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ST
GALLUS AND HIS BEAR
St
Gallus was an Irish Monk who traversed the European conitinent as one of
the twelve bother companions of St Columbanus who voyaged up the Rhine
River. The other monks who continued on toward Rome, left Gallus ill on
the shores of Lake Constance at the village of Arbon, now in Switzerland.
After healing, Gallus wandered the wooded hills of Swabia and into what
is now the corner of Austria and Switzerlanda as a hermit. He eventully
came on a clearing near the Steinach River where he encountered a hungry
bear.
Gallus
had only a small portion of bread with him, but in charity offered
some of the
bread to the bear. In gratitude, the bear brought wood to feed
the fire where the monk had built a shelter. Gallus took it as a sign
that where he encountered the bear he should build a church. From the
church
grew the Monastery of St. Gall, one of the great learning centers of
the middle ages. The Monastery was disbanded in the Reformation, but
today
the fabulous Abbey
of St Gallen and its Baroque Library are in the heart
of St Gallen, Switzerland. The icons of Saint Gallus are always presented
with the monk accompanied by his bear and bear symbols are very prominent
around the old town of St Gallen. If you want to visit St Gallen you can get around Switzerland by train, very easily
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