Page 47 - FLIPBOOK - Life of Saint Gerard Majella - Vassall-Phillips

LIFE OF SAINT GERARD MAJELLA

remained some over and above after all their wants had been
provided for. This the mistress of the house remembered that she
had been able to sell. She now gladly and gratefully gave the Brother
a liberal alms in memory of the Saint, who had been her great
benefactor.
If the mere recollection of Gerard thus provoked charity after his
death, we may easily imagine his influence during life. Wherever he
went he won the affection and confidence of the people by the
kindness of his heart and his wonderful miracles, while at the same
time he often gained the greatest sinners for God by disclosing, to
their amazement, secrets of the past which they believed known to
no mortal man.
Not long after his Profession he returned to his native city of
Muro, there to collect alms for his Convent. At Muro he stayed with
one Alexander Piccolo, a watchmaker by trade. The son of this man
one day fell down in the street in a fit. He was stunned by his fall, and
carried into a neighbouring house in a state of unconsciousness. The
people thought that he was dying. Loud were the cries of grief that
rent the air. As soon, however, as Saint Gerard appeared upon the
scene, all was changed. Quietly saying that it would be nothing, he
knelt down and made the sign of the Cross upon the boy's forehead,
who that instant was seen to rise without delay or difficulty from the
ground restored to a perfect state of health and strength, amidst loud
exclamations of grateful wonderment from the crowd, which had
gradually gathered round.
When looked at in the light of Faith, far more wonderful than any
bodily cure is the conversion of a soul to God. There was in Muro a
notary, named Peter de Rubertis, who had been guilty of a homicide
which was known to God alone. He had in his orchard a specially
fine cherry-tree. The better to guard his property, he used to keep
watch over it himself. Now one evening, coming upon a thief in his
garden, he let him off with threats as to the consequences should he
be found marauding a second time. However, he soon caught the
same man again. Once more he restrained his anger.
But when, emboldened by impunity, the thief returned anew, it
was too much for de Rubertis to bear. In his fury — whether more
or less accidentally or deliberately is not clear — he assaulted him
with fatal results, and then buried the dead body in the orchard. As
this tragedy occurred during the night, the missing man was never

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