Saint Who?

St. Norbert (center) is flanked by St. Wenceslas (left) and St. Sigismund on the Charles Bridge, Prague

After two tough games against Midwest Conference opponents Ripon College and Carroll University the Foresters have a couple days of practice ahead. We need to reset a little, remember how it is we want to play, and rest our weary legs a bit while tuning up our soccer minds.

Friday though will be another trip to Wisconsin and perhaps our toughest opponent in the conference this year: the Green Knights of St. Norbert College. We will once again travel to the Fox River Valley, home of the paper mill stench (see blogpost on Appleton) and the Keast family. One is clearly far more pleasant than the other.

St. Norbert is located in De Pere, WI, just south of Green Bay, and as such is home to a great number of Catholics and Packer fans. Conveniently, for fans of both the Packers and the Green Knights, their colors are the same--green and gold.

So while the Packer contingent may be responsible for the colors, it is the Catholics who are responsible for the school and its affiliation. Founded in October 1898 by Abbot Bernard Pennings, a Norbertine priest and educator, the school was named after Saint Norbert of Xanten. In 1962, the college became co-ed. 

Norbert of Xanten was born around 1080, near what is now Cologne Germany but was then a part of the Holy Roman Empire. (It has been said that the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire, but that's a topic for another time.) Norbert was relatively educated but not particularly religious until he was almost killed while riding a horse. (I think there is another discussion to be had here regarding the decision to make a mounted knight the mascot of a school whose namesake was almost killed being thrown from a horse, but again, I digress.)

After recovering from the horse riding accident, Norbert's faith deepened and he renounced his place at court to be ordained into the priesthood. Relatively quickly Norbert began preaching austerity and asceticism to his fellow priests, all of whom had also taken a vow of poverty, but his message wasn't always well received.  In frustration, he sold his few remaining belongings and spent some time as an itinerant preacher in what is now northern France. It was there that he was credited with performing the various miracles that are necessary to being granted sainthood.

Eventually the Pope asked Norbert to create his own religious order and he chose a site in the Premontre valley of France. Members of his order lived a life of preaching and living in austerity. They are known as the Premonstratensians, or Norbertines. 800 years after Norbert lived, one of his followers founded a college in northeastern Wisconsin that he would name after the founder of his order. St Norbert College is the first and only institute of higher learning sponsored by the Premonstratensian order. 

The Green Knights are also the only other undefeated team in our conference. Hopefully we can shock them the same way that horse shocked the pre-religious Norbert. I certainly think our bear (Boomer) could defeat that sickly looking horse.