Saint Gerard’s Legacy 

 The legacy of St Gerard’s is an inspirational story of a young man committed to the dedication to God and to the people around him. It’s also a story of persistence.

During his short life, and after finally being accepted into a religious order, Saint Gerard regularly showed his compassion for the poor. Several miracles attributed to him include one when he visited the Pirofalo family and accidentally dropped his handkerchief. One of the Pirofalo girls saw the handkerchief on the ground soon after he had left the house. She ran after St Gerard to have it back. But St Gerard said, “Keep it. You may need it someday”.

Years later and a married woman, she was on the verge of dying in childbirth, when she remembered his words. She asked for the handkerchief to be brought to her and almost immediately the pain disappeared, and she gave birth to a healthy child.

Word spread quickly and Italian mothers took St Gerard to their hearts and made him their patron. At the process of his beatification, one witness testified that he was known as “il santo dei felice parti,” the saint of happy childbirths.

St Gerard was beatified in Rome on 29 January 1893 by Pope Leo XIII and he was canonised on 11 December 1904 by Pope Pius X.

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

To God we are eternally grateful. Majellan Media is proud to bear his name.  His life is our inspiration.