Saint Who?
Saints Who Performed Great Miracles
Saint Gerard Majella
Religious († 1755)Feast: October 16
“Who except God can give you peace? Has the world ever been able to satisfy the heart?” When Gerard Majella was five, he would often return home from church with a little white bun. His mother asked where it came from, and he told her that the statue of the Infant Jesus came down from the arms of the Virgin to give it to him.
Gerard grew up to be a thaumaturge, one who repeatedly works miracles. But his life was full of suffering, too. His father died and he had to go to work quite young. His employers were hard to please. And he was repeatedly rejected by religious communities on account of his poor health.
In 1749, he joined the Redemptorists, founded by Saint Alphonsus Liguori. Alphonsus, it is said, considered him a miracle of obedience. Gerard remained silent when accused of a crime, and accepted severe penance, because his order’s rule, as he understood it, forbad religious to defend themselves. On his deathbed, he was ordered not to die, and recovered his health for a month. Written on the door of his cell during his final days were the words: “The will of God is done here, as God wills it and as long as he wills it.” He died at age twenty-nine and was canonized in 1904.
Beloved Father, through the prayers of Saint Gerard, make us miracles of obedience.
