Page 109 - FLIPBOOK - Life of Saint Gerard Majella - Vassall-Phillips

LIFE OF SAINT GERARD MAJELLA

ciborium. She said that of course she would be delighted, and on her
return home did her best to find what was wanted. However, not
succeeding, she made up her mind to cut it out of her wedding-dress.
Next day Gerard saw her again, and told her at once, before she
alluded to the subject at all, that she was not to spoil her wedding-
dress for the sake of two little pieces of silk. He said that if she made
a fresh search he was sure that she would find what would serve his
purpose. The lady was thunderstruck at seeing him thus disclose a
secret intention which she had not made known to any human being.
On her return home, acting on Gerard's advice, she looked again,
found the silk, as he had told her would be the case, and brought it to
him at the convent.
One day after Holy Communion the Saint withdrew to make his
thanksgiving before a large crucifix. He was at this time discharging
the office of cook in the Community. But rapt in contemplation on
the Passion of Our Lord, he allowed the hours to glide by, until the
bell rang for dinner without his having left the Oratory where he was
praying. They looked for him all over the house. When at last he was
found, the Brother said to him:
“Gerard, what have you been about? The bell has rung for dinner,
and the kitchen is locked.”
“Man of little faith,” replied Gerard, “what had the Angels to do
all the while?”
To the amazement of the whole house, the dinner that day was
like one given on great Feast days. Our Lord had called His servant
to spend the morning in loving colloquy with Himself. It was
impossible that others should suffer from his obedience to the Voice
of God. His conduct, due to an extraordinary inspiration, was thus,
even by miracle, stamped with the Divine approval.
Greater and greater waxed the Saint's power over the hearts of
men, as the end drew near. One notable conversion in particular
belongs to this period of his life. The Archbishop of Conza had
come to spend a few days with the Redemptorist Fathers, and had
brought with him his confidential secretary, a Roman by birth — a
man full of wit and merriment. But this exterior light -heartedness
was only the cloak of interior misery. His conscience was in a
deplorable state. Gerard had hardly seen him when by a Divine light
he knew all. At once he determined to win this soul for God.
Accordingly, he deliberately put himself in the way of the secretary.

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