Miracle of San Chárbel oil in a church in Naples

The Church of San Fernando, located in the historical heart of Naples, has been the scene of a fact that many already qualify as a miraculous, attributed to the intercession of San Charbel, the Lebanese hermit whose devotion has crossed borders.

On July 24, within the framework of his liturgical memory, Mons. Pasquale Silvestri, pastor of the Neapolitan temple, presided over a mass in honor of the saint, which was attended by more than 500 people, many of them sick.

At the end of the Eucharist, the priest proceeded to anoint with the blessed oil – especially for the occasion by the Maronite Curia of Rome – to the faithful who approached the altar. It was then that something unexpected happened.

“I couldn’t believe what I saw”

“I did not imagine that it would be so many people, so there came a time when the bottle was almost empty and I was afraid to be able to satisfy everyone present,” said the priest in a letter published on July 27, addressed to P. Elias Hamhoury, former San Chárbel postulator.

However, he managed to anoint each patient until the bottle was empty. “At the end,” I add, “I closed the bottle and kept it in her case. But when placing it again in the safe, I realized that I was full again. I couldn’t believe what I saw.”

Asked by ACI Press, Mons. Pasquale confirmed the facts: “I missed me a lot, because the bottle was over. In fact, I was scared because there was not going to be enough to anoint everyone and gums the bottle several times.”

Checking that, indeed, the container was again full and that “weighed more than before,” the priest approached the altar to tell what happened to the faithful: “Everyone applauded when they saw him.”

“I am not a miracle, absolutely, but in this case there has been production of matter, it is a very serious thing,” he remarks. Given what happened, he claims to have acted according to what is established by canon law: “When one has a miracle news, it must be communicated to the application of the saint.”

The aroma of the cedars of Lebanon

The next day, on July 25, a group of Lebanese pilgrims arrived at the Church. “They asked me to smell the oil and, in doing so, they said that I gave off the aroma of the cedars of Lebanon,” one of the symbols of the native country of San Charbel. “The oil is scented, something that seems impossible,” adds the Neapolitan priest.

San Chárbel, whose original name was Youssef Antun, was born on May 8, 1828 in Beqaa-Kafra, a village near the well-known “Cedros de Dios”, one of the latest natural reserves of these millenary trees that covered much of the mountains of Lebanon in ancient times.

“The bottle is already saved from the authorities, in case someone wants to come to find out and study the content,” said Mons. Pasquale Silvestri.

The beginning of a deep devotion

The priest told ACI Prensa that his devotion to the saint began almost fortuitously. “I did not know him, they told me about him recently and I really liked his story. Then I put a picture in my church for devotion,” he explains.

Although he says that he has never “believed in dreams,” he shares – even astonished – a personal anecdote: “When I put this picture, at night I dreamed that San Charbel looked at me and laughed. This impressed me because the photo of San Chárbel is always that of a very serious man, but I smiled at me.”

Since that providential episode, he decided to dedicate the masses of the last Friday of June and July to the Lebanese saint.

Healing of serious diseases

It was on July 24, a few hours before the “miracle” of oil, when a young woman from the parish, about 20 years old. “He told me that that morning he had been cured thanks to San Charbel of a tumor in the bosom. He was completely clean and doctors believed it would be impossible.”

“That happened on the morning of the 24th, and in the afternoon a number of impressive people came to Mass. We were not prepared, in fact the sacred forms ended. And then what happened happened,” he recalled.

Since then, he says, many faithful have shared testimonies of physical or spiritual cures after participating in the Mass. “I have arrived about five or six similar stories, and I have asked them to leave everything in writing.”

The priest emphasizes that “miracles are counted in the Gospel and in the Word of God.” For Mons. Silvestri, what happened in his church “is a confirmation of what we already know.”

A bridge between the East and West

Saint Charbel is known for obtaining miracles of God not only for Catholics, but also for Muslims and faithful of other religions. The Catholic Church has registered and investigated thousands of wonders attributed to its intercession.

In fact, in life he enjoyed a remarkable reputation for miraculous cures among those who went to him in search of help.

The Lebanese saint, priest and hermit monk of the Maronite rite, has become a spiritual bridge between the East and West. He died on December 24, 1898. He was beatified by Pope St. Paul VI on December 5, 1965 and canonized by the Pontiff himself on October 9, 1977.

ACI Press contacted the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) to learn about its position in this regard, but did not get an answer until publishing this note.