name Charbel. He became an exemplary student and monk. One of his tutors was Saint Nehmetallah Kassab Al-Hardini who had a greater influence on Charbel than anyone else. The young monk was the best of students and strictly followed the monastic life, advancing in the Christian virtues and growing in holiness. Charbel was ordained priest on July 23rd 1859, and was sent to the Monastery of St. Maroun. He lived in simplicity and poverty and was happy in the silence of the Monastery.

The Hermit

Charbel wanted to be a hermit, but the monastery hermitage could only house three, and it was full. He accepted everything according to his vow of obedience, but something happened to change the minds of his superiors. A lamp in Charbel’s cell continued to glow for some time even though there was no oil. This was taken as a sign that God was calling him to be a hermit, so, in 1875, he was allowed to join the hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul in the mountains of ‘Annaya. He had longed to follow the example of St. Anthony of Egypt and St. Maroun. As a hermit he practised even greater mortification, taking only one small meal a day and praying endlessly. To the Lebanese Christians he is known as the Patron of the Divine Liturgy of the Mass. This is because he structured his day around the Eucharist which he celebrated around noon. In the morning he would spend time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The afternoons were dedicated to thanksgiving. He spoke rarely and only if ordered to do so. He apparently needed to be told to eat, otherwise he might not. He wore a hair shirt and slept on the floor. The Holy Spirit gave him some extraordinary gifts, including the ability of reading souls in the Sacrament of Confession.

Charbel lives in the hermitage for twenty-three years. During his daily celebration of the Mass he could be heard saying the words of the Divine Liturgy, “O Father of Truth, behold Thy Son, a Sacrifice which is pleasing to Thee.” He would say with great reverence, “You have united O Lord, Your Divinity with our humanity, and our humanity with Your Divinity, Your life with our mortality, and our mortality with Your life. You have assumed what is ours and You have given us what is Yours, for the life and salvation of our souls. To you be glory forever.” It was whilst saying these very words that Fr. Charbel was struck down with paralysis. For a whole week he was unable to move from his bed, and continued reciting the words of consecration of the Mass which he had been forced to interupt. He also said many rosaries and often repeated the names of the Holy Family. He died on December 24th, 1898.

The Body of a Priest

Charbel’s body was placed on a hair mat. Although dead, the body seemed to be alive, as though in prayer. Few had really seen his face up to then since he had always faced the ground. No one had seen his eyes, and could not see them now since even in death they were closed. His burial was delayed because of heavy snow which had blocked all roads. It was the custom at the monastery to bury the deceased on the day after death. Miraculously, the weather changed dramatically on Christmas Day, so that the burial was able to take place. For a short time after this, the grave seemed to be illuminated by a very bright light. To begin with the body was wrapped in cloth, and when the grave was reopened not long after his death, it was found to be incorrupt, with no sign of rigor mortis. The body was placed in a coffin and has been exhumed several times. In 1950 a doctor testified that he had touched the body and that it was still flexible, the tissue being soft. He said it had the appearance of being both dead and alive at the same time. The body also exuded a mixture of perspiration and blood. The body was examined again in 1965, the year of Charbel’s beatification. After this, nature was allowed to take its course, and further investigation showed that the body had quickly corrupted. Charbel was canonised in 1977.

The Eucharistic Life

St. Charbel can certainly be called a “Eucharistic Saint”. Of course, this title can be given to every saint since the Eucharist is at the centre of the Christian life, but Charbel seems to have a particular importance in this regard. The Dogmatic Constitution on the Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council tells us that the Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life.” In centering his day, and his whole life, on the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, St. Charbel prophetically exhibited the truth of this teaching. In the way that his body remained incorrupt until his place in Heaven was officially recognised, The Holy Spirit surely invites to to consider the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ regarding the Bread of Life;
“He who eats this Bread will live forever”. There is another consideration which is appropriate at this time when the catholic Church is celebrating a special year of the priesthood. Every time St. Charbel celebrated the Mass he would repeat the words of Christ at the Last Supper; “This is My Body, This is My Blood”. Every priest is bound in a special way to the One who said those words. The priest is an instrument of The Holy Spirit, and especially in celebrating the Liturgy he is an “alter Christus” which means that Christ both acts through and in him. In the Catholic Rite of Ordination the bishop says these words to the new priest; “Become what you celebrate”. The whole Church, in fact, is called to be “Eucharistic” in imitation of Christ who gave His life to save souls. The Eucharistic Presence in our tabernacles is not the only form of that presence because we, both individually and as a community of faith, are invited to be “Bread broken for a new world” (The motto of the 1981 Eucharistic Congress in Lourdes). In a special way, the miraculous properties of St. Charbel’s body remind us that we are all called to live now as though we are already at the gates of Heaven. In our earthly spiritual journey, we may, even here, experience something of a transformation, rather like that shown by Moses whose face shone when he came down from the mountain, or like St. Seraphim whose body was seen to glow in the darkness of the forest. Whatever we may, or may not, see externally, we are all called to be transformed by the grace of God so that we become like Christ even on this earth, which itself must be transformed as though newly-born through the mystery of the resurrrection.

