![]() Very early on, he displayed a tender devotion to the Virgin Mary and a natural disposition toward prayer. Youssef shepherded his family’s small flock of animals when he was young. They were devout Maronite Catholics whose relatives included priests and monks. ![]() Saint Sharbel, baptized as Youssef (Arabic for Joseph), was one of five children born into a poor family from a remote village in the hills of Lebanon. The Maronite liturgy, rituals, church customs, and forms of prayer are, however, of ancient origin and enrich an already diverse Church with theological fruit picked from one of Christianity’s oldest orchards. To the casual Western observer, this liturgy can seem exotic. But millions of other Catholics, fully members of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, worship using an Eastern, or Middle Eastern, liturgy. The vast majority of the world’s Catholics pertain to the Latin Rite. The universal Church is like an umbrella under which are found different rites, or ritual forms of praying. Maronites are united to the Bishop of Rome. The dominant form of Catholicism in Lebanon is the Maronite Church. Prior to that, today’s saint was known primarily among the Christians of Lebanon, either in their homeland or in Lebanese diaspora communities outside of the Middle East. Today’s memorial was first inserted into the liturgical calendar in the United States in 2004. ![]()
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