Saint Gerard Majella

He did not live long: twenty-nine short years on this earth. Yet this thin, frail man found his way so deep into the hearts of families that, generation after generation, expectant mothers still call on him like a brother of their own, asking him to keep their unborn child safe.

During his years as an apprentice, and then as a servant in the household of the bishop of Lacedonia, he had to endure harsh, unjust treatment and terrible abuse. Gerard bore it all in silence, seeing it as a chance to share in the sufferings of Jesus.

In 1745, Gerard went home and opened a small tailor’s shop. He divided the little he earned into three parts: one to support his elderly mother and his sisters, one for the poor, and the rest to have Masses offered for the souls of the dead.

The young tailor did not wait to enter a religious house before he became generous. His generosity grew day by day in the middle of a craftsman’s hard struggle to make a living. The hands that measured cloth and threaded needles were the same hands that opened to give.

Gerard loved Jesus in the Eucharist deeply, and often spent whole nights kneeling before the tabernacle. He wanted to give his whole life to God in a religious order. He applied to the Franciscans but was turned down because he was too thin and frail. The closed door did not put out the fire in his heart.

On July 16, 1752, Gerard made his profession in the Redemptorists as a lay brother. The young brother was given the hardest jobs: gardening, carrying water, cooking, sewing, keeping the door and looking after the chapel. The one they had thought too frail became the hardest-working, most cheerful and most useful member of the community.

He traveled through the poor villages of southern Italy, meeting peasants hit by crop failure and hunger, and families in rags. He encouraged the despairing, strengthened the faith of poor young women and brought God into every thatched hut.

Prayer before the Eucharist never drew him away from the pain of others. It helped him see the face of the crucified Jesus in the ragged brothers and sisters standing in front of him.

He was summoned before the Superior General. Faced with that monstrous, shameful charge, Gerard only bowed his head in silence and said not a word in his own defense. He followed the example of Jesus, silent before Pilate.

He was punished severely. He was forbidden all contact with outsiders and, most painful of all, forbidden to receive Holy Communion. At times his longing for the Eucharist burned so fiercely that he asked to be excused from serving Mass, for fear he could not hold himself back and would run up and seize the Host.

When Saint Alphonsus gently asked why he had not said a word to clear himself, Gerard humbly replied:

“Father, our Rule teaches us to bear correction patiently and not to defend ourselves. I trusted that God would arrange everything at His own right time.”

His good name was restored, and he calmly went back to sweeping and cooking as if nothing had happened. He bore no grudge against the woman who had harmed him.

Many years later, when the girl had married and was expecting her first child, she had a dangerous labor, and both mother and child were close to death. The doctor and the family could do nothing.

Ever since, the little handkerchief has been a beloved sign of a parent’s love. All over the world, millions of expectant mothers have turned to Saint Gerard for protection through pregnancy and childbirth.

Such prayer does not replace doctors, but it brings the mother deep peace and reminds the whole family to cherish the new life God has given.

Pope Leo XIII beatified him on January 29, 1893, and Pope Saint Pius X canonized him on December 11, 1904. The Church celebrates him on October 16 each year.

For Vietnamese believers, especially in parishes closely connected with the Redemptorists, Saint Gerard is a beloved friend of the poor, of manual workers and of mothers.