Charbel Makhluf was a Maronite monk and priest born in Bekaa Kafra in 1828. After joining the Lebanese Maronite Order in 1851, he was ordained as a priest in Bkerke in 1859. He spent twenty-three years living as a hermit before his death from a stroke in Annaya on December 24, 1898. He is recognized as a saint within the Maronite Church and the Catholic tradition.