Tuesday, February 04, 2014

St. Gerard

A sweet friend and past coworker came to visit me a few weeks ago and gave me such a sweet gift. It's a St. Gerard bracelet - he's the patron saint of mothers. Here's a little explanation from a quick internet search - Wikipedia is my best friend!! Here's a picture of it too ... I love it! (Sorry for the phone picture quality!)

                                 
  

One miracle in particular explains why Majella became known as the special patron of mothers. A few months before his death, Gerard visited the Pirofalo family and accidentally dropped his handkerchief. One of the Pirofalo girls spotted the handkerchief moments after he’d left the house, and she ran after Gerard to return it. “Keep it,” he said to her. “You may need it some day".

Years later when the girl--now a married woman--was on the verge of losing her life in childbirth, she remembered the words of the saintly lay brother. She asked for the handkerchief to be brought to her. Almost immediately the pain disappeared and she gave birth to a healthy child. This was no small feat in an era when only one out of three pregnancies resulted in a live birth, and word of the miracle spread quickly. Because of the miracles God worked through Gerard's prayers with mothers, the mothers of Italy took Gerard to their hearts and made him their patron. At the process of his beatification one witness testified that he was known as "il santo dei felice parti"--the saint of happy childbirth.

This devotion has become very popular in North America, both in the United States and Canada. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Majella)


Not much has been happening here! Works been pretty good - glad to have my two big observations over with for the year! And they were both great by the way :)! Still haven't spoken to my family and right now, I have no desire to. I'm enjoying time with my husband drama free!! 

I did start weight watchers two weeks ago and have already lost five pounds - yay! I also signed up for a 5K in March! So I better get to running! Enjoy the rest of your week!! 

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