The Power of Prayer

St. Gerard Prayer to Become Pregnant

O glorious Saint Gerard, powerful intercessor before God, and wonder worker of our day, I call upon you and seek your help. You who always fulfilled God's will on earth, help me to do God's holy will. Intercede with the Giver of life, from Whom all parenthood proceeds, that I may conceive and raise children who will please God in this life and be heirs to the kingdom of heaven.

Amen

The League of St Gerard Prayer for the Family

Great protector of the family, St Gerard, we ask your prayers for all parents, that they may receive the grace to live in the love of God and bring up their children to know and love him with all their hearts. We ask you to pray also that those who take the lives of unborn innocents and attack the dignity of motherhood may come to see the error of their ways, and that all may value the true holiness of Christian family life. God, our loving Father, your love gives life to the world. Bless and make holy all human love, especially the life-giving love of husband and wife. May your love fill the hearts and homes of all families, so that the world may enjoy the peace and happiness promised by your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Prayer for a Child's Return to The Faith

Dear Lord, You became man, suffered and died to win salvation for all souls. Look graciously on the soul of my child who has drifted away from You and the Faith. Grant him/her Your grace to see the error of his/her ways and return to the fold in Your care. Teach me to stay close to him/her during this trying time and to try to convert him/her by action and prayers more than by words that may antagonise. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust You to do everything to bring my child back to You. Amen.

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History of St. Gerard Majella

Born - 23 April 1725 at Muro, Italy

Died - 16 October 1755 at Caposele, Italy of tuberculosis

Canonized - 11 December 1904 by Pope Saint Pius X

Patronage - Childbirth; children; expectant mothers; falsely accused people; good confessions; lay brothers; motherhood; mothers; Muro, Italy; pregnant women; pro-life movement; unborn children

Memorial - 16 October 1755

Profile

Son of a tailor, who died when Gerard was 12, leaving the family in poverty. Gerard tried to join the Capuchins, but his health prevented it He was accepted as a Redemptorist lay brother serving his congregation as sacristan, gardener, porter, infirmarian, and tailor. Wonder worker.

When falsely accused by a pregnant woman of being the father of her child, he retreated to silence; she later recanted and cleared him, and thus began his association as patron of all aspects of pregnancy. Reputed to bilocate and read consciences.

Patron of Expectant Mothers

St. Gerard Majella, religious, is the patron of expectant mothers. He was born at Muro, Italy, in 1726 and joined the Redemptorists at the age of 23, becoming a professed lay brother in 1752. Because of his great piety, extraordinary wisdom, and his gift of reading consciences, he was permitted to counsel communities of religious women.

This humble servant of God also had the faculties of levitation and bi-location associated with certain mystics. His charity, obedience, and selfless service as well as his ceaseless mortification for Christ, made him the perfect model of lay brothers. He was afflicted with tuberculosis and died in 1755 at the age of twenty-nine. His last will consisted of the following small note on the door of his cell: "Here the will of God is done, as God wills, and as long as God wills."

This great saint is invoked as a patron of expectant mothers as a result of a miracle effected through his prayers for a woman in labor.

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Prayer to Saint Gerard for a Mother with Child

Great Saint Gerard, beloved servant of Jesus Christ, perfect imitator of our meek and humble Savior, and devoted child of the Mother of God, enkindle in my heart one spark of that heavenly heart of charity which glowed in yours and made you a seraph of love.

Glorious Saint Gerard, because, like your Divine Master, you bore without murmur or complaint the calumnies of wicked men when falsely accused of crime, you have been raised up by God as the patron and protector of expectant mothers. Preserve me in the dangers of motherhood, and shield the child I now bear, that it may be brought safely to the light of day and receive the sacrament of baptism. Amen.

Another Prayer For a Mother With Child

O almighty and everlasting God, through the Holy Spirit, you prepared the body and soul of the glorious virgin Mary to be a worthy dwelling place of your divine Son. Through the same Holy Spirit, you sanctified St. John the Baptist, while still in his mother's womb. Hear the prayers of your humble servant who implores you, through the intercession of St. Gerard, to protect me amid the dangers of childbearing and to watch over the child with which you blessed me. May this child be cleansed by the saving water of baptism and, after a Christian life on earth, may we, both mother and child, attain everlasting bliss in heaven. Amen.

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Prayer for Those Praying for a Pregnant Woman

Dear Redemptorist Saint, model Priest and Religious, compassionate toward suffering Mothers, intercede for this expectant Mother. Let her not be selfish like those who are willing to put an end to the life they bear within themselves. Instead let her remain ever conscious that she is privileged to be the instrument through whom God brings another life into the world. Encourage her for the good of her child and the glory of the Lord of life. Amen.

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Novena to St. Gerard

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