From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

September 24th - St. Gerard, Bishop of Csanad, Martyr
=C2 (A.D. 1046)

ST. GERARD, sometimes surnamed Sagredo, the apostle of a large
district in Hungary, was a Venetian, born about the beginning of the
11th century. At an early age he consecrated himself to the service of
God in the Benedictine monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore at Venice,
but after some time left it to undertake a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
While passing through Hungary he became known to the king, St.
Stephen, who made him tutor to his son, Bl. Emeric, and Gerard began
as well to preach with success. When St. Stephen established the
episcopal see of Csanad he appointed Gerard to be its first bishop.
The greater part of the people were heathen, and those that bore the
name of Christian were ignorant, brutish and savage, but St Gerard
laboured among them with much fruit. He always so far as possible
joined to the perfection of the episcopal state that of the
contemplative life, which gave him fresh vigour in the discharge of
his pastoral duties. But Gerard was also a scholar, and wrote an
unfinished dissertation on the Hymn of the Three Young Men (Daniel
iii), as well as other works which are lost.

King Stephen seconded the zeal of the good bishop so long as he lived,
but on his death in 1038 the realm was plunged into anarchy by
competing claimants to the crown, and a revolt against Christianity
began. Things went from bad to worse, and eventually, when celebrating
Mass at a little place on the Danube called Giod, Gerard had prevision
that he would on that day receive the crown of martyrdom. His party
arrived at Buda and were going to cross the river, when they were set
upon by some soldiers under the command of an obstinate upholder of
idolatry and enemy of the memory of King St. Stephen. They attacked
St. Gerard with a shower of stones, overturned his conveyance, and
dragged him to the ground. Whilst in their hands the saint raised
himself on his knees and prayed with St. Stephen, "Lord, lay not this
sin to their charge. They know not what they do." He had scarcely
spoken these words when he was run through the body with a lance; the insurgents then hauled him to the edge of the cliff called the
Blocksberg, on which they were, and dashed his body headlong into the
Danube below. It was September 24, 1046. The heroic death of St.
Gerard had a profound effect, he was revered as a martyr, and his
relics were enshrined in 1083 at the same time as those of St. Stephen
and his pupil Bl. Emeric. In 1333 the republic of Venice obtained the
greater part of his relics from the king of Hungary, and with great
solemnity translated them to the church of our Lady of Murano, wherein
St. Gerard is venerated as the protomartyr of Venice, the place of his
birth.

The most reliable source for the history of St. Gerard is, it appears,
the short biography printed in the Acta Sanctorum, September, vol. vi
(pp. 722-724). Contrary to the opinion previously entertained, it is
not an epitome of the longer life which is found in Endlicher,
Monumenta Arpadiana (pp. 205-234), but dates from the 12th or even the
end of the 11th century. This, at least, is the conclusion of R. F.
Kaindl in the Archiv f. Oesterreichische Geschichte, vol. xci (1902),
pp. 1-58. The other biographies are later expansions of the first
named, and not so trustworthy....

Taken from
http://www.katolikus.hu/hun-saints/gerard.html


Saint Quote:
Let my soul live as if separated from my body.
--St. John of the Cross

Bible Quote:
=C2 So also you now indeed have sorrow; but I will see you again, and
your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you.
(John 16:22) DRB


<><><><>
Sing to the Lord a new song

My dear brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, fruit of the true
faith and holy seed of heaven, all you who have been born again in
Christ and whose life is from above, listen to me; or rather, listen
to the Holy Spirit saying through me:
=C2 =C2 Sing to the Lord a new song. Look, you tell me, I am singing. =
Yes
indeed, you are singing; you are singing clearly, I can hear you. But
make sure that your life does not contradict your words. Sing with
your voices, your hearts, your lips, and your lives:
=C2 =C2 Sing to the Lord a new song. Now it is your unquestioned desir=
e to
sing of him whom you love, but you ask me how to sing his praises. You
have heard the words:
=C2 =C2 Sing to the Lord a new song, and you wish to know what praises=
to
sing. The answer is: His praise is in the assembly of the saints; it
is in the singers themselves. If you desire to praise him, then love
what you express. Live good lives, and you yourselves will be his
praise.
--St. Augustine of Hippo

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