Gerard was born as Gerardo Majella on 9 April 1726[1] in Muro Lucano, Italy. He was the son of a tailor who died when Gerard was 12, leaving the family in poverty. Gerard tried to join the Capuchin order, but his health prevented it. He was accepted as a Redemptorist lay brother serving his congregation as sacristan, gardener, ostiarius, infirmarian, and tailor.
He was a man of great depth, insight, prayer and kindness. Unfortunately his health was never good. He died on 16 October 1755, at 29 years of age. Gerard was beatified on 29 January 1893 by Pope Leo XIII, and was canonised on 11 December 1904 by Pope Pius X. The feast day of Saint Gerard Majella is 16 October.[1]
He is a saint whose intercession is requested for children (and unborn children in particular); childbirth; mothers (and expectant mothers in particular); motherhood; falsely accused people; good confessions; lay brothers; and Muro Lucano, Italy.[1]
He was featured on an Italian 45-euro postage stamp in May 2005.
The Redemptorists Annual Nine Day Novena
History
St. Joseph's Parish Church,a Redemptorist House in Dundalk, welcomes thousands of people from all over Ireland to the Annual Festival of Faith in Honour of St. Gerard Majella. It's the biggest festival of faith in Ireland with an average of 10,000 attending on a daily basis.[2]
After Bro. Gerard's Beatification in 1893, a triduum in his honour was preached in St. Joseph's by Fr. Hall, widely regarded as one of the greatest preachers of his day. The people of Dundalk took St. Gerard into their hearts after this sermon and continued to pay devotion to him on a regular basis. During the 1930s, Fr. John Murray, started the Annual Nine Day Novena to St. Gerard Majella, beginning on 8 October and finishing on his feast day, 16 October. Fr. Hugo Kerr erected a shrine to St. Gerard in the church in 1939. Today the Novena continues to grow with over 10,000 people attending the Novena on a daily basis.[3]
One memorable event of the Novena from years past was the trumpet players that performed at each of the sessions on the last day of the Novena.
Tradition
St. Gerard's Novena has become a lifelong tradition for many people. The annual novena sees more than 10,000 people from across the Dundalk area, and from counties Down, Armagh, Cavan, Monaghan, and Meath make the daily journey to the Redemptorist Church. As St. Gerard Majella is patron of expecting mothers, the novena is also a yearly pilgrimage for many women and couples hoping to welcome children into the lives. [4]
According to Novena Director Father Michael Cusack C.Ss.R., "This novena is always a time of great solidarity and really ignites the community spirit in the people of Dundalk and the surrounding counties, towns and villages."[5]
The Novena consists of 10 sessions a day, with the first session starting at 7am, running all day until the last session at 10pm, when the mass is conducted by candlelight. Prayers and Petitions are offered up daily by members of the public and are read out during each session. Due to the increasing numbers attending the Novena each year extra seating is added to the hallways, monastery rooms, side altars and the parish hall, where each session is shown live on large television screens.
The last days of the Novena also see an increase in attendance as those who are unable to make it throughout the Novena usually attend the last three days.
Highlights of the Novena
Communal Celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation (usually on the 5th Day)
Healing Mass with the Anointing of the Sick and the Elderly (held on the Saturday)
The Blessing of Babies (2.30 pm service held on the Sunday)
The Novena of All Nations (4.30pm on the Sunday)
Taizé Mass – Candlelight Session. Nightly at 10.30pm
Guest Speaker – lay people sharing their experience of life situations.
Prayer to St. Gerard Majella
Almighty and Eternal God, we thank you for the gift of St. Gerard and the example of his life. Because St. Gerard always had complete faith and trust in you, you blessed him with great powers of help and healing. Through him, you showed your loving concern for all those who suffered or were in need. You never failed to hear his prayer on their behalf. Today, through St. Gerard's powerful intercession, you continue to show your love for all those who place their trust in you. And so, Father, full of faith and confidence, and in thanksgiving for all the wonderful things you have done for us, we place ourselves before you today. Through the intercession of St. Gerard, hear our petitions, and if it is your holy will, grant them. Amen.
Hymn to St. Gerard Majella
From Earth's Sorrow
From earth's sorrow, from life's tearland, High above the clouds we gaze, Where enthroned in starlike glory, Reigns today the saint we praise.
Refrain
Saintly Gerard, Blessed Brother,
Thou whose heart did burn with love divine,
Friend of Jesus, child of Mary,
Make, O make our sinful hearts like thine.
Humble Gerard, lowly workman, Patron of the hearts that toil, Bless this bleak earth's myriad toilers, Lift their thoughts above earth's soil.
To mark St. Gerard's Novena, the Novena prayers are also offered at Mass each day at the Dundalk Institute of Technology by the Chaplain's Office.[6]
The following are Roman Catholic prayers to Saint Joseph.
