Bernard of Wąbrzeźno

Bernard of Wąbrzeźno (Polish: Bernard z Wąbrzeźna, pronounced [ˈbɛrnard zvɔmˈbʐɛʑna], born Błażej Pęcharek, pronounced [ˈbwaʐɛj pɛ̃ˈxarɛk]; 3 February 1575 – 2 June 1603) was a Catholic priest and a Benedictine monk from the Benedictine Abbey in Lubiń, Poland. He has been named as a candidate for beatification several times, beginning in the 1730s and most recently in 2009.

A legend associated with Bernard was that he performed a miracle to restore water to the depleted well in the town of Grodzisk Wielkopolski, Poland. The well provided the water for the town's brewery, which was the primary source of income for the town; without the income from the brewery, its residents were starving. In addition to healing everybody who drank from it, the new water source was reputed to make the beer produced by the town's brewery far superior to what it had been able to produce before, and led to hundreds of years of prosperity for the town and its residents.

Biography

Bernard was one of eight children of Paweł Pęcharek, the mayor of Wąbrzeźno, and his wife Dorota of Sasin. He was born in early 1575 in Wąbrzeźno, in the province of Royal Prussia in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, although the exact date is not known because a fire destroyed the town's church records in about 1751. His date of birth is estimated to be within a few days of 3 February, based on statements of his older sister Elizabeth who testified under oath in 1645 about his age and baptism. After graduating from the parish school at the age of 12, he was sent by his father to the Jesuit College in Poznań. At the college, he gained distinction for his selfless love of his neighbors and his compassion for the sick and the poor.