Page 23 - FLIPBOOK - Life of Saint Gerard Majella - Vassall-Phillips

LIFE OF SAINT GERARD MAJELLA

great Archangel St. Michael came to console him, bearing the body of
his Lord. This miraculous Communion was, doubtless, one of the
great reasons for Saint Gerard's life-long devotion to the Prince of
the Angelic Hosts.
Sent to school at an early age, Gerard's virtues soon made him
very dear both to master and boys. All wondered at his extraordinary
piety. His devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to Our Blessed
Lady increased day by day. At this period of his life, we are told that,
during the solemn time which elapses in the Holy Mass between the
Consecration and the Priest's Communion, the Infant Jesus often
appeared to the boy's enraptured gaze upon the Altar.
His, however, was no morbid or unreal devotion. This was proved
by his constant and unfailing charity, the one touchstone of all true
sanctity. Full of the love of God, and ever anxious to help those in
trouble in any way he might, Gerard grew daily in grace, until at the
age of ten his confessor permitted him to go every other day to Holy
Communion. After his death his good mother, speaking of the
childhood of her dear son, expressed herself as follows:
“My child found his only pleasure in the church, on his knees
before the Blessed Sacrament. He used to remain there so long that
he would forget the dinner-hour. In the house, young as he was, he
prayed all day. He was born for Heaven.”
Happy mother of such a son!

13