20/05/2026
His name was Dario Escobar, and he hailed from Medellín, the Colombian city associated with the notorious drug tycoon, Pablo Escobar. But except for the similarity of their names and the common city they shared, their lives differed entirely. When Dario passed away at 92 in Lebanon, he had carved a distinct niche in the ascetic history as an extraordinary hermit. This is an inspiring story of a former football player and a professor of theology and psychology, who chose the life of a Maronite hermit steeped in sacred silence and renunciation, inspired by the life of Saint Charbel. Responding to God’s call, he renounced the world and its glory in 1990 and dedicated his entire life to divine seclusion and prayer in Lebanon’s Qadisha Valley. A man well-versed in Spanish, English, French, Italian, and Arabic, Escobar chose silence to converse with God. Each day, he spent 14 hours in prayer, 3 hours working, 2 hours studying, and 5 hours sleeping and led a very austere lifestyle of a strictly vegetarian diet. In a 2009 interview, he said, “I live in absolute poverty, and I am happier this way. Anyone who experiences this life would want no other.” He loved the Qadisha Valley so much that he once described it as “the ideal place for prayer and solitude”, which he “would not trade for any fortune.” His funeral service will be held on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at 4:00 PM, at the Monastery of Saint Anthony the Great, Qozhaya. His remains will be buried in the cemetery of the monastery.