Music For Saint Arnold,
Patron Saint of Brewers

Saint Arnold was born to a prominent Austrian family in the year 580. Even back in those days the Austrians were famous for their love of beer, and admired for their brewing prowess. Beer was a proud Austrian tradition that was not wasted on young Arnold.

As a young man, Arnold entered the priesthood and began moving his way up that earliest of all career ladders. At the age of 32, he was given the title Bishop, and in 612 was named "Arnold, Bishop of Metz." (Metz is in France.)

He is said to have spent his life warning peasants about the health hazards of drinking water. Water was not necessarily safe to drink during the dark ages, especially around towns and villages. Nasty stuff. Arnold always had the well-being of his followers close at heart.

Beer, on the other hand, was quite safe. Arnold frequently pointed this out to his congregation. He is credited with having once said, "From man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world." It goes without saying that the people loved and revered Arnold.

In 627, Saint Arnold retired to a monastery near Remiremont, France, where he died and was buried in 640.

In 641, the citizens of Metz requested that Saint Arnold's body be exhumed and carried from the monastery to the town of Metz for reburial in their local church - The church where Arnold had so frequently preached the virtues of beer. Their request was granted.

It was a long and thirsty journey, especially since they were carrying a dead bishop. As the ceremonial procession passed through the town of Champignuelles, the tired processionals stopped for a rest and went into a tavern for a drink of their favorite beverage - Beer. Much to their dismay, they were informed that there was only one mug of beer left, and that they would have to share it. That mug never ran dry and the thirsty crowd was satisfied.

Every Saint needs a miracle. That's how the Church decides you are a Saint. The story of the miracle mug of beer spread and eventually Arnold was canonized by the Catholic Church for it.

Saint Arnold is recognized by the Catholic Church as the Patron Saint of Brewers.

From man's sweat and God's love,beer came into the world
--Saint Arnoldus

Mother's in the kitchen washing out the jugs,
Sister's in the pantry bottling the suds,
Father's in the cellar mixing up the hops'
Johnny's on the front porch watching for the cops.
--Prohibition song



You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.
--Frank Zappa

Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.
--Ernest Hemmingway

Always remember that I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.
--Winston Churchill

He was a wise man who invented beer.
--Plato

A woman drove me to drink and I didn't even have the decency to thank her.
--W.C. Fields

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
--Benjamin Franklin

If you ever reach total enlightenment while drinking beer, I bet it makes beer shoot out your nose.
--Deep Thought, Jack Handy

Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.
--Dave Barry

The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.
--Humphrey Bogart

Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world.
--Kaiser Welhelm


Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen,
for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer
--Dave Barry

They who drink beer will think beer.
--Washington Irving

An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.
--For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemmingway

Honorable Mention

Probably the best known Irish saint after Patrick is Saint Brigid (b. 457, d. 525). Known as "the Mary of the Gael," Brigid founded the monastery of Kildare and was known for spirituality, charity, and compassion. St. Brigid also was a generous, beer-loving woman. She worked in a leper colony which found itself without beer, "For when the lepers she nursed implored her for beer, and there was none to be had, she changed the water, which was used for the bath, into an excellent beer, by the sheer strength of her blessing and dealt it out to the thirsty in plenty." Brigid is said to have changed her dirty bathwater into beer so that visiting clerics would have something to drink. Obviously this trait would endear her to many a beer lover. She also is reputed to have supplied beer out of one barrel to eighteen churches, which sufficed from Maundy Thursday to the end of paschal time. A poem attributed to Brigid in the Brussel's library begins with the lines "I should like a great lake of ale, for the King of the Kings. I should like the family of Heaven to be drinking it through time eternal."

The Beer & Ale Sheet Music Collection Cider Press has prepared a PDF file download of some classic pieces of sheet music related to beer & ale. Check out the beer & ale sheet music collection. Music For Saint Arnold - The Beer & Ale MP3 collection We have now recorded a collecton of 26 MP3 arrangements related to beer and ale. You can download the entire collection in the form of a "zip" (size - 20 mgs) file for $5.00. This collection includes insturmental ensemble arrangments of pieces dating from the medieval times to Renaissance pieces to traditional celtic, modern polkas, and even a few bagpipe tunes. MP3 samples from the collection Bring Us Here Good Ale! - Be Peace - You Make Me Spill The Ale! Black Beer Fly In The Pint An Old Man & Has Ale Purchase & download the beer & ale MP3 collection - $5.00 Contact us by e-mail if you have any questions..........

 

MIDI Music For
The Blessed Saint Arnold
The following pieces of music are Standard MIDI files, and MIDI files will sound different on each system depending upon what software and sound card you are using.

Bring Us Here Good Ale
Be Peace, Ye Make Me Spill My Ale!
The Sin Of Being Sober
Come Drink With Me
Watkin Ale
Malt Liquor
Black Beer
Come Let Us Drink
I Am Athirst
Of Ale
Small Beer
Banberry Ale
Ale & Tobacco
Black Beer

A small collection sequenced by "Tom Brusky"
Beer Barrel Polka
In Heaven There Is No Beer
(and that's why we drink it here)
Milwakee Beer

Summer Beer - (This is a unique jazz style  piano improvisation 
and I don't have the slightest idea who sequenced this one.)

All For Me Grog
An Old Man and His Ale
Beer Boogie
Beer March
Cakes & Ale
Draught Of Ale
Good Ale
Good Beer/
Have A Drink With Me
Let's Have A Beer
The Ale Wife & Her Barrel
Too Much Beer

And we end with a couple of classic old
Celtic bagpipe tunes.........
Two Pints O' Heavy
The Man Who Went Out For Beer

 

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Cider Press 19th Century American Music Collections

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(Note - We found the writing above about Saint Arnold posted in a Usenet newsgroup without attribution. If you happen to know who wrote it, please let us know.)