Innovative Production

Published by Saint Vincent Archabbey Public Relations on

Wimmer Wednesday. God has never punished me with an abundance of riches, and I will not complain about poverty since I have already praised it. Nevertheless, I always receive credit as I need it, since I am an honorable soul who always pays his debts eventually. I am always building and farming, taking in more poor students (and unlucky priests), always giving lodging to strangers, etc. The brewery is paid off, but I must get more barrels. Recently I commissioned Brother Conan, a very capable mechanic, to build a machine that would make trimmed noodles, macaroni, Fadennudeln, etc. Since we have no fish, the fast days (especially the 40 days when we can eat no meat at all) are quite difficult to bear. We have connected this machine to a steam engine that needs only one brother to run it. It easily processes three to four hundred pounds of flour a day. Some of what it produces we will eventually be able to sell. Excluding labor, the machine cost about $100, so there are things we still need money for.
—Boniface Wimmer, Letters of An American Abbot, February 26, 1863.