A canon of Strasbourg who became a hermit in Switzerland, Bennon restored the site of Einsiedeln before being appointed bishop of Metz in 925. After a violent assault in which he lost his sight, he returned to spend his final days in his Swiss solitude, offering his sufferings to God. He is considered one of the founding fathers of the famous Abbey of Our Lady of the Hermits.
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BLESSED BENNON,
Retreat into the Swiss solitude
Around 906, Bennon left Strasbourg to settle in a wilderness near Zurich, following in the footsteps of Saint Meinrad, where he led a life of rigorous asceticism.
but, disgusted with the world, he renounced his benefice, left Strasbourg to seek, around the year 906, an asylum in some solitude and there serve God. He arrived in Switzerland, a few leagues from Zurich, in a dreadful wilderness, where Saint Meinrad had laid, forty-three years earlier, the foundations of a monastery which had been abandoned since his death. This solitude was then covered by a forest and did not even produce enough to provide for the maintenance of the pious hermit; but of what is a man not capable who wishes to live for God, and what obstacles could stop a soul detached from the world and sighing after the goods of eternity? Bennon Bennon Founding monk of Einsiedeln and Bishop of Metz in the 10th century. pulled from the earth some herbs which he made his food, and when, later, disciples had come to join him to share his austerities, they cleared these wildernesses together and thus provided for their existence. Dead to the world and to himself, and intimately penetrated by the baseness of his nothingness and the greatness of divine goodness, he soared toward God with continual fervor; he regarded as an instant five to six hours of prayer, which he performed each morning, and, upon leaving this exercise, one noticed something extraordinary on his face. His faith was so vivid that one would have said he penetrated the reality of the mysteries it teaches us; he would have preferred to see himself stripped of everything in this world and to suffer even the cruelest death, than to lose the precious treasure of faith. This faith is undoubtedly the first gift that God can make to us; it is a supernatural light that He deigns to communicate to us to enlighten us and lead us to our final end: similar to that pillar of fire, of which the divine Scriptures speak to us, and which led the Israelites in the desert, faith dissipates the darkness that hides from us the sight of the road we must take to reach eternal happiness; it is the root of the spiritual life, the base of all true virtue and the principle of all meritorious action before God. "O faith," Saint Ambrose once said, "you are richer than all treasures, more estimable than all goods, more effective and more sovereign than all remedies." But it is with this gift of God as it is with all others: many persuade themselves they possess it, who perhaps have only the appearances of it.
Foundation of Our Lady of the Hermits
Joined by disciples, Bennon cleared the forest and founded the abbey of Einsiedeln, benefiting from the financial support of the Bishop of Basel.
Our faith must bear fruits of life, to merit eternal life one day. Such was the faith of Bennon in his humble solitude. His disciples imitated the fine examples he gave them, and walked with great strides in the path of perfection. The lord of the region gave them an uncultivated plot of land; they made the most advantageous use of it, rebuilt the destroyed chapel, and constructed a few cells: this is the origin of the famous abbey of Our Lady of the Hermits.
B ennon devoted a portion of his f abbaye de Notre-Dame-des-Ermites Famous Benedictine abbey founded by Saint Bennon. ortune to providing his community with the most necessary things, and he was aided in his praiseworthy designs by Adalberon, Bishop of Basel, his relative, who gave him his land of Siorentz, in Upper Alsace, which the abbey of Einsiedeln kept until the end of the 14th cent Einsiedlen Famous Benedictine abbey founded by Saint Bennon. ury, at which time it returned it to Burkard Münch of Landscron. Thus, a numerous community formed around the holy man, which followed no rule other than the exemplary life of Bennon, until, later on, the Rule of Saint Benedict was introduced there. The abbey of Säckingen gave the island of Uffnau, in Lake Zurich, as a fief to Einsiedeln.
The Eventful Episcopate of Metz
In 925, Emperor Henry the Fowler imposed Bennon on the episcopal see of Metz, provoking the hostility of the local clergy and people.
