| On March 28, 1977, in the early hours of the morning,
Brother Robert Sterner died in his sleep. He was
born near Winsted, Minnesota on September 28, 1905. He came from a large
farm family who gave three daughters to religious life and one son to the
priesthood. After farming successfully for many years and caring for his
parents until their deaths, his own religious vocation found fulfillment
when, approaching the age of fifty, he entered Blue Cloud Abbey. He
professed temporary vows on July 11, 1956 and made final profession on
August 15, 1959. He was a stonemason during the construction era at Blue Cloud Abbey and in later years he helped keep the building in repair. His tastes were simple and his pleasures were easily achieved. Visiting his family and attending a Minnesota Twins baseball game were the highlights of his annual vacation. The meager furnishings in his room indicated that Br Robert was one of those monks who thanked God for requiring less. He was an avid and comprehensive reader. One of his goals was to read all the Church Fathers, a project he began a few years before his death. He once commented to one of his confreres, "Some of those guys are kind of crazy!" At the time of his death, he was reading the Iberian Fathers. The marker was placed at "Driving Away Vanity: by Martin of Braga. This is a chapter Br Robert could have skipped. He was a good natured and calm person who lived at peace with the world and his community. In 1972 he suffered a severe heart attack from which he recovered with cheerful resignation. Faithful to the monastic schedule, it was his absence from morning prayer and not taking his turn at washing breakfast dishes that caused the infirmarian to see what was wrong. Br Robert had died as quietly as he had lived. |