St. Gerard Majella, Companion of St. Alphonsus

St. Gerard was a lay-brother in the Redemptorist Order recently founded by St. Alphonsus. He is the patron saint of mothers, motherhood, expectant mothers, childbirth, children, pregnant women, unborn children, the pro-life movement, the falsely accused, good confessions, and lay brothers.

The following story of Gerard's exemplary life in the Order is from the classic 1700-page biography of St. Alphonsus by Austin Berthe. He died from tuberculosis on October 16, 1755 at 29 years of age.

On October 15, 1755, St. Alphonsus closed the second general chapter of the Redemptorist Order, which he had established in the Kingdom of Naples. On the day following, there died at Caposole the second canonized saint of the Order, the lay-brother Gerard Majella, as if to allow Alphonsus to offer up to God one of the fairest flowers of Paradise which the Rule of the Most Holy Redeemer had brought to perfection in the course of six years.

Gerard had entered the Congregation after the chapter of 1749. This short period had been enough to make of him a great saint. In becoming so he did but order his life at every moment as the constitutions prescribed. In the novitiate at Iliceto he lived as Jesus lived at Nazareth – only for obedience, work, and prayer. “I will have ever before my eyes,” he wrote, “my resolution to observe the Rule minutely and to grow in perfection.” And indeed he did grow in wisdom and grace before God and man. “O will of God,” he would say, “happy is he who knows and loves only Thee!” He used to be called the saint of obedience. In his longing to become a true imitator of his Master, according to the spirit of the Rule, he grew so enamored of Him who was the life of his soul that he could hardly depart from before the altar, and would sometimes go into ecstasy at the bare mention of the name of Jesus.

Saint Gerard Majella Catholic Church (Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia), interior, mosaic depiction.

That he might the better resemble his Crucified Lord, he lived like the poorest of the poor, strove to eat only what others left, slept on the bare floor, and disciplined himself severely. After two years of trial, he was admitted to profession. “Now,” he said, “I am going to live on earth as though I were alone with God.” Like St. Teresa he made the heroic vow of doing always what seemed to him to be most perfect, so that he might say with Jesus at every moment, “I do always the things that please Him.” [John 8:29.]

During the last years of his life God drew Gerard out of his solitude, humble lay-brother though he was. He had his Master's thirst for souls. “Why cannot I convert as many souls as there are stars in the heavens!” he would exclaim. With the gift of zeal he received all other gifts from God – knowledge of the mysteries of faith to such a degree that great theologians were astonished at it, the power of reading the human heart and conscience, and wonder-working powers to such an extent that his life seems a perpetual miracle.

After thus preparing the humble brother for the glorious work of an apostle, God inspired his superiors to send him for three years into the world. Wherever he passed, bishops, parish priests, and confessors, witnessing his virtue and power, employed him in the conversion of the most obstinate sinners. Gerard had but to appear, and hearts melted before him like wax in the sun. Sometimes a sinner would try to conceal his misdeeds, and Gerard, reading his conscience, would enumerate them one after another until the unhappy man would hasten to confession. To one man who had relapsed into a life of wickedness, though he pretended to be reformed, Gerard enumerated his most secret sins, and then pointing to an image of Jesus on the Cross, exclaimed, in burning accents: “Who but you has caused the blood to flow from those wounds?” The same instant blood did flow from the crucifix, and the unhappy sinner burst into tears.

Gerard went about through town and country, healing the sick, helping the poor, driving out devils, and converting sinners. Everywhere the people thronged round the footsteps of the humble brother. His superiors were once obliged to recall him from Naples after a stay there of three months, in order to remove him from the crowds that continually beset him. “A hundred evangelical workers,” said Fathers Cajone and Margotta, who had seen him at work, “would not have been able to win the sinners that Brother Gerard has brought to God.”

Like Jesus, too, Gerard, after working for three years to save poor sinners, had to pass through the Garden of Gethsemane. His ecstasies were followed by an agony of desolation. “God has fled from my soul,” he exclaimed, “I am crucified as far as a man can be, have pity on me!" Then after having plunged him in an abyss of suffering, God sent him the most terrible affliction a saint can endure. A wicked woman accused him of a horrible crime, and so far imposed upon a good priest as to lead him to write a letter to the holy founder representing Gerard as a hypocrite and seducer. Alphonsus in great perturbation sent for the accused, and told him of the charge.

Gerard stood like a statue, without uttering a word. Alphonsus, thinking him guilty, forbade him to receive holy communion, or to have any kind of communication with the outside world. The brother never made the slightest murmur. The fathers, convinced of his innocence, urged him to justify himself. “God will see to that,” he replied. When advised to ask at least for permission to communicate, and so alleviate his sufferings at being deprived of his Lord, he answered: “No; let us die in the wine-press of the will of God.”

Fifty days later God revealed his innocence. The wretched woman who had accused him retracted the calumny, avowing that she had acted under the inspiration of the devil. On being asked by Alphonsus why he had not asserted his innocence, Gerard made the heroic answer: “Father, does not the Rule ordain that we must not excuse ourselves?”

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Gerard lived another year in the practice of the highest virtue. At last, seeing that his end was approaching, he begged as a favor from Our Lord that he might be allowed to share in the sorrows of His Passion. Whereupon he was seized with such agonizing pains that he was forced to cry out: “O Lord, assist me in this Purgatory, I am enduring a true martyrdom.” He said to a father who asked him if he were suffering much: “I am in the wounds of Jesus and His wounds are in me.” On October 15, 1755, he said to the doctor, “I shall die tonight.” Then he recited the Miserere with such love and contrition that all present were moved to tears.

At eight o'clock he repeated: “My God, where art Thou? Show me Thy face.” Two hours later he exclaimed: “Behold the Madonna!” Then he repeated over and over with his eyes fixed on the crucifix and the image of Our Lady; “My God, I wish to die in order to do Thy most holy will.” So, like Jesus, he gave up his soul to his Father in heaven. Thus died at the age of twenty-nine this humble lay-brother, whom the Church has raised to her altars, and through whose resplendent sanctity innumerable miracles for centuries have been revealed.

Gerard was beatified on January 29, 1893 by Pope Leo XIII, and canonized on December 11, 1904 by Pope Saint Pius X. His feast day is October 16th. Prayers and novenas to him for motherhood, expectant mothers, and for many other needs and intercessions are available Here.

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