So Many To Feed

Wimmer Wednesday. I cannot expect that they will all become priests. Some of them I have to take on from time to time to prepare them for holy confession and communion; but at least many will become priests, and, since they are learning both English and German, they will be equally useful to the English[-speaking] and the Germans…

But so many people to feed, clothe, supply with books, etc.! The gifts from Germany I always use for acquiring new real estate, and the yield from this real estate is to provide for our support, but it is desperately difficult. If we eat a little meat, the flour gives out; if I serve meat more often, the livestock gives out. But, no, it must be sufficient, and really always has been. God’s blessing is visibly present; although we have increased by 20 men each year, the cattle and sheep and pigs have also increased, and every year we grow more grain, and the fruit trees we planted are beginning to bear fruit, and the house gets ever larger! Thanks be to God!

—From Boniface Wimmer: Abbot of Saint Vincent in Pennsylvania