Arnold of Soissons or Arnold of Oudenaarde is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. He is often cited as the patron saint of hop-pickers and Belgian brewers. Arnold lived from 1040 to 1087. Born in Oudenaarde, Flanders, he was first a career soldier (Arnulph the Strong of Oudenaarde), before settling at the Benedictine monastery of Soissons, France. He spent his first three years as a hermit, but later rose to be abbot of the monastery. (The legend states that he tried to refuse this honor and flee, but was forced back into the house by a wolf.) He then became a priest and finally a bishop, another honor that he sought to avoid. When his see was occupied by another bishop, rather than fighting, he took the opportunity to retire from public life, founding the Abbey of St. Peter in Oudenburg.

At the abbey, he began to brew beer due to the impurity of the drinking water. He encouraged local peasants to drink beer, instead of water, due to its "gift of health." This was due to the unknown fact that during the process of brewing, the water used was boiled and thus sanitized. Regular drinking water, on the hand, was not boiled and contained pathogens. (However, this same story is sometimes told of the 7th-century Saint Arnulf of Metz.)

There are many depictions of St. Arnold with a mashing rake in his hand, reinforcing the record of him as a brewer. He is honored in July with a parade in Brussels on the "Day of Beer."

External links

• arnold and other patron saints of beer