Wednesday, October 22, 2008

My Kind of Saint

Found this in my Magnificat during retreat.  The miracle in question sounds so much like the mirth of God, that joy which wells up from the heart of Love.  I have scanned this directly into the computer so if you like it, go to Magnificat and order a subscription.

Saint Bercharius (626-685)

A Native of Aquitaine, France, Bercharius was ordained a priest by the archbishop of Reims, Saint Nivard, who years earlier had encouraged his vocation.  Thereafter Bercharius entered the monastery of Luxeuil.  His exemplary obedience was rewarded with a little miracle.  As he was filling a vessel with beer from a barrel in the cellar, he heard his abbot calling him.  Immediately, without stopping to shut the tap, he obediently rushed upstairs.  When later he returned, he was amazed to find that the beer had not overflowed the vessel he had been filling.  Bercharius later founded and became the abbot of the monastery of Montier-en-Der.  He and Nivard had selected the site for it after sighting a dove, seeing it as a sign that the Holy Spirit would love to repose there.  Later, Bercharius completed a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  On Holy Thursday of 685, a disobedient monk, upon whom Bercharius had been compelled to impose a penance, stabbed the abbot in a fit of rage.  Immediately repenting of his crime, the monk confessed his guilt to the other religious, and his abbot unhesitatingly forgave him.  Bercharius died from his wounds on Easter Sunday.

Guess which part I like best?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah...I hate it when my wife calls me while I'm trying to fill a beer from the huge keg I happen to keep in my house...I drop everything I'm doing, but no miracle for me!!! The whole house smells like beer for two weeks!

Chris Favre said...

Must have been a real beer. Maybe a nice Bock, or DoppleBock, Porter, Stout, Wheat, or Heffe. Don't you just love the real beers, kinda like loving the real Church? No light beer (or church) for me!

Cheers Padre!!!