Spirituality
Hope for Infertility through Prayer
As health care providers, we have the opportunity to acknowledge the intense sufferings of the many couples facing infertility. Since many of us undoubtedly know a patient, a friend, or a family member who struggles with this cross, we can offer hope by presenting our prayers. To assist us in this process, we can call on the Patron Saint of infertility (and expectant mothers), Saint Gerard Majella, so assigned as a result of a miracle effected through his prayers for a woman in labor.
Saint Gerard was born in Muro, Italy in 1726. He was pale and sickly but it was apparent from early on that he held great interior strength, wisdom and piety. When he was young, his father died and he worked diligently as a tailor, dividing his earnings between his family and the poor. His true commitment, however, was always with God. He first attempted to become a Franciscan and then a hermit but later entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. As a Redemptorist, he was a model of every virtue and conversions and miracles surrounded him. He was the most obedient, the most hard-working and the most dedicated to his vocation. He was also known to have mystical abilities such as powers of prophecy, healing, bilocations, and the reading of consciences. He even predicted the day and hour of his own death at the age of 29 from tuberculosis.
O good St Gerard, powerful intercessor before God and wonder worker of our day, confidently I call upon you and seek your aid. On Earth you always fulfilled God's designs, help me now to do the holy will of God. Implore the Master of Life, from whom all paternity proceeds, to render me fruitful in offspring, that I may raise up children to God in this life, and in the world to come, heirs to the Kingdom of His Glory.
Amen.
In his life, Saint Gerard had a special affinity for mothers in need and sacrificed greatly to ensure their safety and comfort. In particular, pregnant woman sought him out and he helped so many, he was nicknamed the "Saint of Happy Deliveries," which was officially declared at his canonization December 11, 1904, by Saint Pius X.