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Dandenong North, Victoria, Australia has the privilege of being under the patronage of a great but lesser known Saint, Gerard Majella, whose Feast Day we celebrate on October 16, commemorating his entrance to his eternal reward on that day in 1755.
Dandenong North, Victoria, Australia has the privilege of being under the patronage of a great but lesser known Saint, Gerard Majella, whose Feast Day we celebrate on October 16, commemorating his entrance to his eternal reward on that day in 1755.
St Gerard Majella was a Redemptorist lay brother who faced many trials in his short life, including ill health and false accusations. His faith remained true throughout, which would see him as patron saint of many causes, notably of expected mothers and falsely accused.
Gerardo Maiella (his original Italian name) was born on April 6, 1726, in the town of Muro Lucano, then part of the Kingdom of Naples (today part of the province of Potenza, in the Italian region of Basilicata).
He was the youngest of five children to Domenico and Benedetta (née Galella) Maiella, and was baptised at his local Cathedral immediately after birth due to his sickly condition. As a child, he would frequent the local chapel to pray.
With his father passing away when he was 12, the young Gerard would become apprenticed to a tailor, learning the trade of his late father. While under his tutelage, he would be physically abused by his foreman, which he suffered in the name of God.
Following his apprenticeship, he served the Bishop of Lacedonia for a while. From the age of 21, the money he would earn as a journeyman was split between with his mother, the poor of Muro and the rest in offerings for the poor souls.
More and more his thoughts turned to the religious life, and would apply twice to a Capuchin monastery, only to be turned down both times, due to his ill health.
His determination to enter a religious order would see him eventually accepted by the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists) in 1749 at 23 years of age, and would become a professed lay brother three years later.
For the last six years of his short life, Br Gerard Majella would travel with his fellow Redemptorist Brothers, assisting the missionaries in bringing others to the sacraments.
His piety was shown in his living of his vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience, and served as a sacristan, gardener, porter, infirmarian, and tailor within his missions. He was also purported to manifest powers such as levitation, bi-location and the ability to read souls.
He was also reported to have performed such miracles include restoring life to a boy who had fallen from a high cliff, blessing the scanty supply of wheat belonging to a poor family and making it last until the next harvest, and several times multiplying the bread that he was ...
... distributing to the poor. Due to his miraculous acts and his pious lifestyle, he was permitted by the Redemptorists to counsel the nearby communities of religious women.
He faced his greatest trial in 1754, one year before his untimely death. Working with female religious communities, he counselled women seeking the religious life. One such woman was Neria Caggiano, who after three weeks of religious life lost interest and left the community.
In trying to justify her departure, she sought to undermine Br Gerard, and made the accusation of him that he had broken his vow of chastity through intimate relations with the young daughter of a family at whose house Gerard often stayed on his missionary journeys.
Summoned to his superior St Alphonsus Liguori (the founder of his order) he chose to remain silent rather than defend himself, much in the manner of Christ himself. Alphonsus had no choice but to deny him Holy Communion, and forbid him to have any contact with outsiders.
Br Gerard performed his acts of penance with strength and grace, and took them so seriously he asked to be released from his obligations to serve Mass, lest he be tempted to break his penance and seek Communion.
Br Gerard received his ultimate redemption and vindication when Neria Caggiano wrote a letter to Alphonsus after falling ill, and confessed her calumny against Br Gerard. His name and pious reputation was fully restored. For this he became patron saint of those falsely accused.
One of his final miracles is what would make him patron saint of expectant mothers. When leaving the home of his friends the Pirofalo family, he had forgotten his handkerchief. One of the Pirofalo daughters spotted this, and went after Br Gerard with the forgotten handkerchief.
He would tell her, “Keep it. It Will be useful to you someday.” When the same daughter years later was giving birth to her child, complications arose, putting the child’s life in danger. Remembering Br Gerard’s words, she asked for the handkerchief, which was applied to her.
Miraculously, the pain disappeared, and she gave birth to a healthy child.
Due to his frail constitution, Br Gerard suffered much throughout his life. It would come to a short end at the age of 29 on October 16, 1755, succumbing to tuberculosis.
Due to his frail constitution, Br Gerard suffered much throughout his life. It would come to a short end at the age of 29 on October 16, 1755, succumbing to tuberculosis.
Devotions to him would begin shortly after, primarily from expectant mothers throughout Italy. After his death, miracles began to be reported from almost all parts of Italy, attributed to his intercession.
In 1893, Pope Leo XIII beatified Br Gerard, and on December 11, 1904, Pope St Pius X canonized him as a Saint. The first church dedicated to him worldwide would be in Wellington, New Zealand in 1908.
The main shrine devoted to him is the Sanctuary of San Gerardo Maiella, a basilica in Materdomini, Campania, Italy, where he is buried.
When the new Parish of Dandenong North was split from the Parish of St Mary’s Dandenong in January 1956, the would be parishioners of the new parish voted from a list of saints as to who their Parish’s new patron would be- they overwhelmingly chose St Gerard Majella.
Along with being the patron saint of expectant mothers and the falsely accused, St Gerard is also the patron saint of good confessions, lay brothers, and his hometown of Muro Lucano in Italy.
Saint Gerard Majella, pray for us.
Sancti Gerardii Maiella, ora pro nobis.
Saint Gerard Majella, pray for us.
Sancti Gerardii Maiella, ora pro nobis.