The Church in Need of Deliverance

I have just returned (last Friday) from a five day conference of the International Association for Deliverance at the shrine of Our Lady of Chestochowa. We were over 280 souls, the majority being priests, but many lay people took part. We also had quite a few religious.

We had two excellent talks on Islam and a talk at the end which is probably one of the most important addresses I have heard in almost 32 years of priesthood. It was given by a Polish university professor who has also taught in a seminary. It was about the dangers of false ideas, including those that have entered the Church and are still to be found in schools, colleges and retreat houses. The so-called, "New Age" is not outside the Church - it has come in through the minds of Christians who are either ignorant of the Church's teachings in some important respects or are naive, simply being unaware of the dangers of neo-pagan and non-Christian thinking.

Of course, since we were there as exorcists and "ministers of deliverance", we were concerned about the activity of the Evil One and other fallen angels. We are not only concerned about dramatic examples of possession and demonic oppression, but also - and more importantly - about the subtle and insidious ways that evil spirits affect us through the Media, books, new religious movements and (what I call) "lazy thinking".

I hope to say more about this important conference in another post. I will finish this one by linking up with a previous one. One of our speakers - a priest experienced in the deliverance ministry over many years - said that clergy child abuse is so evil that if "that is not the work of the devil, I don't know what is!"

I wish I could get others to listen to this. How can believing Christians assume that such a problem can be dealt with only through the courts and psychological assessments and possible treatment? - WE ARE DEALING WITH EVIL HERE!!!

Evil Spirits Exist: Ireland and "Clergy" Abuse

Although at least one biography of St. Jean Vianney tried to play down his encounters with the "Grappin" - his name for the Evil One, the Saint's experiences of the Devil, including the loud banging on the door, the whispered nickname, "Potato eater!" and having his bed set on fire, show us that there is an evil reality which is personal. Not only is there a Devil, as the official teaching of the Church attests, but there are evil spirits which may be identified as fallen angels or demons.

I have just finished reading a book entitled, "The Dark Sacrament". It presents several real-life cases of possession, "haunting" and oppression in Ireland, and the cases are taken from the experiences of two exorcists, one an Anglican priest, the other a Catholic monk. More than one of these cases involved the abuse of children by Catholic priests. Evil spirits are not only involved in the actions of those priests - pushing them towards evil and obviously encouraging sexual desires that we would regard as disordered, but spirits often badly affect the lives of the abused - the victims. I have personally dealt with some abuse victims who needed deliverance, but there are some sad people out there who are victims of clergy abuse, and some of them are in need of formal exorcism.

I quite understand the reticence of some priests - and more worryingly, bishops - to accept this. To be honest before I was appointed exorcist, I would have though much of what I now know about or have experienced was the stuff of fairy tales. Unfortunately much of it is real. The film "The Exorcist" did not tell the whole truth, to the extent that it gave many people a false idea of both exorcism and exorcists, BUT, there IS some truth in that film (it was, after all based on a real case). It is interesting that Fr. Amorth, the famous exorcist of Rome says this is his favourite film.

Those who doubt that demons are involved in sexual abuse should read the book. I have no idea how many Irish priests have been affected by this kind of thing. Some cases turn out to be false, but then there are others that we know little or nothing about because they are simply not brought to light. Some priests who have been involved in abuse die before their sins are discovered. There may be other problems following from that!

