Hello, and welcome to St. Stories for Kids! A weekly podcast full of fun stories and facts

about the holy men and women that have come before us. I'm your host, Shantal Bios.

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Today we'll be telling the story of St. Odillo of Clooney, whose feast is celebrated on May 11th.

Odillo was born around the year 962 in central France. His family was of noble descent and very

religious. He had eight brothers and two sisters. After the children were grown and Odillo's father

passed away, his mother actually became a nun. When Odillo was a child, he was partially paralyzed.

But one day while at church, he received a miracle and was cured of this paralysis.

As a result, he developed a great devotion to the blessed mother, which lasted his entire life.

As a young man, he decided to enter the seminary, and by age 29 entered the monastery of Clooney.

Within the year, he was made assistant to the abbot, and a few years later was made

abbot himself. He spent the next 50 years of his life as the abbot of Clooney. He was known

for his great mercy and the gentleness with which he ruled the monastery. He enjoyed learning,

devotion to Mary, and ceaseless generosity to the poor. In fact, during the great famine in 1006,

St. Odillo went so far as to melt down the sacred vessels in order to raise money to give to feed

the poor. St. Odillo is the patron saint of the souls in purgatory. Now it's time for our story.

He was a lovely summer day in the heart of France, and the brothers at St. Louis's monastery

were busy with all of their daily duties. Some tended to the garden, some were taking care of the

animals, and some were busy with their studies. St. Odillo walked through the monastery garden on

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