1828-1898
One of the Greatest Saints of Our Time
PART 5: THE HERMIT
ONE NIGHT, when the sun was gathering its pale, scattered rays upon the summit, Charbel, such as an Anthony plunged further yet into the desert, walked alone up the path leading to the hermitage, his face radiant and serene, with a calm glance and firm step. He went up among the woods which formed a threatening barrier around the hermitage. He seemed to hear a voice on the threshold of this solitary place like the one he had already heard when he left his village: "Where are you going, Charbel?" "Into the solitude!" "Why? Isn't it to escape the service of your brothers? You are failing in your social duty there. You are striking a cheap bargain with the requirements of charity. You want to be free and happy, but you don't really know what's waiting for you there-----the hermit's daily program is made up of abstinence, fasting, vigils, sleeping on hard surfaces, scourging and hair shirts. The desert sun is scorching and you will be on your cross alone. You are going to lose yourself. Renounce . . . return . . ."
But the hermit had already arrived at the door of his solitude, his brow beaded with sweat. He entered the chapel, and on his knees before the Tabernacle, plunged into a heart to heart talk with the Divine Solitary: "Lord, here I am with Thee on Calvary. It is a peril for me to remain without suffering for long. I am but a poor man, tempted like all men by furious enemies------the world, the flesh and Satan. But Lord, relying upon Thee though trembling in my flesh, I am strong and feel less alone than ever. I renew my consentment to immolate myself with Thee every day. On this Calvary where Thou art calling me, I want to perpetuate Thy Redeeming Mystery by which Thou always savest the world."
Charbel
knew the Rule he was to follow by heart: 1 -----"Whoever desires to live as a hermit must be of good health and have spent at least five years in the Order after his Solemn Profession. He must be tested, judged worthy and authorized by the Superior General.
2 -----"He will remain submitted by holy obedience to the Superior of the Monastery to which the hermitage belongs.
3 -----"There can be no less than two and no more than three religious at the hermitage.
4 -----"They must keep the Most Blessed Sacrament in the chapel and visit it frequently, night
and day.
5 -----"They must be assiduous in prayers, meditation and the reading of the Holy Books. The rest of the time will be occupied with manual work so as to avoid idleness, the mother of all vice.
6 -----"They will go to the Monastery for important feast days and participate in the activities of the community.
7 -----"Everything placed at the hermits' use must be impregnated with the spirit of absolute charity.
8 -----"Women are absolutely forbidden to penetrate into the hermitage. The hermits must also avoid the frequentation of laymen.
9 -----"They must observe the fast; they will take only one meal a day, and this meal will be sent from the Monastery. They will never eat any fruit; they are forbidden to take alcoholic beverages. During Lent they will only take vegetables simply flavored with oil.
10 -----"Silence is obligatory for them. In case of necessity, let them speak in a low voice and briefly. They must not sleep more than five hours and their Office will be recited in the chapel from the lectern book.
11 -----"They will never be able to leave the hermitage except with the Superior's formal permission."
Such is the Rule, properly speaking. But Father Charbel was not content with that. A generous soul does not calculate when he offers himself as a victim to Infinite Love!
Father Charbel was united to God by the thought of love, renouncement and suffering. He understood the astonishing meaning of the words of Saint Paul: "What is lacking of the sufferings of Christ I fill up in my flesh in His Body, which is the Church." (Col. 1:24). He knew that God had made him come to this lofty place in order to radiate the drama of Calvary upon the world, and with what submission did he reach out his hands to the Stigmata!
He suffered in his body. His single daily meal could only consist of raw vegetables or vegetables only cooked in water. Rarely did the hermit flavor them with a little oil. Father Simeon of Aitou wrote:
"When I arrived at the hermitage I went into the chapel first, according to the custom followed in our Order. I saw Father Charbel there on his knees with arms outstretched. He remained like that for a long time. In the afternoon at the meal hour for the hermits, Father Makarios, Father Charbel's companion, called him. He arrived without delay. The meal consisted of potato soup. I then saw Father Charbel taking pieces of burnt bread crumbs and put them in his wooden dish. I was touched with compassion and tears came to my eyes, and I said within myself, 'How this hermit mortifies himself, and what a difference there is between his perfect life and ours!' When the meal was over he returned to the chapel."
