View attachment 1067788
>St. Drogo the unattractive
Saint Drogo was born of a noble family in Epinoy - Sebeurg France. He was a posthumous child, his father having died before he was born. His mother died in childbirth, leaving the newborn an orphan. He was raised by his relatives. At the age of ten, he learned the circumstances of his birth, and it grieved him deeply. At twenty years of age, he distributed his money and goods among the poor, and renounced his estates in favour of the next heirs, to live a life of poverty and penance.[5]
He then set out, and after having visited several holy places, hired himself shepherd to a wealthy woman named Elizabeth de la Haire, at Sebourg, two leagues from Valenciennes. The retirement and solitude were most agreeable to him, on account of the opportunities they made for prayer. Six years Drogo kept sheep, busying himself with practices of prayer and penance. He was a skilled shepherd who could read the weather and knew how to cure animals of their ills. He shared these skills with others. Despite his relative obscurity, his charity, and spirit of devotion and prayer, gained him the esteem and affection of everybody, particularly Elizabeth de la Haire. Many made him presents: but these he bestowed on the poor.[5] It was rumored that he had the gift of bilocation and would be seen in the fields and in the church simultaneously.[6] This gave rise to a common adage among the rural folk of that region, “I’m not Saint Drogo; I can’t ring the church bell for Mass and be in the procession!”[7]
To avoid the danger of praise and admiration, at length he left his place, and went on pilgrimages. He is said to have journeyed to Rome nine times,[8] as well as visiting the main shrines of France and Italy en route.[9] From time to time he returned to Sebourg.[5]
At length a hernia put an end to his pilgrimages, and he built himself a small cell against the wall of the church. The cell had a window for limited contact to receive food and water passed through by those seeking prayers and counsel. A second window opened into the church so he could follow the services. Here he lived as an anchorite for the space of forty-five years. He died A.D. 1186, at the age of eighty-one.[8]
