Fr Ben Garren

Dear Siblings in Christ,

There is a risk when we seek to create family. William was a simple baker, a Scotsman, living in the town of Perth along the River Tay. Every day he would set aside the best portion of his loaves, a full tithe of them, to give to those who were hungry that he met on his way to attend daily mass at his parish church. He had no spouse, no children, no family… and one day he met an adolescent, just past boyhood, an orphan with no skill or trade. William offered to take him on as an apprentice, to raise him to take over the bakery and the feeding ministry.

Cockermay Doucri was the boys name, we might phrase that Duke the Foundling, and his skill at baking was sure but he seemed to chafe under the expectations of giving away the best of the bread and devoting so much time to scripture. William, wanting to provide a spiritual foundation for his foster son, decided they should go on pilgrimage from Perth to Canterbury and at first Duke seemed quite keen to travel. The rough way of the Pilgrim did not, however, ameliorate itself to Duke but the greater world and its luxuries held quite an allure. This Canterbury Tale turns sad when Duke proposes a shortcut, just south of Rochester, where he betrays his foster father to bandits, takes his life, and joins them to seek cash.

A woman, a hermit of that woods cast out from society for spells of madness, found William’s body and began to surround it with flowers and prayers… and while doing so her head cleared and she took William’s body to a local monastery where the Monks were amazed at her lucidity. This is the first miracle of William of Perth, who was thought to still be striving to aid the hungry and marginalized even in death, even after betrayal. There is a risk when we seek to create family… but on this feast of William of Perth, saint of orphans and outcastes, we remember that is a risk always worth taking.

Pax,

—Ben