5,079
edits
Changes
}}</ref> and the long list of miracles ascribed to him "with which he conquered even the eyes and minds of the enemies of monastic life",<ref>''Ibid.'', s. 40</ref> we'll be left with a biography no longer than a few sentences.
Błażej Pęcherek was born in 1575 as one of eight children of Paweł Pęcherek, a mayor of Wąbrzeźno (a town also known by the German name, Frideck), and his wife, Dorota.<ref>''Ibid.'', s. 3–4</ref> When Błażej was 11, his parents sent him to a Jesuit school in Poznań, the major city of Greater Poland.<ref>''Ibid.'', s. 6</ref> There he became acquainted with some Benedictine monks and he liked their way of life so much that he joined their monastic community just after graduating at the age of 24.<ref>''Ibid.'', s. 15</ref> A year later, in 1600, he concluded his novitiate and took his vows as Brother Bernard.<ref>''Ibid.'', s. 20</ref> He was ordained priest soon afterwards, thus changing from a "Brother" into a "Father".<ref>''Ibid.'', s. 22–23</ref> Only two years after joining the monastery, Father Bernard became a master of novices, responsible for training new monks.<ref>''Ibid.'', s. 25–26</ref> This promising monastic career was cut short not long after that, on 2 June 1603, when, after a brief illness, Father Bernard died at the age of 28 in the odour of holiness.<ref>''Ibid.'', s. 33</ref>
It turns out, then, that even if the Grodzisk beer had the miraculous healing properties it's been claimed to have, then our Bernard must have never drunk it – otherwise, he would have lived a little longer. So what, if anything, did the Benedictine monk have to do with the beer? And what's so special about the beer brewed in Grodzisk anyway?