Links Between the Catholic Church and Beer ⛪🍻

The origin of beer dates back to the Middle Ages. At that time (and until today) the best beers are produced inside the monasteries of the Benedictine monks.

In the history of the Catholic Church there are many miracles related to beer on the part of many saints in Germany and Ireland, where we have Saint Bridget and Saint Patrick as the "greatest beer saints".

The tradition of the Irish Catholic Church tells that Saint Bridget in winter turned water into beer to give to the poor who were cold on the streets. As beer has thermogenic ingredients (which warm the body), the drink distributed by Saint Bridget was very welcome by everyone.

In addition to Saint Bridget, I now recall the story of the bishop of Metz - Germany, during the Middle Ages, called: Saint Arnulf of Metz, the "Patron Saint of Brewers".

The story tells that Metz at that time had its rivers and water contaminated by a bacterium. The people no longer had water to drink, many were dying from consuming this contaminated water.

Arnulf, as bishop of the city of Metz, was very sad about what was happening, prayed and asked God that all this would pass and encouraged the inhabitants of the city to drink beer instead of water.

There is also the so-called "Miracle of the multiplication of beer", which took place shortly after the death of Saint Arnulf. It is said that Arnulf died in France and the faithful of the city of Metz asked to take Arnulf's body to be buried in Metz.

On the way, people tired from the long journey, stopped at a bar and ordered beer to drink. It is said that the beer they put into their mugs never ran out as they drank it and attributed this miracle to Arnulf.

In addition to the stories of miracles attributed to saints and related to beer, there is in the Catholic Church a prayer called: "Blessing of Beer", which is a blessing given annually to brewers and brewery facilities.

This blessing unfortunately fell into disuse after institutional reforms in the Catholic Church following Vatican II in 1969.

With all this history, I end by saying that as a Catholic and beer lover, I am honored to know all this history.

As with everything in life, we must always have common sense, moderation and care. It's no different with beer.