Saint Charbel’s legacy deepened with first french monastery

The priest from the Saint Charbel Suresnes parish brought oil to Pascale Vernet after which she was cured from her ailment. Vernet is the lawyer who handles the nuns’ legal matters, the nuns who had listed the Villiers-sur-Marne monastery for sale. After that incident, she mediated its purchase by The Saint Charbel parish in a simple and seamless manner. "It was as if everything had fallen into place”.

Saint Charbel Makhlouf (1828-1898), a Lebanese Maronite monk and hermit, devoted his life to solitude, prayer and austerity in the mountains of northern Lebanon. In the years since his death, he has become a figure of international veneration, credited by the faithful with countless miracles and healings.

A moment of sacred unity at Saint Charbel’s inauguration

That devotion was on display in France last month where the Maronite order inaugurated a new monastery in his name in an event that drew clergy, politicians, and faithful individuals from French, to Portuguese, African and Lebanese. The order, synonymous with discipline, prayer and perseverance, is steadily expanding its reach beyond Lebanon. The new spiritual center is symbolic of the enduring bond between Lebanon and faith.

Father Georges Ghattas is heading the Saint Charbel church in Villiers-sur-Marne. Mar Charbel’s life was one of prayer, repentance, and love of Jesus, leading us to the path of salvation and a meaningful life. He guided us to this land, and he is the author of this calling. We are trying to serve his mission and to deliver it to people. Carrying Saint Charbel’s mission is what matters to us most here as monks”.

He professes that the relationship with God is a simple one, which was the case with Saint Charbel, a pure-hearted saint, devoted in prayer, silent and listening to the voice of God. Despite all the hardships at the time, his faith never wavered, and he continually asked that mercy be granted to man.

At the inauguration, prayers were led by Patriarch Bechara Boutros Rai, who greeted participants individually, with music provided by the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik choir. The presence and benediction of Reverend Father General Hadi Mahfouz, Superior General of the Lebanese Maronite Order, was marked, along with the Council of General Administrators, a community of monks, and a large gathering of believers and devotees of Saint Charbel.

Stormy weather was expected on the day. However, organizers remarked that by what can only be described as Charbel’s intervention, the bad weather subsided during the consecration service.

Adding a political charge to the opening, a delegation of Lebanese MPs accompanied the patriarch, and the new ambassador to France Rabih El-Chaer attended with his wife.

Scores of young Maronites from across France, who were patrons of the Notre Dame du Liban in Paris and the Saint Charbel church, spoke of their devotion to the church in spite of their residency in France.

“This is a force that transcends borders”, one organizer said.

“We will be led by Saint Charbel to the development of the vast twelve thousand square meter land, to the soul’s development in prayer. The small three-story monastery is in need of restoration. Regardless, the church is so beautiful,” attests Father Georges. This shrine for the revered saint from Lebanon is home to the Lebanese Maronite monastic order in France.

At the inauguration, there were around three thousand people in attendance. Father Georges had only been in the country two weeks and was pleasantly surprised with the turnout. He had completed nine years at the Saint Maroun monastery in Annaya, where Saint Charbel spent most of his adult life and where he was buried. The “Monastère Saint Charbel France” Facebook page was the main platform announcing the ecclesiastical event. 

“What matters is that our hearts are attached to Jesus, not our whereabouts”, says the Father when asked about his move to France. It is a fifteen-minute RER train ride away from Paris to Villiers-sur-Marne, and a thirty-five-minute car ride to the “Notre Dame du Liban” in Paris. 

Faith: the foundation for a fulfilling life

The Father avowed to The Beiruter that

Many people in France go to church and live by the word of God. We pray that all people follow God’s road as He is the road and bread of life. Faith is the foundation upon which we build a peaceful and fulfilling existence, and if we stray from it we go to the void.

When seeking knowledge about Saint Charbel’s life, a man who didn’t write, the book that most accurately portrays it, which is adopted by the monasticism, is Father Boulos Daher’s “Charbel: An Intoxicated Man of God”, written in Arabic and French, and translated to many languages.

In the words of the Maronite league who were key players in coordinating the event, scattered Lebanese communities are in dire need for a sacred devotion to Saint Charbel, a sacred place where they can connect, unite, and feel at home in a foreign land.