MARCH 29
On this day, 1972, Br. Vital Hammerer died. He was born in Salzburg, Austria on August 21, 1886. He professed vows as a Benedictine at St. Meinrad Archabbey on December 3, 1924. As a young man he learned cabinetmaking, a trade in which he excelled for more than thirty years at St. Michael’s Indian Mission in North Dakota.
      In 1964 he retired to Blue Cloud Abbey where he worked faithfully in the library until he became bedridden. Although crippled by arthritis and suffering from diabetes and a heart condition, he had great stamina. In the summer he could walk a mile supported by two canes.
      As the eldest member of the community, he liked to pretend regret at every birthday beyond the age of eighty. When Br. Alexius, his younger confrere by five years, died, Br. Vital observed, “The trouble with this place is that nobody dies in seniority.”
       Br. Vital experienced much physical suffering in his last years, but he bore pain with patience and always expressed profound gratitude for the kindness shown to him.