Saint of the Day – 5 September – Blessed Gerbrand of Dokkum OPraem (Died 1267) Abbot

Saint of the Day – 5 September – Blessed Gerbrand of Dokkum OPraem (Died 1267) Priest/Canon Regular, the 4th Abbot of the Premonstratensian (Norbertine) Monastery at Dokkum, and a supporter of the Crusades. He encouraged the Frisians to join the Crusade and, in 1268, as a result of his zeal, was awarded, by Pope Clement IV, the Title of ‘Sacrae Militiae Dux‘ (Leader of the Crusade). Gerbrand was a close friend of Saint Louis IX of France (1226-1270). Born in the early 13th Century in a region of modern Netherlands and died on 11 October 1267 at the Premontres Motherhouse in Laon, France of natural cause.

The blessed Gerbrand joined the Premonstratensians, who are also called the Norbertines after their Founder, Saint Norbert of Xanten (c1080-1134) and also the White Canons after the colour of the Order’s Habit. Gerbrand became a Canon in their Monastery in Dokkum in Friesland in today’s Netherlands.

He was elected the 4th Abbot of the Dokkum Monastery. He was a champion of the Crusades and was a friend of Saint Louis IX of France (1226-1270), from whom he received several letters, which remain extant.

In his sermons, he invited the Frisians to participate in the expeditions to assist the Church iu Jerusalem. In 1268, Pope Clement IV, therefore, gave him the title Leader of the Crusade. He made his believers take up the cross and support the Crusade with their alms.

Gerbrand died during his Order’s General Chapter on 11 October 1267 in the Order’s Mother Monastery at Prémontré near Laon in France. A sisterof the Order from Mount Sion had a vision where she saw Gerbrand die and be taken up into Heaven. He is honoured as blessed by the Premonstratensians with a memorial day on 5 September.