October 16
Saint Gerard was born in Italy as the youngest of five children. When Gerard was twelve, his mother sent him to her brother as an apprentice, to learn to sew and become a tailor like his father. However, a workman who was teaching him at his uncle’s shop was abusive. When Gerard’s uncle found out, the workman resigned. Gerard could not continue his apprenticeship, so he took a job as a servant to the local bishop. When the bishop died, Gerard resumed his career as a tailor, first as a journeyman and then on his own.
When Gerard’s health prevented him from joining the Capuchin Franciscans, he joined the Redemptorist order as a lay brother. As a brother, he worked as a gardener, a sacristan, a tailor, a porter, a cook, a carpenter, and a construction manager.
During his lifetime, Gerard was known as a holy person, and many miracles were attributed to him. One time, he was visiting a family and inadvertently dropped his handkerchief. One of the daughters of the house ran after him to return it. “Keep it,” said Gerard. “It will be useful to you some day.” Years later, this same daughter was in danger of dying during childbirth. She remembered Gerard’s handkerchief and asked that it be brought to her. Almost immediately, her pain subsided, and she gave birth to a healthy child.
Since that time, Saint Gerard has become known as the patron saint of mothers. During Gerard’s beatification process, one witness remarked that he was already known in her parish as the saint of happy childbirths.
Saint Gerard died of tuberculosis at the young age of 29. On his door was this note: “Here the will of God is done, as God wills, and as long as God wills.”
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