Optional Memorial of St. Sharbel Makhlouf, 1828-1898; at age 23, he joined the Monastery of St. Maron at Annaya, Lebanon; he professed final vows in 1853, and was ordained six years later; he lived as a hermit from 1875 until his death; he followed a strict fast and was very devoted to the Blessed Sacrament; when his superiors occasionally asked him to administer the sacraments to nearby villages, Sharbel did so gladly; Sharbel died in the late afternoon of Christmas eve, 1898