The Chaplet of Saint Charbel
The Chaplet of Saint Charbel is a short prayer said on a small string of beads, offered in honor of the Maronite hermit of Annaya. It gathers a few well-loved prayers into a simple pattern you can hold in your hand and pray in a few quiet minutes. People reach for it when they carry a need too heavy for words, and want the saint of countless miracles to carry it with them.
This guide explains what a chaplet is, how the Saint Charbel chaplet is built and prayed bead by bead, and where it sits among the wider Charbel devotions. The prayer texts are given in full so you can pray along.
What Is a Chaplet?
A chaplet is a set of prayers counted on beads, shorter and more focused than the full rosary. The word once meant a small wreath or crown, and a chaplet is a little crown of prayer offered to God through a saint or mystery.
The Marian rosary has 59 beads and five decades of ten Hail Marys each. A chaplet is smaller and more varied. Each one has its own arrangement of beads and its own prayers, shaped around the saint or devotion it honors. The Chaplet of Saint Charbel is one of these, built around the vows and loves of his hidden life.
The Beads of the Saint Charbel Chaplet
The most common form of this chaplet uses five groups of colored beads, joined by a medal of the saint. Five black beads divide the groups, and a single white bead sits just after the medal, before the sets begin.
The colors carry meaning. The red beads honor the three vows by which a monk shares in the Passion of Christ: poverty, chastity, and obedience. The white beads honor Saint Charbel's love for the Holy Eucharist, the center of his hermit life. The blue beads honor his devotion to the Blessed Mother.
Not every chaplet is strung the same way. Different beadmakers and prayer cards arrange the colors and counts a little differently, and some versions add or shorten the invocations. The pattern below is the form you will meet most often. The honest thing to say is that there is no single official structure fixed for the whole Church, so it is always best to follow the small guide that comes with your own chaplet.
How to Pray It, Bead by Bead
Begin with the Sign of the Cross. Then move through the beads in this order.
On the medal, to begin: hold the medal of Saint Charbel and quiet your heart, offering the chaplet for your intention.
On the first white bead, pray the Father of Truth prayer. This ancient offering, drawn from the Maronite liturgy, places the sacrifice of Christ before the Father.
Father of Truth, behold Your Son, a sacrifice pleasing to You. Accept this offering of Him who died for me; behold His blood shed on Golgotha for my salvation. It pleads for me. For His sake, accept my prayer. Amen.
On each black bead, pray an Our Father. The black beads divide the sets, and the Lord's Prayer opens each part of the chaplet.
On the first three red beads, pray a Hail Mary on each in honor of Saint Charbel's fidelity to the vow of poverty.
On the second three red beads, pray a Hail Mary on each in honor of his fidelity to the vow of chastity.
On the third three red beads, pray a Hail Mary on each in honor of his fidelity to the vow of obedience.
On the three white beads, pray a Hail Mary on each in honor of his love for the Holy Eucharist.
On the three blue beads, pray a Hail Mary on each in honor of his devotion to the Blessed Mother.
The Hail Mary is prayed here not to Saint Charbel but with him, in the way he prayed it: turning to the Mother of God he loved. Each set carries you deeper into one part of his life.
The Closing Prayer for Graces
Return to the medal to finish. This closing prayer names Saint Charbel's hidden heroism and asks, through his intercession, for the grace you seek.
Lord, infinitely holy and glorified in Your saints, You inspired Charbel, the saint monk, to lead the perfect life of a hermit. We thank You for granting him the blessing and the strength to detach himself from the world, so that the heroism of the monastic virtues of poverty, chastity, and obedience might triumph in his hermitage. We beseech You to grant us the grace of loving and serving You, following his example. Almighty God, who have manifested the power of Saint Charbel's intercession through his countless miracles and favors, grant us this grace (here name your intention) which we ask of You through his intercession. Amen.
Close with the Sign of the Cross. If words of your own rise up at the end, let them. The chaplet is a frame, not a cage.