To my mind, abuse cases need to take account of the presence of evil and exorcists should be consulted. I have said this before and been ignored. Perhaps it is only when people actually witness the presence of evil (and that sometimes means seeing something as well as hearing something) they will be convinced of its reality, but if I am not hallucinating or a pathological liar, and if other exorcists - who were chosen by their bishops because they were regarded as balanced and trustworthy - witness to the reality of these things, then it is about time those involved in dealing with abuse victims and perpetrators took notice.

A Bishop "Tells it like it is"

In January of this year, the retired Bishop of Lancaster, Rt. Rev. Patrick O'Donoghue gave a talk to the Oxford Newman Society which was unlike any talk given by any Catholic bishop in England and Wales in living memory. Referring to his two documents, "Fit for Mission? Church" and "Fit for Mission? Schools", he asked,

"Why...are some Catholic education authorities, even bishops in this country, so fearful of Fit for Mission Schools?"

He also spoke of the, "pathetic situation of catechetics in this country" and referred to a "certain scepticism or embarrassed reserve about the supernatural dimension of the Faith", saying that this can be found in the lives of many clergy and laity.

Many priests - and I count myself amongst them - will recognise much truth in what he continues to say. His recent remarks in Ars, delivered during a retreat for clergy of the Northampton Diocese, are even more revealing. He speaks of a "wall of silence" in relation to the other Bishops' reception of his documents. He also accuses "some" bishops of disloyalty to the Pope. I guess this remark is meant to include any bishop from whatever country or diocese who has serious theological disagreements with the present Pontiff, but it still leaves uncomfortable questions about the other bishops of England and Wales, and it is obviously meant to do so.

A few years ago I read a very scholarly and balanced study of Catholic education which included an honest critique of the education policies of the Bishops of England and Wales. It is called, "The Ebbing of The Tide" by James Arthur. I never saw this book reviewed in any Catholic newspaper or magazine in England. I only know one other priest who has read it. Like me, he considers it to be a "bombshell". As far as I know there has not been any response from any Catholic bishop. Arthur conclusively shows that the Bishops of England and Wales have failed to follow Vatican guidelines in their guidance of Catholic education and catechesis in this country.

Like many priests I have to deal with young Catholics, asking to have their children baptised, who are living with their partner and have little or no real understanding of the Church's position regarding sexual morality and Marriage. I always ask them what school they attended. Without fail it is the local Catholic High School. Not only that, but they often have no understanding of the "Sunday Obligation" and why the old tradition of attending Mass on Sunday is important. They think that they can receive Holy Communion as and when they want whatever their situation. This is not all. I have often felt sick in seeing how some of these - often very generous and honest - young people are encouraged in their ignorance by other clergy, as though none of this really matters. I know of one priest in a deanery meeting who was told not to ask "certain questions" when the deanery meeting was visited by the local high school headmaster. Some things are not to be discussed. The distinction between mortal and venial sin has disappeared. Most Catholic young people know nothing of this - because they have not been told.

Some will attempt to say that it is up to the priests in their parishes to teach these things, but as we know, we only have around seven to ten minbutes to speak to people, often in a church full of distractions where some people switch off as soon as the homily begins. Not only that, the practice of preaching on the readings sometimes goes against a straightforward sermon on basic doctrine. Sometimes people will say, "we don't want to hear any of that" as though they have a right to suggest that the priest should not teach certain aspects of the Faith.

I remember some years ago being in Harrogate when we three priests agreed to preach a series on the Ten Commandments. After one Sunday sermon on the Sixth and Ninth Commandments I found a small group of men waiting for me outside the church. One of them said, "We think there should be a moritorium on sermons like that, Father - as it says in the Tablet" (he had it in his hand). The other two priests had similar responses. Have we "caved in" to this kind of pressure? Are we afraid to speak the truth because it may upset or offend people? Are we nervous about facing the facts about our poor catechesis and the dreadful absence of many young people at Mass? School Masses continue to see hosts of young people receiving Communion. Priests know that, in some cases, they have never seen some of these people at weekend Masses - unless they remember them from Primary School days or First Communion day.

I think it is time we ALL told the truth. This is NOT a condemnation of young people - it is not all their fault (if ever!). We must be open and face facts and stop congratulating ourselves as if trying to drown the truth which cries out for recognition.