Bennon had left the world with the intention of never returning to it; he had found in his desert ample compensation for all the sacrifices he had made, when Emperor Henry the Fowler ca me to tear him a Henri l'Oiseleur Emperor who appointed Bennon to the bishopric of Metz. way to raise him to the episcopal see of Metz. This prince, who Metz City where the saint received his theological training. had heard of Bennon's holiness and the great qualities that everyone admired in him, had seized Lorraine. Without regard for the right of election, which the clergy and people of Metz enjoyed, he appointed Bennon to govern the Church of that city. The servant of God only yielded with difficulty to the emperor's proposal; the idea of procuring the glory of God in this eminent office was the only thing that could make him consent, and he left his monastery in 925. His disciples were inconsolable at this loss; but Bennon calmed their sorrow by letting them understand that he would see them again one day. The clergy and the people of Metz had seen with singular dissatisfaction the infraction committed by their emperor against the rules established by the canons of the Church for the election of pastors, and some historians claim to find there the origin of the misunderstandings that broke out almost immediately. As for Bennon, he applied himself with the zeal of an apostle to healing the wounds of his Church; but an ungrateful and indocile people is not easy to lead; the prejudices they harbored against him could not be overcome by the sight of the holy pontiff's virtues. Bennon opposed the rigors shown to him only with the gentleness and holiness of his life; night and day he sent forth sighs and fervent vows to the Lord and asked Him for patience, to triumph over the rebellious hearts of his diocesans. Despite the aversion his flock showed him, the virtuous prelate rose up with strength against the vices that dominated his Church; this did not prevent some scoundrels, whom his zeal had revolted, from seizing him in 927 and putting out his eyes, subsequently mutilating him in a shameful manner.
Martyrdom and mutilation
In 927, opponents attacked Bennon and gouged out his eyes; the saint forgave his executioners despite the condemnation of the Council of Duisburg.
Bennon endured this act of cruelty with the courage of a martyr; although he knew his enemies, he never wished, in order to take vengeance, to denounce them to the Emperor's justice; on the contrary, he asked for their pardon and interceded for them. T he Council of Duisbu concile de Duisbourg Council that excommunicated the attackers of Benno. rg issued a sentence of excommunication against the perpetrators of this attack and had them punished according to the laws that were in use at that time. The blessed prelate, no longer considering himself fit to govern his diocese, and although the sound part of his flock tried to repair the crime of a few evildoers, renounced his bishopric and returned to his solitude. His former disciples received him with a kind of veneration and saw in him a martyr of his zeal; they hastened to lavish upon him all possible consolations, in order to make him forget his disgrace. Bennon regarded this trial from heaven as a favor granted to him by the Lord, since, by taking away his bodily sight, he was provided with the means to advance even further on the path of virtue. His life was more than ever devoted to acts of piety and works of mortification: for more than ten years he did not cease to give his religious the example of complete submission to the will of God. He could say in the same spirit as the great Apostle once did: "Who shall ever separate me from the love of Jesus Christ? Crowns, riches, pleasures, I have trampled your charms underfoot; and you, tribulations, temptations of every kind, afflictions of body and spirit, you cannot shake my constancy; and you, death, who seem so formidable, I despise your blows, they do not frighten me, because I hope in one stronger than you, in him who has destroyed your empire and who has taken away your prey." Never did Bennon complain of the sad state to which he was reduced. His continual occupations were prayer and meditation; the religious often gathered around him to consult him on their progress in perfection.
Return to solitude and end of life
Having become blind, Bennon returned to his monastery where he ended his days in prayer and patience, passing away in 940.
The pious prelate was afflicted, towards the end of his days, with various infirmities that added even more to his sufferings; but in the midst of the most acute pains, he was often heard to utter these remarkable words: "Lord, increase my sufferings, but grant me patience." Finally, after having been for many long years the model of all virtues, the Lord called him to a happier life on August 3, 940. Bennon had prepared himself for death as the saints prepare for it: the last days of his existence were nothing but a continuous conversation with God. He gave up his soul in the midst of his disciples, in the arms of his friend Eberhard, and was buried n ear the Eberhard Friend of Bennon present at his death. oratory of the Blessed Virgin.
Source
The text is taken from the work 'Les Saints d'Alsace' written by Abbé Hunckler.
Excerpt from Les Saints d'Alsace, by Abbé Hunckl l'abbé Hunckler Author of the original biography. er.
Annexes & related entities
Structured data for exploration: events, miracles, quotes, places, attributes, patronages, and important entities cited in the text.
Key Events
- Renunciation of his canonry in Strasbourg around 906
- Settled in the Einsiedeln wilderness in Switzerland
- Foundation of the Abbey of Our Lady of the Hermits
- Appointed Bishop of Metz by Henry the Fowler in 925
- Assault and mutilation (gouged eyes) by opponents in 927
- Renunciation of his episcopal see and return to solitude
- Died among his disciples in 940
Quotes
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Lord, increase my sufferings, but grant me patience
Hagiographic tradition reported by Abbé Hunckler