When and How to Pray the Chaplet
You can pray this chaplet on any day. Many turn to it in a moment of need, when they are asking for healing of body or soul, and some pray it while anointing with the blessed oil that flows from the saint's tomb, joining the touch of the oil to the words of the prayer.
The 22nd of the month has a special place in this devotion. Pilgrims have long marked the 22nd as a day of Saint Charbel's intercession, remembering great healings received on that date, and many pray the chaplet then, whether at his shrine in Annaya or at home.
It also fits naturally inside a longer devotion. Praying the chaplet each day for nine days is a simple way to keep a novena, and it can be repeated for as long as your intention stays with you.
The Chaplet, the Litany, and the Novena
The chaplet is one of several ways the tradition prays with Saint Charbel, and they fit together well. The Litany of Saint Charbel is a call-and-response prayer of many short invocations, each answered with "pray for us," praised for its rhythm and depth. The Novena to Saint Charbel is a nine-day devotion for a specific intention, and many people pray the chaplet daily as part of it.
If you are new to praying with the saint, the collection of prayers to Saint Charbel gathers the shorter prayers in one place, and the Saint Charbel prayer for healing is the one most often prayed in illness. For the full Marian rosary prayed in the Maronite spirit, see the Maronite rosary.
Who Was Saint Charbel?
Charbel Makhlouf was a Maronite monk and priest who lived as a hermit in the mountains of Lebanon in the nineteenth century. He spent his last twenty-three years in a small hermitage above the monastery of Annaya, in silence, hard work, and constant prayer, with the Eucharist at the center of everything.
After his death in 1898 a strange light was seen over his grave, and his body was found incorrupt. Countless healings have been reported through his intercession since, which is why so many bring their heaviest needs to him. To read his story in full, see the life of Saint Charbel.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Chaplet of Saint Charbel?
The Chaplet of Saint Charbel is a short devotional prayer said on a small string of beads that honors the Maronite hermit. Unlike the full rosary of 59 beads, this chaplet uses a smaller set, most commonly five groups of colored beads divided by black beads and joined by a medal of the saint. It combines the Father of Truth prayer, several Our Fathers, and Hail Marys offered in honor of Saint Charbel's vows and devotions, ending with a prayer to obtain graces through his intercession.
How do you pray the Saint Charbel chaplet?
In the most common form, you begin on the medal, then on the first white bead pray the Father of Truth prayer. On each black bead you pray an Our Father. On the colored beads you pray Hail Marys, offered in honor of Saint Charbel's poverty, chastity, and obedience, his love for the Eucharist, and his devotion to the Blessed Mother. You close on the medal with the prayer to obtain graces, naming your intention. Exact arrangements vary between beadmakers and prayer cards, so follow the guide that comes with your own chaplet.
What is the difference between the chaplet and the novena?
The chaplet is a single set of prayers said on beads that you can complete in a few minutes at any time. The novena is a nine-day devotion, with prayers for each day, usually offered for a specific intention. Many people pray the chaplet daily during a novena, so the two work together rather than competing.
Is there a Saint Charbel rosary?
People often use the words rosary and chaplet interchangeably for this devotion, and you will see it sold as a Saint Charbel rosary. Strictly speaking it is a chaplet: a short devotional set of beads honoring the saint, not the full 59-bead Marian rosary of five decades. If you want to pray the full rosary in the Maronite spirit, the Maronite rosary is the tradition to follow.
When should you pray the Chaplet of Saint Charbel?
You can pray it any day, especially when you carry a pressing need or are asking for healing. Many devotees pray it on the 22nd of each month, a day long associated with Saint Charbel's intercession, and some pray it while anointing with the blessed oil from his tomb. It is also commonly prayed each day of a nine-day novena.
See also: Prayers to Saint Charbel. Litany of Saint Charbel. Novena to Saint Charbel. Prayer for Healing. Maronite Rosary. Saint Charbel.