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Activist Mary Fisher will deliver Allan P. Kirby Lecture at Wilkes University on March 16

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LCCC Foundation elects officers for 2016

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; By all accounts St. Sharbel was a humble man who never traveled far from the Lebanese village of Bekaa-Kafra, where he was born in 1828.</p><p>But the Rev. Hanna Karam of Wilkes-Barre said the hermit monk&#8217;s influence has spread around the world, and one of his relics will be on display March 15 at St. Anthony&#8217;s Maronite Catholic Church and March 16 at St. George Chapel, both in Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>The relic &#8212; in this case it&#8217;s a fragment of bone &#8212; travels through North America from church to church, Father Karam said, explaining it gives people a chance to feel especially connected to a man who had a great reputation for holiness.</p><p>&#8220;There are places where people have left their crutches&#8221; after cures they attribute to St. Sharbel&#8217;s intercession, said Kingston attorney Ferris Webby, who counts himself as one of many members of the local Maronite parish who have faith in the saint&#8217;s power.</p><p>But you don&#8217;t have to be a Maronite &#8212; that&#8217;s an Eastern branch of the Catholic church named after the sixth-century monk St. Maron &#8212; to pray to St. Sharbel.</p><p>Tapping lightly on a cell phone screen, Father Karam found the story of Dafne Guiterrez, a mother of four who had lost her vision. A Jan. 22 news clip from Channel 12 in Phoenix, Arizona, explained how she had visited a Phoenix church, was blessed with the relics of St. Sharbel and regained her sight two days later.</p><p>Another online search revealed the October 2015 story of a 3-year-old Sunni Muslim girl, stricken with cancer, whose family had sought refuge in Damascus. She was reportedly cured after her mother prayed to St. Sharbel.</p><p>Perhaps better known is Nohad El Shami, a Lebanese woman who was partially paralyzed by a stroke, who prayed to St. Sharbel and regained her ability to walk. Her story has been told in a movie.</p><p>Translating from Arabic, Father Karam read another report, this one from a doctor who could offer no scientific explanation for a man whose ulcerated intestines stopped bleeding after the patient had consumed a small amount of soil taken from the saint&#8217;s grave and mixed with water.</p><p>To secular ears the stories may sound incredible, but not to believers like Webby and his brother, Peter, who cherish a photograph their uncle, Monsignor George Webby, took in Lebanon in 1950, more than a half a century after St. Sharbel had died. They believe the photo shows an image of the saint that mysteriously appeared in the middle of a picture of young seminarians.</p><p>During its Wilkes-Barre visit, the relic of St. Sharbel will be displayed during a Mass planned for 7 p.m. March 15 at St. Anthony&#8217;s Church, 311 Park Ave. The Mass will be followed from 8 to 11 p.m. by a ramsho, which is an Aramaic word for a time of evening prayer.</p><p>Veneration and prayers will continue from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 16, the pastor said, after which he will transfer the relics to St. George Chapel, 79 Loomis St., Wilkes-Barre, for a time of veneration from 7 to 10 p.m.</p><p>The two buildings are half a mile apart, and in an Old World-style demonstration of faith, the priest and his parishioners will make the journey on foot.</p><p>Anyone who wishes to join in prayer to St. Sharbel and to be blessed with the relics will be &#8220;warmly welcomed,&#8221; Father Karam said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">The Rev. Hanna Karam, right, and Subdeacon Crosby Sparks stand in front of the Saint Sharbel statue at St. Anthony/St. George Church in Wilkes-Barre, where a relic of St. Sharbel will be venerated March 15-16. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_saintsharbel.jpg</photo0><caption0>The Rev. Hanna Karam, right, and Subdeacon Crosby Sparks stand in front of the Saint Sharbel statue at St. Anthony/St. George Church in Wilkes-Barre, where a relic of St. Sharbel will be venerated March 15-16. </caption0><photoCredit0>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

St. Anthony and St. George Maronite Churches in Wilkes-Barre will host relics of St. Sharbel on March 15 and March 16