It is said that this occurred after the miracle when his lamp remained lit although it contained only water, and no oil.Īs a hermit, he was always kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament. At the end of that time, he chose to retire to the hermitage. When he arrived there after his ordination, his elderly mother and his relatives were present once more, to greet him as a new priest, and to invite him back to Biqa Kafra to say Mass. He was then sent back to Annaya, where he spent 16 years in the community. There he studied philosophy and theology, being ordained a priest on 23 July 1859, at the Patriarchal residence, Bkerke. He was then sent to the Monastery of St Cyprian in Kfifane, the LMO’s scholasticate. When she asked why he did not wish to meet her, he replied only that if God wished it, they would be together for eternity. In those days, the laws against monks speaking to any women were rather strict, and Charbel was determined to keep them. When his mother came to visit him, he refused to meet her, but rather spoke to her from a window three metres about the ground. There he made his monastic profession and took the three solemn vows in 1853, when he was 25 years old. At the end of his first year, our Charbel was sent to St Maroun’s at Annaya for the second year of his novitiate. He took the name of Charbel, a martyr saint who had been put to death by pagans about the year 107 in the early years of Christianity. It is said that in the end his mother gave her consent, telling him to be a good monk, but if he was going to be mediocre, then he should return home. Charbel refused, saying that God wanted him entirely. They begged him to return home, marry, work and look after them. However, he was pursued there by his uncle, mother and relatives. Saying nothing, he left home the next morning to enter the monastery of Our Lady of Mayfouq, which was run by the Lebanese Maronite Order (“the LMO”). However, he did not leave until 1851, when a woman indicated her desire to marry him. Two of his mother’s brothers were already monks. He prayed to Our Lady to make it come to pass. At a young age, he knew that God was calling him to become a monk. Youssef was sent to the village school, and as a child was given to prayer. When he was three years old, his father was taken away by the Ottoman Army, never to return. Born Youssef Makhlouf in Beqa Kafra on, he was the fifth child in a family of simple farmers.
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