FOREVER YOUNG

SAINTS WHO DIED YOUNG

ST GERARD MAJELLA 1726-1755

Gerard Majella was born in a small village called Muro in the south of Italy in 1726. He was the only boy in a family of three girls. His father Dominic, a tailor, died when Gerard was about 12. His mother, Benedetta, had little alternative but to take him out of school and send him to work when his father died.

Gerard was a sensitive lad. Some of the other apprentices bullied him in the workshop, and the master tailor was a short-tempered man. When he was about 15, Gerard took a job as a servant boy to a bishop who lived some distance from Muro. The bishop, too, was a short-tempered man. It was a lonely time for Gerard, far from his mother and sisters, yet he never complained.

On the bishop's death, he returned to Muro and set up his own tailor's shop. He was kindly, and when a poor customer couldn't pay, he often did not look for payment or took much less than was due. Mamma Benedetta wasn't happy with this way of running a business. "Charity is all very well," she would say, "but you have to realise that we are just as poor as they are!"

Gerard combined an intense life of prayer with his work. He felt called to the religious life, but the Capuchins refused him on the grounds of poor health.

A few years later, a new religious order came to preach a mission in town. Gerard was captivated by the preaching of the Redemptorists and spent a lot of time talking to the brother who kept house during the mission. Benedetta was beginning to get worried that he might try to join them. The mission leader assured her that Gerard was too sickly but recommended nonetheless that she lock Gerard in the house the day the missioners were leaving.

When she returned to the house, to her horror, she found that Gerard had let himself down through the window using his bedsheet as a rope and leaving her a note telling her he had gone off to become a saint.

The leader of the mission band had no alternative but to give Gerard a letter to give to the superior of the Redemptorist monastery. It could scarcely be called a warm recommendation. It said simply, "I am sending you a useless brother!"

Gerard proved to be one of the most useful members of his new community. He worked as a tailor, a gardener, and a fund-raiser.

One of the girls he had helped enter a convent left after a few weeks. She needed to explain her failure and so concocted a story: Gerard, the holy brother, had sexually abused her. When Gerard's superior, St Alphonsus, heard this, he decided he had to act. Gerard was forbidden to receive holy communion.

When the girl eventually told the truth, Alphonsus asked Gerard why he had remained silent. Gerard reminded him that he had written in his Rule for Redemptorists that they should imitate Jesus, who was silent, even when accused in the wrong.

Gerard was now beginning to show signs of tuberculosis, but he continued his intense life of prayer and work. One of his last works was a fund-raising tour for the monastery. During it, he left his handkerchief behind. One of the daughters of the family brought it to him. "Keep it," Gerard said, "it might be useful someday." Some years later, she had a hard labour with her first child. She asked for Gerard's handkerchief, and the baby arrived safely and with little pain.

Gerard died at the age of 29 on October 16, 1755. His feast day is October 16.

Brendan McConvery CSsR

Reality

Volume 86. No. 8 October 2021 A Redemptorist Publication ISSN 0034-0960

Published by The Irish Redemptorists, St Joseph's Monastery, St Alphonsus Road, Dundalk County Louth A91 F3FC Tel: 00353 (0)1 4922488 Web: www.redcoms.org Email: sales@redcoms.org

(With permission of C.Ss.R.)

Acting-Editor Gerard Moloney CSsR editor@redcoms.org Design & Layout

David Mc Namara CSsR

Sales & Marketing Claire Carmichael ccarmichael@redcoms.org Accounts Dearbhla Cooney accounts@redcoms.org Printed by

W&G Baird Printers, Belfast

Photo Credits

Shutterstock, Catholic News Agency, Catholic News Service, Trócaire

REALITY SUBSCRIPTIONS

Through a promoter (Ireland only) €20 or £18 Annual Subscription by post: Ireland €25 or £20 UK £30 Europe €40 Rest of the world €50 Please send all payments to:

Redemptorist Communications, St Joseph's Monastery, St Alphonsus Road, Dundalk County Louth A91 F3FC

ADVERTISING

Whilst we take every care to ensure the accuracy and validity of adverts placed in Reality, the information contained in adverts does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Redemptorist Communications. You are therefore advised to verify the accuracy and validity of any information contained in adverts before entering into any commitment based upon them. When you have finished with this magazine, please pass it on or recycle it. Thank you.

REDEMPTORIST COMMUNICATIONS

St Joseph's Monastery, Dundalk, County Louth A91 F3FC

Tel: 00353 (0)1 4922488 Email: sales@redcoms.org Web: www.redcoms.org

Promoters: We keep all of our promoters in our prayers and thank them for their loyal service in selling Reality. We remember in our prayers sick and deceased promoters and their families.