St. Gerard was born in Staves. His father, Stance, belonged to the family of dukes of Lower Austrasia, while his mother, Plectrude, was the sister of Bishop Stephen of Liège. Around 917, while he was in Paris on business, he stayed at the Abbey of St-Denis and was impressed by the monks' lifestyle. This experience led him to become a monk, although he maintained an interest in the church at Brogne. The abbot of Saint-Denis gave him a relic of St. Eugenius Brogne for the Brogne community. Around 928, Gerard was ordained as a priest. He then returned to Brogne, where he replaced the lax clerics with monks. He later moved to a cell near the monastery for a stricter way of life. The Archbishop of Cambrai asked Gerard to reform the community of St-Ghislain in Hainault. He eventually became the head of eighteen other abbeys in the region of present-day Belgium, where he enforced strict monastic discipline. Towards the end of his life, he appointed abbots to oversee the various abbeys for which he was responsible. He undertook a journey to Rome to obtain a papal bull that would validate the privileges of Brogne Abbey. After returning, he made a final visit to all of the communities that he had reformed and then retired to Brogne, where he passed away in October 959.
St. Gerard of Brogne, pray for us to work with utmost zeal and dedication for the glory of God.
Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love
(Blessed and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)
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