#beatification

On this day:

THE AFTERDEATH OF A SAINT: LEBANON'S HERMIT

On October 9, 1977, Charbel Makhlouf, a monk associated with miracles, was canonized. Born in 1828, Charbel lived in a monastery hermitage in Lebanon. Sleeping on dried leaves with a goatskin cover and a piece of wood for a pillow, the monk rarely spoke, ate only vegetables, fasted regularly, and refused to touch money. He once rescued fellow monks from a poisonous snake by asking the snake to leave. The hermit died while giving Mass on Christmas Eve, 1898.

Brilliant lights appeared around Charbel's grave and shone brightly for forty-five days. After heavy rains flooded the gravesite and pilgrims tried to steal pieces of his remains, the grave was reopened. His fresh-looking body was floating in mud. It was washed, redressed, and placed in a wooden coffin in the monastery chapel. Soon after, an unusual liquid, possibly a mixture of blood and sweat, began to seep out of the body. The clothing had to be changed twice a week, and strips of the soaked fabric were said to have an extraordinary healing abil-ity. Sister Maria Abdel Kamari, a nun who had been near death and bedridden for fourteen years, prayed at his tomb and experienced an almighty surge of energy that cured her completely.

In 1927, doctors examined Charbel's body. Documents declaring it free from decomposition were placed inside a zinc tube. The tube and Charbel were entombed in a wood-lined zinc casket behind bricks in one of the monastery walls. In 1950 liquid soaked through the wall. Opening the tomb revealed Charbel, looking peaceful. The clothes and zinc tube had rotted, and an oily fluid lay three inches deep inside the coffin. It was removed and dispensed. The grave was opened three times prior to 1956. Charbel's body "still has its flexibility as if it were alive." The body began to decompose in 1965, after beatification.

Princess Grace of Monaco on the cover of the Spanish magazine Lecturas (May 13, 1986); "The Vatican is not against the beatification process of Princess Grace".

They told me you were more than bones Pieces of a picture that used to be whole It just happened suddenly - life then death You were never finished, just left behind

I held your skeleton and laid it to rest On a fresco where heaven became home Broken had lost its translation in the art You were more than disturbed hollows

Quote of the day, 22 October: As the Church observes the Memorial of St John Paul II, we recall his beatification homily for Teresa of the Andes: “God made Christian love blossom in her; the secret of her perfection, of course, is love.”

Teresa of the Andes experienced from a very young age the grace of communion with Christ, which progressively developed in her with the charm of her youth, full of vitality and joviality, in which she did not lack, as a daughter of her times, the meaning of healthy recreation and sports, and contact with nature. She was a cheerful and dynamic young woman; a young woman open to God. And God made…

Four prayer cards printed in the 20th century, all featuring a prayer known to have been recited by Madame Elisabeth. [source: my scans/collection]

A translation of the prayer:

I do not know what will happen to me today, o my God. All I know is that nothing will happen to me but what You have foreseen from Eternity. That is sufficient, o my God, to keep me in peace. I adore Your infinite designs. I submit to them with all of my heart. I desire them all: I accept them all. I make the sacrifice to You of everything. I unite this sacrifice to that of your dear Son my Saviour, begging You by His Sacred Heart and by His infinite merits for the patience in my troubles and the perfect submission which is due to You in all that You wish and permit.