St. Sharbel Makhluf
Feast Day: July 24
Born in a Lebanese mountain village, Youssef was drawn to the life of his uncles, monks of the Maronite rite, but his peasant mother
wanted her youngest child to work in the fields.
At age 23, he left home for the monastery, taking the name Sharbel, after an early martyr. He was ordained a priest in 1859 and spend the next 16 years in the monastery at Annaya, working, fasting and praying.
From 1875 he lived as a hermit, praying ceaselessly, regarded as a saint by those who knew him. He is the first Maronite saint included in the Latin-rite calendar.
