Visiting Saint Charbel's Birthplace
The feast dates and what you can see in the village where Saint Charbel was born — in plain answers.
Loading the latest information…
Loading the latest information…
The feast dates and what you can see in the village where Saint Charbel was born — in plain answers.
Loading the latest information…
Bekaa Kafra is the birthplace of Saint Charbel (Mar Charbel), born here in 1828 — the fact that shapes the village's calendar and draws pilgrims, especially in July when the village's emigrant families also come home for the summer. This is a plain guide to the feast dates and what you can actually see in the village. Opening times and the year's programme are set by the parish and the shrine, so confirm those locally before you travel; this page does not invent them.
There are two dates. The Maronite Church keeps his feast on the third Sunday of July, and the wider (Latin) calendar marks him on 24 July, so celebrations often stretch across both. The village's own anniversary celebrations gather around these dates, in the heart of the summer, when many of Bekaa Kafra's families return from abroad. For the exact day this year, see 'The Bekaa Kafra Year' on this town's page — it always shows the next feast date.
Saint Charbel was born in Bekaa Kafra on 8 May 1828 and canonised in 1977.
Bekaa Kafra is his birthplace, and several sites here are tied to his early life: the house where he was born, kept as a small museum (often called his Native House); the church where he was baptised; the village's Notre-Dame church, built in 1925; the convent of Saint Eusebius; and a prayer grotto.
Visiting hours vary and are not published reliably online, so check at the site or with the parish when you arrive rather than relying on a fixed timetable.
No — this is his birthplace, not his shrine. Saint Charbel lived, died and is buried at the Monastery of Saint Maron in Annaya, in the Jbeil (Byblos) district of Mount Lebanon, a few hours' drive away. The tomb and the main pilgrimage shrine are at Annaya; Bekaa Kafra is where his life began. Many pilgrims visit both.
The village sits at about 1,800 m, across the Qadisha (Holy) Valley from Bsharri town and near the Cedars of God. Summer — roughly June to September — is the season most visitors and returning families come, and when the feast falls.
In winter the one road up from Bsharri can close completely in storms, and the village is routinely cut off (the village's Snow & the Road Up tool tracks the mountain weather). If you are coming in the cold months, check the road first and carry chains.
Around the anniversary, the village has been reported to hold a traditional wedding re-enactment in nineteenth-century dress and an exhibition of homemade local products — but the exact programme changes year to year and is organised locally. Treat this as something to ask about when you arrive rather than a fixed schedule, and check with the parish or the village for the current year's events.
Town Tools builds free, public tools for Bekaa Kafra and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.