Saint Hermann Contractus was born on 18 February 1013, at Altshausen (Swabia). Born as crippled and unable to move without assistance. He faced immense difficulty to learn to read and write, however, he persisted and his iron will and remarkable intelligence were soon manifested.
He was sent at the age of seven to live with the Benedictine monks on the island of Reichenau in Southern Germany by his father Count Wolverad II, after discovering his brilliance. He lived his entire life on the island, taking his monastic vows in 1043.
Students from all over Europe flocked to the monastery on the island to learn from him, yet he was equally as famous for his monastic virtues and sanctity.
Hermann chronicled the first thousand years of Christianity, was a mathematician, an astronomer, and a poet and was also the composer of the Salve Regina and Alma Redemptoris Mater – both hymns to the Virgin Mary. He died on the island on 21 September 1054.