St. Gerard of Dyers
Encyclopedia
St. Gerard of Dyers is a saint of the Catholic Church, patron of Monza
with St. John the Baptist.
Gerard came from a wealthy family, after the death of his father, inherited the property, founded a hospital in order to assist the poor and sick. The head of the hospital seems to be the home of Gerard same: it was on the left bank of the River Lambro
, near the bridge that is now called "San Gerardino" and where there is the homonymous church.
The foundation of the hospital took place certainly before 1174. In fact, Gerard entered into this date with the Municipality of Monza and the cathedral chapter a convention in which he called the legal and administrative: the hospital formally depended on ecclesiastical authority, but in fact maintained substantial autonomy.
The service was conducted by the hospital lay: lay people who lived together as brothers, but without taking religious vows. Gerard was one of them and also held the post of "minister", as director of the hospital. As also appears from documents in the following years, he retained this post until his death on June 6, 1207.
and placed in a coffin at the altar of the church. In 1740, the sarcophagus was replaced by a crystal urn with silver decorations, inside which the skeleton of Gerard is visible to the faithful. The urn is placed in the chapel at the bottom of the right transept.
Gerard's hospital continued his activities until the eighteenth century, when the Austrian government merges with the other health institutions. In 1946 the Municipality of Monza
decided to remember his work entitled the City Hospital built in the nineteenth century (which formerly bore the name of Umberto I), also the new hospital, built later, which also houses the faculty of Medicine, University of Milan-Bicocca, has kept the dedication to St. Gerard.
Saint Gerard is invoked especially by the sicks and pregnant women. The traditional iconography represents the old (he lived about 70 years) and bearded, dressed in a tunic, with a staff from which hangs a sprig of cherries at her feet is a basket with bread, wine and eggs, or a bowl with a spoon, symbolizing his attempts to help the poor and the sick persons.
His liturgical memorial, inscribed in the calendar of Archdiocese of Milan is June 6, which is also the anniversary of his death. On this date, Monza
celebrates its patronal feast in his honor in the church of St Gerard's body and the nearby bridge of St. Gerardino held a festival in which they have an important place in the stalls selling cherries, traditional iconographic attributes of the Saint. A few meters upstream from the bridge, the statue of St. Gerard, standing on his cloak, is placed in the river, in memory of the most famous miracle attributed to him.
, and was written for the first time since by the reporter Bonincontri Morigia who, a hundred years after his death, he was able to collect the testimonies of the people.
According to this tradition, St. Gerard made many miracles in life and many others are attributed to its intercession
after his death. The investigation ordered by St. Charles Borromeo, he recognized all over twenty.
Monza
Monza is a city and comune on the river Lambro, a tributary of the Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy some 15 km north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Monza and Brianza. It is best known for its Grand Prix motor racing circuit, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.On June...
with St. John the Baptist.
Biography
The year of birth of Gerard is not known with certainty, according to historian of Monza Bartolomeo Zucchi was the 1134, according to others 1135 or 1140. The name "Dyer" or "Dyers" (Latin:de Tinctoribus) probably refers to the profession practiced by his family.Gerard came from a wealthy family, after the death of his father, inherited the property, founded a hospital in order to assist the poor and sick. The head of the hospital seems to be the home of Gerard same: it was on the left bank of the River Lambro
Lambro
For the river in Cilento, see Lambro . For the genus, see Lambro .The Lambro is a river of Lombardy, northern Italy, a left tributary of the Po....
, near the bridge that is now called "San Gerardino" and where there is the homonymous church.
The foundation of the hospital took place certainly before 1174. In fact, Gerard entered into this date with the Municipality of Monza and the cathedral chapter a convention in which he called the legal and administrative: the hospital formally depended on ecclesiastical authority, but in fact maintained substantial autonomy.
The service was conducted by the hospital lay: lay people who lived together as brothers, but without taking religious vows. Gerard was one of them and also held the post of "minister", as director of the hospital. As also appears from documents in the following years, he retained this post until his death on June 6, 1207.
After Death
Initially buried in the cemetery of the nearby church of St. Ambrose (now St. Gerard The Body), the body was exhumed forty days after the initiative of the population of Olgiate ComascoOlgiate Comasco
Olgiate Comasco is a comune in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan and about southwest of Como...
and placed in a coffin at the altar of the church. In 1740, the sarcophagus was replaced by a crystal urn with silver decorations, inside which the skeleton of Gerard is visible to the faithful. The urn is placed in the chapel at the bottom of the right transept.
