Biography of saint gerard majella church philippines

St. Gerard Majella: The Humble and Faithful Brother

Posted on October 8, 2023 in Saints and Blessed by Davao Catholic Herald0 Comments

The Catholic Church honors individuals who lived remarkable lives of faith and virtues. Others have offered their lives even to death for the cause of our faith in Jesus Christ; we call them saints. We know a good number of them and consider them as patrons of our parishes, GKKs and even in our personal Christian lives. St. Gerard Majella is one of them – a humble Redemptorist brother who desired nothing else but to do the will of God.

Born and raised in a little town south of Italy, Gerard Majella grew in faith and piety. He lost his father at the young age of twelve and assumed the role of family breadwinner by working as a tailor. With all his earnings, the young Gerard helped his family and shared what he had to the poor and offered masses for the departed.

In his prime years, Gerard witnessed mission conducted by the Redemptorist missionaries. Seeing their life and work, Gerard decided to join them in their missions and be one of them. However, the superior of the mission deemed Gerard to be physically unfit. So, when the missionaries were about to leave, his family, as suggested by the superior of the mission, locked him up in his room. Despite all the odds, this did not stifle Gerard’s willingness to be a servant of God, preaching the good news to the poor and the most abandoned in his humble ways. Gerard tied his sheets, climbed out of the window and followed the missionaries. From then on, he persevered as a humble and faithful Redemptorist brother.

His was a life well lived in prayer and humble service. Unfortunately, Gerard’s life of faith and service did not last long. On the 16th of October 1755, Gerard breathed his last at the age of 29.

St. Gerard Majella is known around the world as a wonder worker. His intercession is often sought by people who ask God for a child. Testimonies abound on

October 16 is a special day for the shrine as it celebrates the feast of St. Gerard Majella. There is a concelebrated mass at 9:30 AM in honor of the saint. After the mass there is a distribution of free medals of St. Gerard as well as the blessing of children, mothers and expectant mothers.

St. Gerard was an Italian lay brother of the Redemptorists. He was born in Muro Lucano, Basilicata, Italy in April 6, 1726. Despite being always frail in health, Gerard was very passionate in giving all his time and talents to the poor and in prayer to God.

St. Gerard Majella is the patron saint of pregnant mothers and children. He is popularly known as “the saint of mothers.” Many devotee couples who have not conceived for many years have testified that after they asked the intercession of St. Gerard they were blessed with the gift of a child.

The life of St. Gerard is one of the inspirations for the shrine to establish the St. Gerard Family Life Ministry. Another inspiration is the needs and issues that the devotees bring to the shrine regarding their family life. As the shrine has daily confession, many devotees take the opportunity to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation. But there are also times that the devotees share inside the confessional issues and problems in their family like marital infidelity, couple differences, parent-children gap, birth control, abortion, drug addiction, homosexuality, and many others. Because these are serious cases needing more time and attention beyond the confessional, we usually suggest counseling. From this experience, came the need for establishing a counseling center at the shrine. Thus, St. Gerard Family Life Ministry became an extension of Sacrament of Reconciliation thru consultation and counselling.

The shrine formally established St. Gerard Family Life Ministry on Oct 16, 1995, feast of St. Gerard. Through consultation, advisory, and referral services, St. Gerard Family Life Ministry seeks to assist families and in

Italian Roman Catholic saint

"Saint Gerard Majella" redirects here. For other uses, see Saint Gerard Majella (disambiguation).

Gerard Majella (Italian: Gerardo Maiella; 6 April 1726 – 16 October 1755) was an Italian lay brother of the Congregation of the Redeemer, better known as the Redemptorists, who is honored as a saint by the Catholic Church.

His intercession is for children, unborn children, women in childbirth, mothers, expectant mothers, motherhood, the falsely accused, good confessions, lay brothers and Muro Lucano, Italy.

Life

Majella was born in Muro Lucano on 6 April 1726, the youngest of five children. He was frail, and his parents had him baptized the day he was born. He was the son of Domenico Maiella, a tailor who died when Gerard was twelve, leaving the family in poverty. His mother, Benedetta Galella, then sent him to her brother so that he could teach Gerard to sew and follow in his father's footsteps. However, the foreman was abusive. The boy kept silent, but his uncle soon found out and the man who taught him resigned from the job. After four years of apprenticeship, he took a job as a servant to work for the local Bishop of Lacedonia.^[2&

We celebrate the feastday of St Gerard Majella on the 16th October. Gerard Majella was born in 1726 in the southern Italian town of Muro near Naples. As he grew up, Gerard spent a lot of time in prayer and he developed a great love for God. He became known for his kindness to people and led a frugal life, so that he could share his tailor’s earnings with the poor. When he was 23 he left home to become a Redemptorist. He was particularly faithful to prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, meditation on the Passion of Jesus, and devotion to our Blessed Mother. His work, which varied from cleaning and cooking to giving spiritual advice was an inspiration to all. He was well known too for his care of the poor and distressed.

At the age of 29, he got tuberculosis and died on October 16th 1755. He was declared a saint by Pope Pius X in 1904.

Today. St. Gerard has won the love and devotion of many for the numerous miracles attributed to his intercession. He is well known for his protection of expectant mothers and is recognised as patron of mothers and babies. He is popularly known as “the mothers’ saint.”

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