Page 134 - FLIPBOOK - Life of Saint Gerard Majella - Vassall-Phillips

CHAPTER 21
GLORIFIED IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH

G
erard had scarcely breathed his last when he appeared to a
lady who had held him in great veneration during his life.
He was, on the occasion of this first apparition after death,
still clothed in his Religious Habit, but shortly afterwards he was seen
by her again, now resplendent with the Light of everlasting glory.
“Oh,” he said, “how liberally does God reward the small
sufferings that we endure for His sake on earth!”
He also appeared at the same time in another place to a
Redemptorist Father named Peter Petrella, to whom he revealed
some of the happiness which he enjoyed in Heaven.
About three hours after the death of this great Servant of God,
the Superior of the house, moved no doubt by a Divine impulse,
determined to ask of God a supernatural sign of his sanctity. Taking
his right arm, he said aloud:
“Gerard, you were ever obedient during life, I now command you
in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, and in that of the Blessed
Mother of God, to give us the proof we ask.”
He then made an incision in one of his veins, and at once there
gushed forth a copious flow of ruby blood. The members of the
Community, full of joy, hastened to collect it in a basin, in which they
plunged linen cloths, afterwards to be distributed as precious Relics
to the favoured friends of the glorious Brother.
When at break of day the sacristan went to announce the death to
the neighbourhood, instead of tolling a funeral peal, he rang forth a
joyous chime. On being blamed for this, he stated that he had been

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