Mariam Assaf Awad was daughter to Lulu and Assaf, wife to Ibrahim Awad. Mariam was born in Shakra, Izra (in Syria) and lived in Hammana, Lebanon. Her husband had died 19 years previously. She had a son called Georgios, who is married and who is a Roman Catholic. He is illiterate, but he practices his religious duties in Hammana.
Mariam underwent three surgeries between 1963 and 1965. She was operated on once in the stomach and the second time in the intestine. The third one was on the right side of the neck.
All these cases were cancerous. The first was of Caccum cancer, which was removed. The second was cancer in the stomach, which started to spread according to the medical report. The third was in the tonsils. The doctor X-Rayed her whole mouth and took a sample for biopsy. He didn’t prescribe any treatment for this last disease. In this case, Mariam was doubtful of the nature of the disease. Since then, Mariam had started to pray to St Charbel.
The two tonsils were struck with cancer, which resulted in unbearable pain and difficulty in swallowing. In addition to this, her voice started to weaken. There was also redness in the tonsils, which grew to the size of walnuts. Mariam refused any treatment, including radiotherapy. Instead, she always asked St Charbel for either the cure for what she had been suffering from or the power to bear this disease. One day, while sitting in her bed, she prayed the following to St Charbel: “Provide me with the cure to this disease. You are the great saint who has cured the blind and the lame. When I recover from this illness, I’ll go to thank you in your shrine.” She asked for recovery in the evening and before retiring to bed. Next day, she was completely cured. When the lump started to disappear completely on the fourth day she was astonished with St Charbel. Not to mention the growths on her neck. The affected parts of her body no longer suffered pain. She became fully strong and sound. Then, Mariam came to pay her vow in the St Maron monastery, the tomb of St Charbel, thanking him for the cure he blessed her with.