| Saint Siard. |
|
Saints and Blesseds
St. Siard, Abbot
November 14
Siard was born into a wealthy family in Friesland around the middle of the twelfth century. As a small boy he came to study at the celebrated school of the Norbertine abbey of Mariengaarden. Siard showed promise from the start and eventually announced his desire to enter the community. He was received into the Order by St. Frederick, first abbot of Mariengaarden. When Abbot John, the third successor of Frederick, as about to die on June 20, 1194, he ordered that Siard be his successor. Thus, Siard became the fifth abbot of Mariengaarden. His biographer remarks, "As the mantle of Elias had fallen on Eliseus, so the mantle of St. Frederick had fallen on Siard." As abbot he refused any special treatment in clothing or food, insisting on being treated as an equal among his brothers. Siard was known for hhis austere manner of life. His room was bare and he often slept on the floor. He was a renowned friend and champion of the poor. He noticed that in other abbeys the poor were often shoved aside while rich and famous guests were received with open arms. Siard would not tolerate this at Mariengaarden. He loved to hand out bread to the poor himself, and even on journeys took a supply with him, distributing it among the poor along the way. Siard joined in the manual labor of the brethren, especially at harvest time and in the building of the dikes against the ever-threatening Nort Sea. Once on a journey with some of his confreres, Siard happened past a noisy celebration of music and dance. He stopped and turned to his brothers with the comment, "Just imagine what songs of joy the angel choirs must sing when they celebrate the conversion of a single sinner." On another trip he encountered an old friend who had gone blind. When the friend failed to recognize him, Siard was so moved with compassion that he prayed for healing and the man's eyes were opened on the spot. Siard's austere regime was not to the liking of all his confreres. In 1230 a canon of the abbey attempted to murder Abbot Siard with a knife while he was asleep. The abbot's screams brought the brethren so fast that he was only mildly wounded and his life spared. Later in the same year Abbot Siard died on November 17 after thirty-six years as abbot. He is pictured in the garb of an abbot with bread for the poor, a shovel for his manual labor, and the wheat which he harvested by the sweat of his brow.
PRAYER
Father in heaven, you filled your abbot Siard with humility and lowliness of heart. Through his intercession grant that we, like him, may imitate the humility and meekness of the heart of your Son. We ask this through Christ our Lord, AMEN.
| Saint Siard. |
|
Reprinted with permission of St. Michael's Abbey, Orange, California, U.S.A.
