His Life & History
From a shepherd boy's grotto in Bekaa Kafra to the silence of the hermitage — follow his full monastic journey.
Read the history →
1828 – 1898 · Lebanese Maronite Order
Saint Charbel Makhlouf
Hermit of Annaya — Miracle Monk of Lebanon
For twenty-three years he lived in near-total silence in a stone hermitage above the Lebanese mountains, speaking to almost no one but God. More than a century after his death, his intercession is still sought by Christians, Muslims, and pilgrims of every faith who travel to Annaya seeking healing, peace, and grace.
Who Was Saint Charbel?
A Silent Life That Spoke to the Whole World
Born Youssef Antoun Makhlouf in 1828 in Bekaa Kafra, the highest village in Lebanon, Charbel showed a contemplative spirit from boyhood. While tending his family's small herd of cattle in the high pastures, he would slip away to a hidden grotto to pray for hours before an icon of the Virgin Mary, drawn — as two of his uncles had been — toward a life of solitude.
At twenty-three, he left his family without warning to enter the Lebanese Maronite Order, eventually taking the religious name Charbel after a second-century martyr of Antioch. Sixteen years of monastic community life at the Monastery of Saint Maron in Annaya prepared him for something rarer still: in 1875 he withdrew permanently to the nearby Hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul, a cluster of stone cells set into the mountainside. There he remained for twenty-three years, fasting, laboring, and praying in near-total solitude until his death on Christmas Eve, 1898.
What followed his death has made him one of the most visited saints in the modern Church. Pilgrims of every faith travel to his tomb at Annaya each year — a devotion that reached an extraordinary new chapter in December 2025, when Pope Leo XIV became the first pope in history to kneel and pray there in person, entrusting Lebanon and the world to his intercession.
A Life in Brief
Eight Decades, Twenty-Three Years of Silence, One Enduring Legacy
- 1828
- Born in Bekaa Kafra, Lebanon
- 23
- Years lived in solitude at the hermitage
- 1977
- Canonized by Pope Paul VI
- 30,000+
- Healings recorded in the monastery's archives
Explore His Story
Walk Through His Life, Miracles, and Devotion
Four paths into the story of the hermit of Annaya — from his mountain childhood to the prayers pilgrims still carry to his tomb today.
Miracles & Wonders
The incorrupt body, the Vatican-recognized healings, and the testimonies that still reach Annaya today.
See the miracles →
Prayers & Novena
A nine-day novena, prayers for healing, and a litany written in his honor for personal devotion.
Begin praying →
Pilgrimage & Resources
Official monastery links, travel guidance for visiting Annaya, and further reading.
Plan your visit →A Devotion Without Borders
Venerated by Christians, Muslims, and Druze Alike
Few saints have crossed religious lines as freely as Charbel. In the mountains of Lebanon he was known in his own lifetime as a healer who made no distinction between Christian and Muslim petitioners, and that openness has carried into the present: today the monastery at Annaya welcomes visitors of every faith, all asking the same hermit for the same things — health, peace, and hope.
That enduring unity was made visible on 1 December 2025, when Pope Leo XIV traveled to Annaya during his first apostolic journey, becoming the first pope ever to pray at Charbel's tomb. He knelt in silence before the small stone grotto, then offered a votive lamp as a gift, entrusting Lebanon, the Church, and the wider world to the hermit's continuing intercession.
Saint Charbel, hermit of Lebanon and friend of the poor — pray for us. A prayer recited by pilgrims at Annaya
Begin Your Own Devotion
Carry His Intercession Into Your Own Prayer
Whether you are seeking healing, peace, or simply a quiet place to begin, the nine-day novena and prayers gathered here are a place to start.