September 25 + Blessed Herman the Cripple

Born in 1013 with a cleft palate, cerebral palsy, and spina bifida to a farm family in Germany, Herman was so terribly deformed he was almost helpless. He was placed in Reichenau Abbey in Lake Constance when he was seven and spent the rest of his life there.

Herman became a Benedictine monk at age twenty and was considered a genius in his time. He studied and wrote on astronomy, theology, math, history, poetry, Arabic, Greek, and Latin. He built musical instruments, and astronomical equipment. Later in life, he became blind and had to give up his academic writing. He died at the young age of 40, having succumbed to the symptoms of his many afflictions. He was beatified in 1863.

The most famous religious poet of his day, he is the author of Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen) and Alma Redemptoris Mater.

SALVE REGINA

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve! To thee do we send up our sighs; mourning and weeping in this vale of tears! Turn, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us, and after this, our exile, show to us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus! O Clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Pray for us O Holy Mother of God … That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen. — Blessed Herman