St. Gerald of Sauve-Majeure

Feastday: April 5
Birth: 1025
Death: 1095
Canonized: Canonized in 1197 by Pope Celestine III

As a monk of Corbie, France, Gerald was stricken with head pains so acute that he found it virtually impossible to pray. Doctors were unable to do anything for him. Gerald thereupon devoted himself to the care of three paupers in honor of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity. At length, the pains suddenly ended, a cure that Gerald attributed to the intercession of Saint Adelard. Afterward, he had a dream in which he witnessed a Mass celebrated by Christ himself, with angels serving as his acolytes and saints as choristers. On another occasion, while kneeling before a crucifix in a crowded church, Gerald experienced a vision of Christ coming down from the cross to place his hand on his head and tell him, "Son, be comforted..." After making a pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Gerald founded a monastery in the woods at Sauve-Majeure, France, where he had experienced a dream of Christ Crucified on a cross stretching from heaven to earth. As abbot, he introduced the practice of having Masses and the Office of the Dead offered for thirty days for the soul of each monk who died at Sauve-Majeure.

Saint Gerald of Sauve-Majeure (sometimes also Gerard or Geraud) (c. 1025–1095), also known, from his place of origin, as Gerald of Corbie, was a Benedictine abbot.

Life

Saint Gerald was born in Corbie, Picardy, and was educated at the abbey of Corbie, where he later became a monk and cellarer. He suffered greatly from violent headaches which prevented him from carrying out his devotions. In an effort to cure them he made a pilgrimage with his abbot to seek the intercession of Saint Michael at Monte Gargano and that of Saint Benedict at Monte Cassino. While at Rome he was ordained by Pope Leo IX. On his return he was healed of the severe headaches by the intercession of Saint Adalard, a former abbot of Corbie, of whom Gerald wrote a hagiography.

He later made a pilgrimage to Palestine, after which he was elected abbot of St. Vincent's Abbey, Laon, but the monks did not accept his authority or the imposition of proper discipline. After some five years he resigned from Laon in order to become abbot of St. Medard's Abbey, Soissons, but was driven out by an usurper.

He then sought instead to found a new Benedictine monastery. Duke William VIII of Aquitaine gave him a huge tract of forest in the Gironde near Bordeaux, where Gerald founded the abbey of Grande-Sauve, of which he was also the first abbot. This developed into a powerful community for the advancement of the Benedictine Rule and mode of life, with significant influence from the customs of Cluny. Gerald began the practice of celebrating mass and the Office for the Dead for 30 days after the death of a community member. His constant advice to his monks for as long as he lived was that they should shun all discussion. He died at Grande-Sauve Abbey.

Veneration

He was canonized on 27 April 1197 by Pope Celestine III. His feast day is 5 April.