Monday, August 14th is the day taken off from work for the Queen of Thailand’s birthday, and it happens to be the feast day for St. Arnold of Soissons, the patron saint of brewers! Although Thailand is not considered a Catholic country, it still provides an excellent reason/excuse to give praise for the brewers that have given beer as a gift of health to us all.
St. Arnold of Soissons, brewer
One of the most widely recognized patron saints of brewers and beer is St. Arnold of Soissons (c. 1040–1087).
He was a soldier, then a hermit, and then the abbot of a monastery where he encouraged the locals to drink beer as it was safer than the water.
“One miracle tale says, at the time of an epidemic, rather than stand by while the local people fell ill from drinking water, Arnold had them consume his monastery brews. Because of this, many people in his church survived the plague. This same story is also told of Arnulf or Arnold of Metz,* another patron of brewers.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_of_Soissons
*And in case any was about ask, yes, there are several famous St. Arnolds (with different spellings), and other patron saints of beer/brewing. However this is one of the most widely known and recognized, so we’re going to keep it simple. Other patron saints include:
(Beer Tourism – patron saints of beer)
- St. Arnold of Metz
- St. Brigid
- Saint Barbara
- Saint Medard of Noyon
- Saint Adrian
