ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH
Saints celebrated on the 5th of March
BLESSED CONRAD SCHÄUBER, HERMIT
Blessed Conrad Schäuber (Konrad Scheuber), a hermit, was born in Altsellen, a mountain town in the parish of Wolfenschiessen in the Swiss canton of Unterwalden in the Kernwald, of pious and upright peasants. The year of his birth was 1481. His mother Dorothea was the eldest daughter of the godly Brother Nikolaus von Flüe.
HE JOINED THE ARMY
Brought up in true piety and godliness, he dedicated himself to the life of a soldier at an early age, because he was handsome and strong. The authorities ordered him to participate in the religious wars of the time. He was therefore in the battle of Kappel, where Zwingli perished, and in various others.
HE WAS ELECTED GOVERNOR
Distinguished by courage, insight and bravery, he was then elected a member of the council by his fellow parishioners and in 1543 was even elected governor of the canton. At that point he had been thinking already for a while about retiring to solitude like his grandfather.
HE YEARNED FOR SOLITUDE
The more he had to deal with the world in this position, the more he yearned for solitude, and that is why, with the consent of his wife, he took leave of her and his two daughters, renounced all offices and went to his grandfather's hut, where he spent three years in prayer, coupled with the strictest fasting, eating neither meat nor beer nor fish, in prayer. Especially the suffering of Christ was his daily contemplation, whence arose his ardent desire to suffer something for him.
THE ATTACK BY THE INFERNAL ENEMY
So it happened one day that he was beaten so violently by the infernal enemy that he never completely recovered, but was left with a permanent limp which necessitated the use of a walking stick.
HE CHANGED HIS ABODE
Because people started to flock to his hideout and did not leave him alone which, in turn, started to affect his spiritual life, he left Ranft and had a small hut built on his own property in the so-called Bettelruti above Wolfenschiessen, to which a chapel was later added, which can still be seen and visited today.
EVEN AT NIGHT HE HAD VISITORS: THE HOLY SOULS
But even there he was soon visited by people from near and far who came to see him to receive advice, consolation and his pious prayer. Even at night he often had visitors: the souls of the deceased - as all authors who write about him report - knocked on his cell and called out to him: »Brother Conrad, help us! we are being severely tormented.” That is why he often prayed whole nights for the poor souls. On Sundays and high feast days he went to receive the holy sacraments athis parish church at Wolfenschiessen, and there, too, he prayed for the souls in Purgatory.
HIS HOLY DEATH
He was also endowed by God with the gift of prophecy. So he lived an example of piety to all, a refuge for the afflicted and a true imitator of his godly grandfather Nikolaus von Flüe. When he was 80 years old he fell ill. He died on March 5, 1559 (according to Murer on March 6, 1557) after receiving the last sacraments.
HIS INTERCESSION
As early as July 12, 1602, his body was raised from the common burial place and transferred to the church because of the many answers to prayer. Many oppressed and needy have their prayers to God answered at his grave, which is why it often happens that in times of general need the whole country turns from Unterwalden and the Kernwald there. In this manner, on May 24, 1837, in a great emergency due to heavy snow and water, the population went in procession to his grave to ask his intercession, and such a striking, indeed wonderful answer to prayer took place that the high state government itself had a memorial erected in the parish church in Wolfenschiessen with the words: "Memorial of thanks for the hearing of pious vows at the grave of our venerable, godly father of the country Brother Conrad Schäuber, former Landammann of Unterwalden in the Kernwald."
Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858
PRAYER:
Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Blessed Conrad may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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