Page 52 - FLIPBOOK - Life of Saint Gerard Majella - Vassall-Phillips

CHAPTER 7
MONTE GARGANO

O
ne Easter holidays, the Redemptorist Students, who were
studying Theology at Iliceto under the care of the celebrated
15
Father de Meo, conceived a great desire to visit the holy
grotto of Monte Gargano. Monte Gargano is the well-known shrine
which the glorious St. Michael had long ages before miraculously
pointed out as the chosen spot where it was the Divine Will that

15 Father Alexander de Meo was a man of great learning. In the early days of his
Priesthood he preached a sermon in the presence of St. Alphonsus. At the
commencement of the discourse, the Saint was made uncomfortable by
hearing references to the Sybils and the Argonauts. At first he bore it patiently,
thinking that this was but the prelude to something practical, but as the
sermon continued in the same strain, he ordered the preacher down from the
pulpit in the middle of his sermon, reproached him severely, and forbade him
to say Mass for three days. This humiliation was fruitful in good for Father de
Meo. Henceforth he became a most Apostolic preacher. He died a martyr to
zeal for souls and Religious Obedience. Though knowing that he was utterly
unfit for work, he went cheerfully on a Mission to which he was sent by his
Superiors. In the very act of preaching the word of God, he received the
summons to Eternity. Attacked by a sudden stroke, he was carried, amidst the
sobs and lamentations of the people, to the Altar of the Blessed Virgin, where
he gave up his soul into the good keeping of his Heavenly Father. His life has
been written by St. Alphonsus, and is to be found in the Oratorian Series
amongst those of the “First Companions” of the Holy Founder.

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