Intercession of the Saints is a doctrine held by the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Roman Catholic Churches. The practice of praying through Saints can be found in Christian writings from the 3rd century onward. The 4th-century Apostles' Creed states belief in the communion of Saints, which certain Christian churches interpret as supporting the intercession of Saints. As in Christianity, this practice is controversial in Judaism and Islam.
The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, commonly known as the Redemptorists, is a religious congregation of the Catholic Church, dedicated to missionary work and founded by Saint Alphonsus Liguori at Scala, near Amalfi, Italy, for the purpose of labouring among the neglected country people around Naples. Members of the congregation are Catholic priests and consecrated religious brothers and minister in more than 100 countries.
Muro Lucano formerly Muro is a city and comune in the province of Potenza, in the northern part of the region of Basilicata, southern Italy.
A novena is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks. The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost, when the disciples gathered in the upper room and devote themselves to prayer, is often considered to be the first novena.
Saint Gerard or Gérard may refer to:
Gerard Majella, C.Ss.R., was an Italian lay brother of the Congregation of the Redeemer, better known as the Redemptorists, who is honored as a saint by the Catholic Church.
Catholic devotions are particular customs, rituals, and practices of worship of God or honour of the saints which are in addition to the liturgy of the Catholic Church. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops describes devotions as "expressions of love and fidelity that arise from the intersection of one's own faith, culture and the Gospel of Jesus Christ". Devotions are not considered part of liturgical worship, even if they are performed in a church or led by a priest, but rather they are paraliturgical. The Congregation for Divine Worship at the Vatican publishes a Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy.
Saint Gerard Majella can refer to
The National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, also known as the Redemptorist Church and colloquially as Baclaran Church, is a prominent national shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Help along Roxas Boulevard in Baclaran, Parañaque, a city in the southern part of Metro Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
The Chaplet of Saint Michael the Archangel, also called the Rosary of the Angels is a chaplet resulting from a reported private revelation by the Archangel Michael to the Portuguese Carmelite nun Antónia de Astónaco. The chaplet was approved by Pope Pius IX in 1851.
In the Catholic Church, prayer is "the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God." It is an act of the moral virtue of religion, which Catholic theologians identify as a part of the cardinal virtue of justice.
St. Michael's Church is one of the oldest Catholic churches in Mumbai. The church is situated in Mahim, located at the intersection of L.J. Road and Mahim Causeway.The church was originally built by the Portuguese in 1534. Initially known as San Miguel, it is the oldest Portuguese Franciscan church in Mumbai. It was rebuilt a number of times; the present structure dating to 1973. The church also served as a refuge to the popular icon of the Virgin Mary from Our Lady of the Mount chapel, Bandra from 1739 to 1761.
Our Lady of Peñafrancia is a wooden statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary venerated in Naga City, Bicol, Philippines. The image comes from the original image enshrined in Salamanca, Spain. It is currently housed at the Peñafrancia Basilica where every September is held for the novena festivities in honor of the image as the principal Patroness and Queen of Bicol.
St Gerard's Church and Monastery collectively form one of Wellington's most distinctive and iconic landmarks. Located on Mount Victoria in Wellington, both buildings are classified as "Category I" historic places by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. They are built on the site of a sixteen-roomed house and property owned by James Edward Fitzgerald who some claim to be New Zealand's first Prime Minister. In April 2021, the owners of the buildings, the International Catholic Programme of Evangelisation (ICPE), announced that the church would close at the end of the following month due to safety concerns.
Materdomini is an Italian hamlet (frazione) situated in the municipality of Caposele, Province of Avellino, Campania. As of 2009 its population was of 735.
St.Theresa Church is a Catholic church under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore (Chennai-Mylai) in Tamil Nadu, India, in Sembiam division of Perambur, Chennai. Approximately 900 families have the membership in this Catholic parish. Many people from various parts of Chennai make pilgrimage to this church for the devotion of Infant Jesus.
The Church of Saint Alphonsus, or Novena Church as it is more popularly known, is a Catholic church in Singapore located at 300 Thomson Road. It is not a parish church and is under the care of the Redemptorists. The name Novena Church refers to the novena prayer devotion, for which this church is famous. At the Church of Saint Alphonsus the Saturday novena services usually attract more people than the Sunday Mass services. Having popularised the novena devotion sessions in Singapore, it draws people from the entire country and beyond. The devotions gave name to the surrounding area, Novena.
The Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help is a booklet containing a set of prayers including the Roman Catholic novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help, that was originally published in Jaén, Spain in 1899. It was then widely republished by American Redemptorist priests in 1927, then ultimately revised by Irish and Australian Redemptorist priests on 23 June 1948.
The Sanctuary of San Gerardo Maiella, co-located with the Basilica of Santa Maria Mater Domini, is a Roman Catholic church and monastery complex in Materdomini, a frazione of Caposele in the Province of Avellino and the Campania region of Italy. The newer sanctuary is a shrine to Saint Gerard Majella, while the older church is dedicated in the name of Santa Maria Mater Domini and holds the ecclesiastical rank of minor basilica.
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