Page 37 - FLIPBOOK - Life of Saint Gerard Majella - Vassall-Phillips

CHAPTER 5
HIS EXTRAORDINARY GIFTS

S
ome little time before Saint Gerard's Profession, Father Cafaro
ceased to be Rector at Iliceto. He was succeeded by Father
Fiocchi. It was during Father Fiocchi's Rectorate that the holy
Brother commenced the long series of prodigies, terminated only by
death, which entitle him to rank in the splendour of supernatural
endowments with such marvellous Saints as St. Joseph Cupertino and
Christian the Wonderful.
Some of the events that we are about to relate are indeed of an
astounding character, but they all rest upon incontrovertible
evidence; they all, or almost all, can be paralleled in the Lives of the
Saints, and they all preach, in a tongue that the most obtuse can
hardly fail to understand, the Sovereign Power of the Lord our God,
Who was pleased in this mysterious manner to exalt, even here
below, His humble and faithful servant.
One day when Gerard was out walking with two young
countrymen, they came upon a church dedicated to the Holy Mother
of God. The Saint at once welcomed the opportunity of speaking to
his companions on the incomparable dignity of Our Blessed Lady.
Scarcely had the sweet Name of Mary fallen from his lips, than his
countenance appeared aflame, and he seemed as one transfigured.
Then, taking a pencil and a piece of paper, he wrote something and
threw it into the air, as though it were a letter addressed to the Queen
of Heaven. A vigorous bound accompanied this singular action, and
immediately there ensued what is called by writers of Mystical

27