Monastery of Our Lady of Mayfouq

Monastery of Our Lady of Mayfouq is a Maronite monastery of the Lebanese Maronite Order in Mayfouq, in the mountains of the Byblos District, and one of the oldest monasteries of the Maronite Church, with tradition placing its origins in the 9th century. The monastery passed to the Lebanese Maronite Order in 1766, and in 1780 it hosted a regional council of the Maronite Church. In 1851, a young Youssef Makhlouf, the future Saint Charbel, began his novitiate here before continuing to the Monastery of Saint Maroun in Annaya. The Order later opened a school at the monastery, which became an important center of monastic formation. Mayfouq also keeps the ancient icon of Our Lady of Ilige, the official icon of the Maronite Patriarchate, brought from the nearby Monastery of Our Lady of Ilige for restoration in the 1980s.