Feast day: April 17
Saint Stephen Harding was placed in an abbey when he was a young boy but left it to pursue the life of a traveling scholar. He believed that God wanted him to establish a monastery, and he eventually founded one with his two friends, Saints Robert and Alberic.
Stephen was the last of his founding companions to become abbot, and he was appointed during a time of great growth in the monastery. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux arrived at the monastery, along with his 30 companions, who all asked to be admitted into the order. Stephen’s monastery developed into a well-known religious order, the Trappists.
(Image by Doncsecz, Wikimedia Commons)