MEMORIAL OF SAINT CHARBEL (SHARBEL) MAKHLOŪF, PRIEST AND HERMIT; SAINT CHRISTINA OF BOLSENA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR AND SAINT CHRISTINA THE ASTONISHING ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 24TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Charbel (Sharbel) Makhloūf, Priest, Hermit; Saint Christina of Bolsena, Virgin and Martyr and Saint Christina the Astonishing. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for those with mental illness and disorders, mental health workers, psychiatrists, and therapists. We also pray for widows, the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for those going through difficulties especially during these challenging times, for the poor and the needy, for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏
SAINT CHARBEL (SHARBEL) MAKHLOŪF, PRIEST AND HERMIT: St. Charbel was a Lebanese monk, born Youssef (Joseph) Antoun Makhlouf in a small mountain in 1828 at Beqa-Kafra, Lebanon. His peasant family lived a strong faith, were attentive to the Divine Liturgy, and had a great devotion to the Mother of God. At the age of 23, Charbel (the name he chose when entering Novitiate) left his closely knit family to enter the Lebanese-Maronite Monastery called Notre-Dame de Mayfouk. Following studies and profession at St. Cyprian de Kfifane Monastery, he was ordained in 1859. For the next seven years, Sharbel lived in the mountainous community of d’Anaya. After that he spent the next twenty-three years in complete solitude at Sts. Peter and Paul Hermitage near d’Anaya. Devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Charbel died there on Christmas Eve, 1898.
Despite temptations to wealth and comfort, Saint Charbel taught the value of poverty, self-sacrifice and prayer by the way he lived his life. He is known among Lebanese Christians as the “Miracle Monk of Lebanon.” His followers say they call him this because of the miraculous healings they receive in answer to prayers to him, especially those said at his tomb, and for his ability to unite Christians and Muslims. His tomb is located at the Monastery of Saint Maron. St. Charbel had a reputation for his austerity, penances, obedience, and chastity. At times, Charbel was gifted with levitations during prayer, and he had great devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament. In all things, Charbel maintained perfect serenity. He was beatified in 1965 by Pope Paul VI and canonized by Pope Paul VI on October 9, 1977 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1977. St. Charbel is the Patron Saint of Lebanon.
PRAYER: God, You called St. Sharbel, the Priest, to join the singular combat of the eremitical life and endowed him with every kind of piety. Enable us, we beg You, to imitate the Lord’s Passion and so merit to share in His Kingdom. Amen🙏
SAINT CHRISTINA OF BOLSENA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR: St. Christina of Bolsena, also known as Christina of Tyre, or Christina the Great Martyr is a Christian martyr of the third century. She was born in the 300s in Tyre, modern-day Lebanon on Lake Bolsena in Tuscany. She was the daughter of a rich and powerful magistrate named Urbain. Her father, was deep in the practices of heathenism. This virgin broke up her father’s idols of silver and gold and gave them to the poor because she believed in Christ. On her father’s orders her flesh was torn with lashes, she suffered other cruel tortures, and she was thrown into the sea weighted down with a great stone. She was saved by an angel, however. A second judge succeeded her father in ordering even more severe torments. Finally, under the prefect Julian, after five days in a burning furnace and after overcoming an attack of snakes with the aid of Christ, she achieved martyrdom when her tongue was cut out and she was pierced by darts. She died a martyr in the 3rd Century at Bolsena, Lazio, Italy and her relics are now at Palermo in Sicily. Her tomb was discovered in the 19th century at Bolsena, marked with an inscription dating from the 10th century. St. Christina of Bolsena’s feast day is July 24th.
PRAYER: O Venerable Christina, who calmly went through all sorts of torture, you made yourself visible as a shining dove, with a pair of golden wings alighting in the Highest Heavens. O Virgin and Martyr, we celebrate your righteousness and holiness at your feast and bow before the place that holds your relics. Intercede for us, that we may receive grace and healing for body and soul. Amen. St. Christina of Bolsena, Virgin and Martyr ~ Pray for us 🙏
SAINT CHRISTINA THE ASTONISHING: St. Christina (1150-1224) also known as Christina Mirabilis, was a Christian holy woman born in Brustem, Belgium to a peasant family. She was orphaned as a child and raised by her two older sisters. When she was 21 she had what was believed to be a severe seizure, and was pronounced dead. At her funeral she suddenly revived and levitated before the bewildered congregation. She said that during her coma she had been to heaven, hell, and purgatory and had been given the option to either die and enter heaven, or return to earth to suffer and pray for the holy souls in purgatory. Christina chose the greater act of charity.
From then on she lived in extreme poverty: wearing rags, sleeping on rocks, and begging for her food. She is called “Astonishing” because she did the most bizarre things and suffered the pains of inhuman feats without being physically harmed by them. She would roll in fire and hide in hot ovens; she would stand in freezing water for hours in the dead of winter; she allowed herself to be dragged under water by a mill wheel; she spent much time in graveyards. She would also climb trees to escape the strong odor of sin in those she met. Many thought her to be possessed by demons or insane, but many devout people recognized and vouched for her sincerity, obedience, and sanctity. They believed that she was a living witness to the pains that souls experience in purgatory, willingly suffering with them and for them. St. Christina died on July 24, 1224, Sint-Truiden, Belgium. St. Christina the Astonishing is the Patron Saint of those with mental illness and disorders, mental health workers, psychiatrists, and therapists. St. Christina the Astonishing’s feast day is July 24th.
PRAYER: Saint Christina, your indefatigable courage and your piety and excruciating penance for the suffering souls in Purgatory, set you apart and forced recognition of your sainthood by those witnessing it. Pray for me that I, too, may one day glorify the Blessed Trinity in heaven. May I possess your lively faith, that I may consider all persons, things, and events in the light of Almighty God. Help me to generously make sacrifices of temporal things to gain an eternal heritage in heaven. Through your intercession and exceeding devotion to Mother Mary, keep me from mortal sin and obtain for me the grace of a happy death. Amen. Saint Christina the Astonishing ~ Pray for us🙏
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