Bl. Hermann of Reichenau

Hermann was born in 1013 at Altshausen in Germany. He was severely disabled from birth. He could not walk or stand, sitting and lying down were painful, and speaking was hard because his lips and palate were malformed. People called him Hermann "the Lame".

At seven he was sent to the Benedictine monastery on the island of Reichenau in Lake Constance, where he lived for the rest of his life. He took vows as a monk in 1043. He became a scholar of theology, mathematics, astronomy, music, Latin, Greek and Arabic, and students came from far away to learn from him. He wrote a chronicle of world history from the birth of Christ to his own day, which is the earliest medieval universal chronicle that survives, as well as poems and works on astronomy.

Those who knew him described him as cheerful, gentle and fond of a joke. He died at Reichenau in 1054.

Hermann lived his whole life in serious pain and could barely speak, yet the sources remember him above all for his cheerfulness, his faith and his prayer.

The Church has declared Hermann of Reichenau Blessed.

Beatification allows public veneration, usually in a particular region or religious family. Canonization extends it to the whole Church.