Two centuries before Padre Pio, in southern Italy, another saint, like him, multiplied the most improbable miracles, experienced most mystical phenomena, made the whole of Europe speak and lived from his childhood in the familiarity of angels. . His name is Gerard Majella. He is little known in France, and that’s a shame. Gerard was born in Muro, south of Naples, in 1726. His father was a tailor and worked hard to raise him, but he, as a child, already thought only of God, invincibly drawn to religious life. Like Padre Pio later, little Gerard is never alone and therefore cannot be bored because he sees his guardian angel, who plays and chats with him; like Padre Pio, he will be amazed the day he understands that this is not the case for all those around him… It is his guardian angel who prompts him, on days of rest and holidays, to ask his parents to take him to visit the great sanctuaries dedicated to Our Lady in the region. On the occasion of one of these pilgrimages, the child Jesus, whom the Madonna holds in her arms, escapes her and runs towards Gérard to play with him for a long time…
How can we be surprised if, very early on, the little boy experiences a devouring and precocious thirst for the Eucharist? At the age of seven, he dared to confide his desire to take communion to his parish priest, and was severely reprimanded. At the time, and for a long time to come, since it was necessary to wait for Pope Pius X at the beginning of the 20th century to change the norm, young children were not admitted to the holy table until they had reached at least the age twelve years, or even thirteen or fourteen. For Gérard, this rebuff is distressing but he submits; obedience will be, all his short life, a virtue which he will push to the point of heroism. But then the following night, he is awakened by a dazzling light that bathes his room. At the heart of this light, the Archangel Michael, once so venerated in Italy but who, in this age of incredulous philosophers, is relegated to the rank of superstitions from which the modern and enlightened world has fortunately freed itself.
Gerard, he has a great devotion to the Prince of the celestial militia, and it will be rewarded. In his hand, indeed, the Seraphim holds a ciborium and withdraws from it a host with which he communicates the child. This kind of thing is not so exceptional, at least for the saints. The children of Fatima or Saint Faustina, to name a few, much closer to us, will experience the same privilege. Thus begins a very privileged relationship between little Majella and the angelic world.
Venerate Saint Michael at Mont Gargan
However, Gérard’s life is not rosy. He is barely entering adolescence when his father dies. He has to earn a living. He is placed with a tailor, the father’s trade he learned the basics of, but the man is a brute who beats him and exploits him, without his apprentice complaining or opening his mouth. As soon as he could, following his unique vocation, he applied, as Padre Pio would later do, to the Capuchins, well established in the region but, as was also the case with Padre Pio, the good fathers sent him away from convent, due to his failing health. Gérard is not discouraged. God calls him to his service, he knows it. If it is not with the sons of Saint Francis, it will be elsewhere. At 23, which was late for the time, he applied to join the Redemptorists, a still very recent congregation, founded by the future Saint Alphonse de Liguori, whose rigor seduced him. Against all odds and despite his poor health, we accept him.
Before entering the novitiate, however, Gérard dreams of accomplishing the pilgrimage that is closest to his heart and that he has not yet been able to do: to go to venerate Saint Michael in his sanctuary of Mont Gargan, in Puglia. , where he appeared in 492, even leaving his general’s red coat behind.
The alms of the handsome stranger
Enthusiastic as he can be, Gérard manages to convince a whole group of boys his age to accompany him. This is no small feat if you consider that San Michele del Gargano was then sinking into oblivion. Young, carefree, improvident, and without a precise idea of the distance separating Muro from the Gargan, the pilgrims leave with a minimum of food and money. Convinced that the journey will not be long, they do not ration themselves. Alas, Archangel Mountain turns out to be much further away than they thought and the bags are emptying too quickly. Soon they have nothing left to eat and are already too far from home to turn back. Moreover, Gerard, imperturbable, tells them that when they arrive at Gargan, he makes a point of finding something to eat for everyone and rooms to sleep in. And with what money? He smiled without answering, stubbornly trusting in the help and protection of Saint Michael and the holy angels. Nevertheless, his comrades are less optimistic than him…
The arrival at Mont Gargan does not cheer them up. The rare shops and the inns post prohibitive prices and the possibility of having to redo the road in the opposite direction with an empty stomach annihilates them. Gérard remains disconcertingly calm. While his friends have slumped, whining, on the steps of the basilica, he enters alone, walks towards the statue of the Archangel, kneels before it and, for a long moment, remains absorbed in his prayers. When he got up, a handsome, unknown young man approached him and, without a word, placed a purse full of money in his hand: more than enough to pay for the travel and living expenses. The angels did not fail him. By the way, give it a try! You will realize, like Gérard, that it is often enough to have confidence in Providence to get out of problems deemed impossible.
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Gérard Majella, the saint who played with the angels
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