St. Gerard Majella
Feast 10-16 · Canonized 1904
Patron of
About
Gerard Majella was born in 1726 in Muro Lucano, in southern Italy, the son of a tailor. After his father's death, he was apprenticed to a tailor, but he longed for religious life. After several attempts, he was received in 1749 as a lay brother of the Redemptorists, founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori.
Gerard served as tailor, sacristan, and porter, and became known for his holiness, ecstasies, and miracles. He was falsely accused of misconduct by a woman who later admitted the lie, and he bore the accusation in silence, a trial that deepened his reputation for patience. He is especially remembered for a handkerchief he gave to a young woman in labor, which became a source of protection for mothers and infants.
Gerard died of tuberculosis on October 16, 1755, at age twenty-nine, and was canonized in 1904. He is the patron of expectant mothers, unborn children, and childbirth.
Suggested prayer
O God, who gave St. Gerard Majella a heart of patience under false accusation and made his handkerchief a source of protection for mothers, grant through his intercession safe delivery and healthy children to all expectant mothers. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
