On April 6, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro presided over the solemn Eucharistic celebration in Materdomini on the occasion of the third centenary of the birth of Saint Gerard Majella, the saint known as the “GOD’S LITTLE MADMAN” who made joyful conformity to divine will and concrete love for the poor the heart of his spirituality.

Read the full text of His Excellency Cardinal Marcello Semeraro’s homily

SAINT GERARD MAJELLA, “GOD’S LITTLE MADMAN”

I gladly accepted the invitation to celebrate this Eucharist with you and thus also to inaugurate the Year of St Gerard, established for the third centenary of the birth of our dear Saint Gerard. He is a saint very familiar to me, if only because his image constantly accompanies my daily service at the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. In my office, in fact, there is a painting by Giovanni Gagliardi, a painter active in Rome and Lazio in the early years of the last century, who executed it in 1905 by reproducing the banner that he himself had prepared and carried in procession during the rite for the canonization of Saint Gerard, celebrated by Pope Pius X on December 11 of the previous year. It was the first canonization ceremony presided over by the new Pope, Pius X (cf. L’Osservatore Romano, December 12, 1904, p. 1).

Read more: Cardinal Semeraro: Conforming to God’s will was the joy of Saint Gerard...