Born around the year 895 to a Belgian family of nobility, St. Gerard of Brogne grew up with privileges of which he later became ashamed.
Having had enough of court life, he sensed a call to the monastic life. His pursuit of the life of a monk took him outside of Belgium where he considered the monks to be too worldly.
When he visited France in the year 917, he became enamored with the monks of St. Denis. After joining, he threw himself wholeheartedly into the monastic life and became a model monk in his piety, prayer, and support of his brother monks.
He was ordained a priest. Eventually, the abbot ordered Gerard to return to his home country in order to start a monastery. This he did, and his life of holiness and adherence to the Rule of St. Benedict which guided the order drew attention to his way of life. At the request of other abbots and political leaders, he helped reform a number of monasteries in and around his home country.
Eventually, he was able to retire to the monastery he founded to live a life of prayer and solitude until his death on 3 October 959.
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