Charbel Makhluf is the most famous saint of the Lebanese land. A monk of the Lebanese Maronite Order (OLM), he spent the last 23 years of his life in total solitude, living in a hermitage near Annaya, where he died on Christmas Eve in 1898. After his death, an extraordinary phenomenon occurred: dazzling lights appeared around his tomb. Furthermore, his body, which remained supple and at the temperature of a living person, reportedly exuded an inexplicable reddish liquid. Numerous miracles attributed to him then began. His fame as a miracle-worker spread throughout the world, also thanks to the Lebanese Maronite monks.

His beatification cause was initiated in 1925 by Pius XI: he was beatified by Paul VI in 1965 and canonized by the same Pontiff in 1977. Multiple healing episodes occur at his tomb, and the monastery of Annaya became a destination for many pilgrims from all over the world.

Leo XIV visited the Annaya monastery on December 1, 2025, during his trip to Lebanon. At his tomb, the Pope reflected on Charbel’s legacy: “this man who wrote nothing, who lived hidden and silent, but whose fame has spread throughout the entire world.” And he summarized it thus: “the Holy Spirit shaped him, so that to those living without God he might teach prayer, to those living in noise he might teach silence, to those living to appear he might teach modesty, to those seeking riches he might teach poverty. These are all counter-current behaviors, but precisely for this reason, we are attracted to them, like fresh and pure water for someone walking in a desert (…) And then there is another aspect that is decisive: Saint Charbel has never ceased to intercede for us before the Heavenly Father, the source of all good and all grace. Even during his earthly life, many went to him to receive comfort, forgiveness, and counsel from the Lord. After his death, all this multiplied and became like a river of mercy. Also for this reason, every 22nd of the month, there are thousands of pilgrims who come here from different countries to spend a day of prayer and refreshment for soul and body”.

For years, among the pilgrims visiting the tomb of Saint Charbel in Annaya, there have been many Poles. In response to the dynamic development of the cult of the Lebanese miracle-worker in Poland, the Polish Episcopate in 2023 approved the statute of the “Community of Saint Charbel” movement. The community also received the blessing of the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï.

More recently, on June 28, by decision of the Ordinary of the Diocese of Bydgoszcz, Bishop Krzysztof Włodarczyk, the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland, in Wloki was elevated to the rank of Diocesan Shrine of Saint Charbel. This is the first shrine to this saint in Poland. The central moment of the ceremony was the Eucharist presided over by Bishop Wlodarczyk.

In his homily, the bishop emphasized the profound spiritual symbolism of the place and the extraordinary convergence between the history of the small town of Wloki and the life of Saint Charbel. He recalled that the patron saint of the new shrine came from the small Lebanese town of Bekaa Kafra and spent most of his life in Annaya, a place whose name means “place of God’s protection.” He highlighted how the small town of Wloki could also become a space for special divine action.

The parish priest and custodian of the shrine, Fr. Bartosz Wojtaszek, thanked the bishop for erecting the shrine. “I give thanks to God for this day. I thank the bishop for his openness and kindness in responding to my request, which was born from the true and genuine spread of devotion to Saint Charbel in our parish,” he stated.

The cult of Saint Charbel has become a parish tradition, and every seventh day of the month, Holy Mass is celebrated here, and a healing prayer is recited, accompanied by a blessing, anointing with Saint Charbel’s oil, and the kissing of the relics.

The ceremony was also attended by the Maronite missionary Father Fabio M. Loutfi, who encouraged the faithful to imitate the patron saint of the new shrine.

A congratulatory letter was sent to the shrine’s custodian by the national moderator of the “Community of Saint Charbel” movement, Rev. Dariusz Dąbrowski, COr.

The Rector of the Monastery of Saint Maron in Annaya expressed his spiritual union in an official letter of congratulations to Bishop Wlodarczyk and the gathered faithful. “May the prayers expressed through the intercession of Saint Charbel in this church join the prayers that are continuously raised at his shrine in Annaya, Lebanon,” the custodian wrote.

In this way, two small towns—one in Lebanon and the other in Poland—are from today spiritually linked by a great saint and miracle-worker: Saint Charbel.