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NOVENA
PRAYER -ST.
GERARD
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St.Gerard Majella
Patron Saint Of Expectant Mothers,
Childbirth,
Pregnant Women
Born: April
23, 1725
Died: October 16, 1755
Canonized: December 11,
1904
Feast Day: October 15 |
Prayer
For
Motherhood
O good
St. Gerard, powerful intercessor
before
God and wonderful worker of our
day,
I call upon you and seek your aid. You
who on earth always fulfilled God's design,
help
me to do the Holy Will of God. Beseech
the
Master of Life, from whom all paternity
flows
to render me fruitful in offspring, that I
may
raise up children to God in this life and
heirs
to the kingdom of His glory in the
world
to come. Amen.
O
almighty God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, you prepared the
body of the Glorious and Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God, to be a
worthy habitation of your Son. Listen to the prayer of Your servant
who implores you, through the intersession of St. Gerard , Your
faithful servant, protect me [her] in the dangers of motherhood and
safeguard against the evil spirit , the tender fruit which You have
vouchsafed to grant me [her] in order that, by Your saving hand it
may receive holy Baptism. Grant also that after living like
Christians on earth, both mother and child may attain it to
everlasting happiness in heaven . Amen
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St. Gerard Majella
Born in Muro, about fifty miles south of Naples, in April, 1726; died 16
October, 1755; beatified by Leo XIII, 29 January, 1893, and canonized by Pius X,
11 December, 1904. His only ambition was to be like Jesus Christ in his
sufferings and humiliations. His father, Dominic Majella, died while Gerard was
a child. His pious mother, owing to poverty, was obliged to apprentice him to a
tailor. His master loved him, but the foreman treated him cruelly. His reverence
for the priesthood and his love of suffering led him to take service in the
house of a prelate, who was very hard to please. On the latter's death Gerard
returned to his trade, working first as a journeyman and then on his own
account. His earnings he divided between his mother and the poor, and in
offerings for the souls in purgatory. After futile attempts first to become a
Franciscan and then a hermit, he entered the Congregation of the Most Holy
Redeemer in 1749. Two years later he made his profession, and to the usual vows
he added one by which he bound himself to do always that which seemed to him
more perfect. St. Alphonsus considered him a miracle of obedience. He not only
obeyed the orders of superiors when present, but also when absent knew and
obeyed their desires. Although weak in body, he did the work of three, and his
great charity earned for him the title of Father of the Poor. He was a model of
every virtue, and so drawn to Our Lord in the tabernacle that he had to do
violence to himself to keep away. An angel in purity, he was accused of a
shameful crime; but he bore the calumny with such patience that St. Alphonsus
said: "Brother Gerard is a saint". He was favoured with infused
knowledge of the highest order, ecstasies, prophecy, discernment of spirits,
and penetration of hearts, bilocation, and with what seemed an unlimited power
over nature, sickness, and the devils. When he accompanied the Fathers on
missions, or was sent out on business, he converted more souls than many
missionaries. He predicted the day and hour of his death. A wonderworker during
his life, he has continued to be the same since his death.
J. MAGNIER
Transcribed by Gerard Loiselle
The Catholic Encyclopaedia
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