Did Father Charbel really have a mattress? This is the testimony that Brother Jawad gives: "I went into the hermit's cell and I saw his 'mattress'. It was made of oak leaves covered with straw! The pillow was only a piece of wood with a bit of cassock wrapped around it. His prayer bench at the chapel was an assemblance of sticks which a piece of cassock also covered. After his death I was fortunate enough to find the hair shirt that Charbel wore night and day throughout his life as a hermit. The pieces of it which I distributed as relics have operated a number of cures."
Brother Abi-Ghosn finished off this portrait by adding: "His clothes consisted of a rough woolen cassock, a cotton shirt and trousers. In full winter at fourteen hundred meters he wore the same clothes and nothing more. Though they were patched up, his clothes were always clean. He did the laundry himself."
Manual work occupied a considerable place at this stage of Charbel's life. He accomplished country work in all seasons like a poor peasant and humble mountain dweller. His work was difficult-----sawing wood, transporting on his back heavy faggots and thorny branches to surround his vineyard with, and big baskets full of grapes which he brought to the press without ever taking a bunch to quench his thirst. Just as he often knew how to abstain from tasting anything within the vineyard enclosure surrounding the hermitage so nearby, he always chose the most difficult and the most humble work. And in all that, he undertook nothing without the order of his companions or a fellow brother's directive. For him, work constituted an essential part of the homage that a reasonable creature must render to God. To work is to imitate the Creator, Who is the great Worker. Thus, Charbel's work was a hymn of praise, a canticle of joy which rose up towards God in continual prayer.
What appears astonishing in the life of this strange hermit is that he was at the same time both very natural and very supernatural. One can observe that the more he sought to live a hidden, forgotten and ignored life, the more people ran to him in his solitude.
Detachment from everything-----from his past, from his name and from his family. Once again, let us read what Father Simeon of Ehmeje wrote: "One day his brother came from Bika' Kafra to visit him. He knocked at the door of the hermitage. Father Charbel went to see who was there. 'I am the hermit Charbel's brother,' he answered from the outside. 'Wait for me to go and ask the hermit,' said Charbel who, under the circumstances, was the hermit in question, 'to see if he permits me to open up to you.' He then went to his fellow brother and told him: 'My brother is at the door. Do you want me to let him in?' 'Most certainly,' answered Father Makarios, confounded at seeing the hermit solicit his permission out of humility! His conversation with his brother simply consisted in the following: 'How are you? Are you and your family fulfilling your religious duties well?' Then he dismissed him."
After his brother's death, testified 'Id Nakad, there was a family conflict over the share of the inheritance which was to come to Charbel. His niece, Warda, came to ask him to intervene. Father Charbel answered from within his hermitage without seeing her: "I have no more commerce with the world. If my brother has died this year, I have died from the day I left Bika' Kafra. A dead man doesn't take care of inheritance problems."
Reverend Father John Andari, former Superior General of the Lebanese Order, presently first Assistant, related the following: "I was still a student when I had the chance of seeing Father Charbel at the hermitage. After having visited the Blessed Sacrament, I crossed the little corridor when I met up with him. With a pleasant gesture, he made a sign for me to be seated and to wait. After a moment, he returned with an open book in his hand, presented it to me and told me to read out loud. It was the life of Saint Anthony the Great. I read one chapter of it. When this was done, Father took the book back and I understood that I was to leave. Such was his custom for receiving monks."
VIEW ST. ANTHONY THE GREAT AND READ ABOUT HIM
Between his visitors and himself he had wanted to interpose another person, a great Saint who was to serve as an example for both of them. He did not ask any questions. He didn't want to know anything about what was going on in the Order, in the country or in the world. He had become a soul which no longer permitted himself the approach of the slightest satisfaction from the outside. Complete silence, but an eloquent silence.
Father Michael Abi-Ramia wrote: "After a voyage on the order of my Superior to the center of Lebanon to pray for a sick person, I asked him this question: 'Was your trip a good one, Father? What did you see and hear?' He answered: 'I went by here and came back by there.' "
He was even detached from strictly necessary things. One day he addressed himself to Father Superior to ask him for a handkerchief. The Superior said: "So many offerings were made for the hermitage. Why didn't you take any?" "I do not take anything", answered Charbel, "without asking you for it."
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