Im stillen Inselkloster der Reichenau lebt ein ganz besonderer Mönch: es ist "Hermann der Lahme". Beeinträchtigt durch eine schwere Lähmung erfährt er anfangs Zurücksetzung, später auch Missgunst und Neid. Doch er nimmt sein Schicksal an. Getragen durch die Kraft seines Glaubens und die Bejahung seiner persönlichen Situation, entwickelt er sich zu einem der bemerkenswertesten Menschen des Mittelalters. Er wirkt als Wissenschaftler, Schriftsteller, Mathematiker, Musiker und Historiker und lebte von 1020 - 1054 auf der Insel.
Hermann was a son of the Count of Altshausen. He was disabled due to a paralytic disease from early childhood. He was born July 18, 1013, with a cleft palate and cerebral palsy and is said to have had spina bifida.[4] Based on the evidence, however, more recent scholarship indicates Hermann possibly had either amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or spinal muscular atrophy.[5][6] As a result, he had great difficulty moving and could hardly speak. At seven, he was placed in a Benedictine monastery by his parents who could no longer look after him.
He grew up in the Abbey of Reichenau, an island on Lake Constance in Germany. He learned from the monks and developing a keen interest in both theology and the world around him. At twenty, Hermann entered their order as a Benedictine monk,[7] becoming literate in several languages (including Arabic, Greek and Latin) and contributing to all four arts of the quadrivium.
He wrote about history, mathematics, astronomy, and Christianity.[8] He wrote a treatise on the science of music, several works on geometry and arithmetics, and astronomical treatises including instructions for the construction of an astrolabe which caused him to sometimes be credited as its inventor. As a historian, he wrote a detailed chronicle from the birth of Christ to his own present day, ordering them after the reckoning of the Christian era. It was later extended by his pupil Berthold of Reichenau.
He was renowned as a religious poet and musical composer. Among his surviving works are officia for St. Afra and St. Wolfgang. When he went blind in later life, he began writing hymns. He was famous enough that he appears to have been credited with compositions by later writers; among the works traditionally attributed to him are the Salve Regina ("Hail Queen"), Veni Sancte Spiritus ("Come Holy Spirit"), and Alma Redemptoris Mater ("Nourishing Mother of the Redeemer").
Herman died on Reichenau on September 24, 1054, aged 41. The Roman Catholic Church beatified him in 1863.
