My name is Nohad, spouse of Semaan el-Chamy, from Mezarib, Jbeil. I am 55 years old. I have 12 children (7 sons and 5 daughters). On the evening of the 9th of January 1993, I suffered from a left hemiplegia, affecting my leg, my arm and my mouth. Thus, I entered Saint Maritime Hospital in Jbeil. Dr. Joseph Chamy, a cardiologist, received me and referred me to the Intensive Care Unit and to Dr. Antoine Nachakian and Dr. Majid Chamy, my family doctor. After many consultations, X-rays and medical tests, they deduced that the hemiplegia was due to the obstruction of 80% of the left-brain arteries and 70% of the right ones. “In this case, no treatment can cure you. Nevertheless, we still have the possibility to perform later a surgery and replace the obstructed arteries by plastic ones," said the doctor. They advised me to go home and come back to Hotel Dieu Hospital within three months for new X-rays. So, my eldest son, Saad, went to Annaya and brought me consecrated oil and soil from Saint Charbel's tomb. When my daughter applied them on my body, I felt tingles in my hand and my foot. I left the hospital after staying there for 9 days. At home, I couldn’t leave my bed. My husband had to help me go to the bathroom, and my children had to give me food and water through a straw. This is how I spent the next three days after leaving the hospital. While I was sleeping, I saw myself going up the stairs of the hermitage in Annaya and attending the mass in the presence of monks. During this mass, Saint Charbel was giving me the communion. Between the fourth night at home, Thursday January 22nd, 1993, and early Friday morning, I was suffering from an awful headache and a pain in my right side. I started praying to the Holy Virgin and Saint Charbel, saying, "What have I done? Why have you done this to me? What sin have I committed to deserve all this? I have raised twelve children with lots of suffering, prayers and perseverance. I am not imposing my will on you, but if you are willing, you can heal me, or else take my soul. What ever you decide to do pleases me." My husband and children left me to get some rest. At 11pm, I had a dream: I saw a blinding light filling my room, and two monks approaching my bed; one of them placed his hand on my neck and said, "I am here to operate on you." I turned around but couldn't see his face for a blinding light was coming out of his body and eyes. I said, "Father, why do you want to perform an operation? They didn’t say I require one." He replied, "Yes you do. I am Father Charbel and come to perform it." I turned too looked at the Virgin Mary's statuette near my bed and said, "Virgin Mary, please intercede on my behalf. How are these monks going to perform a surgery and stitch the incision without an anesthetic?" I was staring at the statuette, which took a place between the two monks. At that moment, I felt an awful pain while Saint Charbel was rubbing my neck. When he finished the surgery, the other monk approached me holding a pillow, helped me to sit up straight, put the pillow behind my back and gave me the cup of water which was beside me, that after taking away the straw. He put his hand under my head and told me, "Drink this water". I said, "Father, I cannot drink without a straw." He replied, "We have performed the surgery and now you have to drink and walk, too." At that moment I woke up and realized that the water was going down my throat normally and I was sitting the way the monk made me sit. I looked at the statuette and noted that it was back in its original place on the table. Then, I felt a pain in my neck and unconsciously I touched it and realized that I could use my disabled arm, and that I can move my leg under the blanket. I got ot of bed, and without being fully conscious, I knelt before the Virgin’s statuette and Saint Charbel’s portrait to thank them. Then, I went to the bathroom, looked in the mirror, and saw two incisions in my neck; one on the left and the other on the right, each of approximately 12 cm. It was two o’clock in the morning when I went to my husband’s room, which was near mine, and switched the light on. My husband looked at me and said loudly, “How did you come here all by yourself? You might fall, and this would lead to another catastrophe!” I moved my hand and said, “Don’t worry. Saint Charbel operated on me. I can walk…” The following day, in the morning, I went to the hermitage with my son and my husband to show my gratitude to Saint Charbel for his miraculous deed. When I came back home, all my friends and relatives, who used to visit me when I was disabled, were very surprised to see me able-bodied. News spread very quickly prompting visitors to come from Lebanon and abroad. A week later, upon the request of the priest of our Parish in Halat, Father Abdo Yaacoub, and of Doctor Majid Chami, I agreed to stay at my son’s house for a couple of days to get some rest. During the night, Saint Charbel came to me and said, “Don’t leave the people. Keep on your faith. I incised you through divine intervention so that people can see you. A lot of them have strayed from the Church. They are neglecting both to pray and respect the saints. You can’t do anything for the people. Those who want anything from me, I am Father Charbel, and I am always at the hermitage. I want you to visit the hermitage every 22nd day of the month, and attend the mass for the rest of your life.” The following day, I woke up in the morning to find three stitches on the right side of my neck and two others on the left side. Doctor Majid Chamy took out two of them. I started organizing a procession every Thursday (day of the miracle) at my house, in Halat. While I was in my village on the 15th of August, 1993, Saint Charbel came to me in my dreams and said, “Nouhad, I ask you to recite the Rosary in a gathering on the first Saturday of each month at your house.” As usual, I woke up in the morning, took the incense to the small altar, lit the candle and started praying. I looked at the portrait of Saint Charbel to discover that it was secreting oil and still is to this day. On the 6th of November while we were reciting the Rosary in a gathering, as Saint Charbel asked me to, with a large number of visitors in my house, the portrait of Saint Maron started secreting oil and still does to this day. On the 2nd of September, Saint Rita appeared to me in my dream in which I was praying in front of the shrine of the Virgin Mary next to my house in the village. She placed her hand on my shoulder, kissed my forehead, and said to me, “God bless you for your faith.” I turned around to tell her what had happened to me, but she interrupted, “I know. Saint Charbel has operated on you. The monk who gave you water to drink was Saint Maroun.” |