PODCAST · arts

Life of Saint Gerard Majella

by Rev. O. R. Vassall-Phillips

Saint Gerard Majella was an Italian lay brother of the Redemptorists. His only ambition was to be like Jesus Christ in his sufferings and humiliations. St. Alphonsus considered him a miracle of obedience. Although weak in body, he did the work of three, and his great charity earned for him the title of Father of the Poor. He was a model of every virtue, and so drawn to Our Lord in the tabernacle that he had to do violence to himself to keep away. An angel in purity, he was accused of a shameful crime; but he bore the calumny with such patience that St. Alphonsus said: "Brother Gerard is a saint". He was favoured with infused knowledge of the highest order, ecstasies, prophecy, discernment of spirits, and penetration of hearts, bilocation, and with what seemed an unlimited power over nature, sickness, and the devils. His intercession is sought for children, unborn children, women in childbirth, mothers, expectant mothers, motherhood, the falsely-accused, good confessions, lay brothers a