Meinrad Eugster

Who they were

Josef Gebhard Eugster was born on 23 August 1848 at Gatziberg, near Altstatten in Switzerland, the youngest son of a teacher. Forced to work in a textile factory from his earliest school years, he later worked as an errand boy and warehouseman before training as a tailor at sixteen. In 1873 he was taken on as an assistant tailor by the abbey of Einsiedeln, and in 1874 entered the Benedictine monastery there as a lay brother, making simple profession in 1875 under the name Mainardo (Meinrad), after the saint who had lived as a hermit on the site of the first Swiss Benedictine monastery, and perpetual profession in 1878.

At the monastery, Brother Meinrad worked for decades in the tailor's shop, refectory, sacristy and wardrobe, and from 1880 to 1916 was in charge of the tailor's workshop, always with great conscientiousness despite poor health. He died in the odour of sanctity on 14 June 1925, aged 77, and his tomb became a place of pilgrimage; his cause opened in 1939, and Pope John XXIII approved the decree on his heroic virtues in 1960, proclaiming him venerable.

The miracles

The Church has not yet approved a miracle in this cause.

Why that counted as sanctity

Benedictine lay brother of Einsiedeln known for humility in a lifetime of simple monastic work; declared Venerable in 1960.