St. Arnold of Soissons
Feast 08-14 · Canonized 1120
Patron of
About
Arnold was born around 1040 in Brabant, in what is now Belgium. After a career as a soldier, he entered the Benedictine abbey of St. Medard in Soissons, France, and later became its abbot.
He withdrew to a hermitage and eventually founded the abbey of Oudenburg in Flanders, where he served as abbot. He is remembered for his austere life and for miracles attributed to his intercession.
He died around 1087 and was canonized in 1120. He is venerated as the patron saint of brewers, a patronage linked to his abbey's brewing tradition and to the story that he urged people to drink beer rather than unsafe water.
Suggested prayer
O God, who called Arnold from the soldier's life to the cloister and made him a father to his people, grant through his intercession that brewers may work honestly and bring joy without excess. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.