Piemont Tour 2019 Grosser Sankt Bernhard

Statue of St. Bernard

Bernard of Menthon (also known as Bernard of Aosta), a saint of the Catholic Church, patron saint of the alpine people and mountaineers since 1923. He founded the hospice on the Great Saint Bernard, one of the first institutions for the purpose of rescue from mountain distress.
Bernhard also achieved fame through the rescue dogs named after him, the St. Bernards. Even then, the Augustinian canons of the Great Saint Bernard used trained dogs as helpers and, since the middle of the 17th century, have been breeding them into an independent breed of dogs.