Page 40 - FLIPBOOK - Life of Saint Gerard Majella - Vassall-Phillips

O. R. VASSALL-PHILLIPS

This was not the only occasion that a mere glance at some
representation of the Passion sufficed to throw him into an ecstasy.
One Good Friday, the first after his Profession, a large picture of the
Crucifixion was carried through the streets of the little town of
Corato. Now Gerard chanced to be in Corato at the time, and when,
in the course of its appointed route, the procession entered the
Benedictine Church, it passed by the spot where he was on his knees
in prayer.
At the thought of the sufferings of our Most Holy Redeemer, thus
vividly brought before his sight, Saint Gerard was seized with an
uncontrollable transport of heavenly love. He swooned away in
ecstasy, and — in presence of all the assembled people — was raised
off the earth a considerable distance above the ground, his gaze fixed
steadfastly the while on the sorrowful Countenance of his Crucified
Saviour.
As David danced before the Ark of the Ancient Covenant, so did
Gerard, living under the New Law, sometimes manifest his joy in the
far deeper consolations with which he was favoured by his Lord. A
blind beggar came one day to the Convent, playing the flute and
asking an alms. Gerard requested him to play the Italian air set to the
words of the hymn written by St. Alphonsus, beginning thus:

“Tis Thy good pleasure, not mine own,
In Thee, my God, I love alone;
And nothing I desire of Thee
But what Thy goodness wills for me —
O Will of God! O Will Divine!
All, all our love be ever Thine.”

No sooner had the minstrel commenced, than an inebriation of
heavenly love overcame Saint Gerard. He suddenly commenced to
dance and bound in the air, repeating over and over again:

“'Tis Thy good pleasure, not mine own,
In Thee, my God, I love alone.”

Then all at once he raised himself from the ground with the
rapidity of an arrow going straight to its mark, his eyes turned
towards Heaven. He remained for some time absolutely unsupported

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