Nicolas de Flue
1417-1487 15th century Feast day: March 21
A self-stripping that makes peace: a disarmed man becomes the place where others are reconciled.
Who was Nicolas de Flue?
A Swiss farmer, judge and councillor, father of ten, at fifty he left everything (with the consent of his wife Dorothea) to live as a hermit in the Ranft gorge, close to his family. For twenty years people came from all over Europe to seek his counsel, and his arbitration averted civil war between the cantons at the Diet of Stans. He could not write; his letters, dictated, have been preserved.
In their own words
My Lord and my God, take from me everything that keeps me far from you. My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you. My Lord and my God, take me from myself and give me wholly to you.
Peace is always in God, for God is peace.
Obedience is the greatest honor there is in heaven and on earth.