“I am going to become a saint”
“Mother, forgive me, I am going to become a saint.” These are the few words he wrote to his mother on a sheet of paper and left in the bedroom before climbing out of the window with the help of a bedsheet used as a rope.
It is in this way, in a full-blown escape, that Gerard, born in Muro Lucano (Pz) in 1726, runs away from home to join a group of Redemptorist missionaries who had just preached a mission in his town. After repeatedly insisting, Gerard is welcomed into the Congregation but, given his frailty and delicate health, is assigned the humblest tasks, which he always carries out in obedience to God's will. The convent of Materdomini, in Caposele in Irpinia, is his final destination: there he dies of tuberculosis at just 29 years of age.
The sanctuary
Today, a sanctuary dedicated to him stands in Caposele. The complex consists of two churches: an ancient building, presumably built in the 1200s, and a more modern semicircular structure.
In the ancient basilica, which tradition holds was built where the Virgin Mary once appeared to some shepherds, lies the tomb of Saint Gerard, with the urn containing his remains.
The sanctuary complex also has other points of interest, including the “ribbon room.” Thanks to several miraculous episodes in his life, Saint Gerard is invoked as the protector of women in labor and children. This is why an entire room is dedicated to the offering of pink and blue ribbons, which parents offer to the sanctuary after using them to announce the birth of a baby. Thousands hang from the ceiling, while the room’s walls display hundreds of black-and-white and color photographs of children, donated to the Saint over the years to ask for the grace of healing.
Finally, we recommend the Gerardino Museum, which recounts the life of Saint Gerard through an exhibition of paintings and objects from the eighteenth century, as well as the permanent nativity scene exhibition, featuring various creative nativity scenes donated over the years by the faithful as a way of giving thanks for miracles received.
To learn more about the Sanctuary
Sanctuary of S. Gerard Majella
Via Santuario
83040 Materdomini (AV)
tel.: 0827 58118
email: santuario@sangerardo.it
How to get there the Sanctuary
To learn more about Saint Gerard
