Gérard of Brogne

Who was Gérard of Brogne?

Saint Gérard was an abbot of Brogne. A native of Staves, he was a member of the family of dukes of Lower Austrasia. Originally a soldier, he rebuilt a family chapel into a large church and later became a monk at Saint-Denis. He was then ordained priest. He returned to Brogne, where he fought the laxity of clerics there and replaced them with monks. He retired to a cell near the monastery for mortification.

The Archbishop of Cambrai asked him to reform the community of Saint-Ghislain in Hainault. He replaced the canons with monks. He eventually became head of 18 other abbeys in the region of present-day Belgium. At the end of his life, he retired again to Brogne.

He also traveled to Rome to obtain a papal bull to confirm the privileges of Brogne Abbey.