Blessed Herman the Cripple, Monk (1013 - 1054)


Today, September 25, is the feast of Blessed Hermann. Blessed Herman the Cripple was an 11th-century Benedictine monk from southern Germany.

Born deformed with a cleft palate, cerebral palsy, and spina bifida, Herman was cared for from age 7 by the Benedictine monks of the Reichenau abbey of Germany. He was professed as a monk there at age 20. Although he was bedridden and a speech impediment made him nearly impossible to understand, Herman was a genius, who studied and wrote on astronomy, theology, math, history, poetry, Arabic, Greek, and Latin. He also built astonomical equipment and musical instruments and was the most famous religious poet of his day. When he eventually became blind, Herman began writing hymns. His "Salve Regina," or "Hail Holy Queen," is the best known. Blessed Herman died at the age of 40 of causes related to his afflictions in 1054. He was beatified in 1863.

Lesson: Although Blessed Herman suffered much, he always smiled and was the joy of the monastery. He saw each trial as a deeper way to draw closer to God and nearer to His heavenly reward. Let us thank God for each trial He sends our way and view it as a means of purification, drawing us nearer to Him as we consecrate our hearts to His Holy Mother Mary, Our Life, Our Sweetness, and Our Hope.

Unborn Word of the Day has an inspiring post on Blessed Herman, which is entitled:
Another pro-life saint: good! We need Him. Be sure to read it! Here is a poem about Blessed Herman.

Image via Unborn Word of the Day.
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Comments

  1. Leticia9/25/08, 11:17 PM

    I love his story. Thanks for posting it.
    Herman the Cripple, we need your intercession on behalf of the forsaken unborn, for a prolife president to win this election.

    ReplyDelete
  2. martin10/4/10, 3:32 PM

    Dear Hermann, you were more than any other man, despite all your phycical frailty. Please help me in all my human weakness to be strong and couragious, in the sight of the Lord.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Candida3/29/11, 1:32 AM

    Thank you for the story of Blessed Hermann. I was looking for the history of the Hail Holy Queen Prayer when I found your blog. I am also a volunteer phone counselor for Sydney Pregnancy Help - counselling mums in distress with their pregnancy. We are pro-life counsellors. My site is more about family prayer, but would create a page about the 'unborn child'. I would like to have a link exchange with your site as it is with good values. My site is www.family-prayer.org
    God Bless you.
    Candida

    ReplyDelete

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