Page 50 - FLIPBOOK - Life of Saint Gerard Majella - Vassall-Phillips

O. R. VASSALL-PHILLIPS

begged it, he said, as an alms for the love of God. The poor woman
to whom this appeal was made had not so much as a morsel of bread
in the house. Like the widow of whom we read in the Scripture story,
she had only a handful of flour. This she had just brought home from
the mill. So she told Saint Gerard that having nothing for herself, she
had nothing to give away.
“What! You have nothing, and that bin is all full of bread!”
“It is empty,” persisted the woman. “I have not so much as a
piece of bread in the whole house.”
Gerard, however, persuaded her just to raise the lid of the bin.
There was no room for doubt about the matter. It was indeed full of
most excellent bread!
We will conclude this chapter with the quaint account that has
been handed down to us of a famous conversion effected by our
Saint. He was going home to Iliceto, after having been for some time
absent, collecting alms in the neighbourhood. His cloak was patched;
his habit old and short; his hat was a marvel of poverty. Altogether,
the appearance he presented seemed sufficiently weird to a young
man whom he chanced to fall in with on the road. The thought
suddenly flashed across his mind that Gerard could be no other than
a wandering gipsy. Dreaming of little save the acquisition of gold and
silver, it also occurred to him that he had met an adept in Occult
Science who was searching for a hidden treasure.
“Oh! if I could only share his secret,” he thought within himself,
“then perchance I might also share his treasure.”
Straightway he accosted Gerard.
“Perhaps, sir,” he asked bluntly, “perhaps you are a wizard?”
“Perhaps I am! Perhaps I am not!” was Gerard's reply.
Confirmed in his singular misunderstanding by this evasive
answer, the young man now boldly made his request.
“If you are searching for a treasure,” he said, “I am most ready to
help you. Let me offer you my services.”
“But,” questioned Gerard, “are you a man of mind and a man of
courage to boot?”
“Little do you guess all that I am,” answered the stranger eagerly,
and then followed the sad tale of a life of sin, with the final avowal
that it was full six years since the unhappy being had last approached
the Sacraments.
“Well, well,” chimed in Gerard, “you then, without a doubt, are

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