Gerard's hospital continued his activities until the eighteenth century, when the Austrian government merges with the other health institutions. In 1946 the Municipality of Monza
Monza
Monza is a city and comune on the river Lambro, a tributary of the Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy some 15 km north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Monza and Brianza. It is best known for its Grand Prix motor racing circuit, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.On June...
decided to remember his work entitled the City Hospital built in the nineteenth century (which formerly bore the name of Umberto I), also the new hospital, built later, which also houses the faculty of Medicine, University of Milan-Bicocca, has kept the dedication to St. Gerard.
Worship and tradition
The veneration of Gerard began soon after his death is called "blessed" in a document of 1230, and "holy" in one of 1247. St. Charles Borromeo, after making an investigation, confirmed officially the cult in 1583. Monza entitled to him three churches.Saint Gerard is invoked especially by the sicks and pregnant women. The traditional iconography represents the old (he lived about 70 years) and bearded, dressed in a tunic, with a staff from which hangs a sprig of cherries at her feet is a basket with bread, wine and eggs, or a bowl with a spoon, symbolizing his attempts to help the poor and the sick persons.
His liturgical memorial, inscribed in the calendar of Archdiocese of Milan is June 6, which is also the anniversary of his death. On this date, Monza
Monza
Monza is a city and comune on the river Lambro, a tributary of the Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy some 15 km north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Monza and Brianza. It is best known for its Grand Prix motor racing circuit, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.On June...
celebrates its patronal feast in his honor in the church of St Gerard's body and the nearby bridge of St. Gerardino held a festival in which they have an important place in the stalls selling cherries, traditional iconographic attributes of the Saint. A few meters upstream from the bridge, the statue of St. Gerard, standing on his cloak, is placed in the river, in memory of the most famous miracle attributed to him.
The Miracles
The tradition about St. Gerard, still alive among MonzaMonza
Monza is a city and comune on the river Lambro, a tributary of the Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy some 15 km north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Monza and Brianza. It is best known for its Grand Prix motor racing circuit, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.On June...
, and was written for the first time since by the reporter Bonincontri Morigia who, a hundred years after his death, he was able to collect the testimonies of the people.
According to this tradition, St. Gerard made many miracles in life and many others are attributed to its intercession
Intercession
Intercession is the act of interceding between two parties. In both Christian and Islamic religious usage, it is a prayer to God on behalf of others....
after his death. The investigation ordered by St. Charles Borromeo, he recognized all over twenty.
- The most famous is certainly the miracle of crossing the LambroLambroFor the river in Cilento, see Lambro . For the genus, see Lambro .The Lambro is a river of Lombardy, northern Italy, a left tributary of the Po....
: it is said that while Gerard was in the Cathedral to pray, the river, suddenly swell, broke the bridge connecting the hospital with the city. The hospital faced the Lambro, and in risk of being flooded: Gerard, immediately rushed, spread his cloak on the water, climbed on it and crossed the river, reaching the sicks, and ordered not to enter the waters rooms of the sicks. According to the report of Morigia, the water stops at the door for a few hours and all were saved. - Another miracle is called by the sprig of cherries with which St. Gerard was represented: it is said that he often held back to church to pray until late hours. One evening, to convince the canons of the Cathedral to let him stay past the closing time, he promised them a basket of cherries, although it was midwinter, gave them to him immediately the next morning. This episode, however, does not appear in the record and acts Morigia investigation ordered by St. Charles Borromeo, so it must be considered an invention of a later period (the first written document that speaks of is 1695. Gerard says Morigia instead went to pray in the Cathedral in the morning very early and often came even before the official opening and entered through the doors closed, what the thing was well known to the sextons.
- It is said that, in times of scarcityScarcityScarcity is the fundamental economic problem of having humans who have unlimited wants and needs in a world of limited resources. It states that society has insufficient productive resources to fulfill all human wants and needs. Alternatively, scarcity implies that not all of society's goals can be...
(perhaps in the 1162), when the hospital supplies were almost exhausted, Gerard ordered to distribute to the poor all that remained, then gathered in prayer: the steward found the barn so full that he could not even open the door and the cellar filled with barrels of good wineWineWine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
. - St. Gerard is also venerated by the faithful of Olgiate ComascoOlgiate ComascoOlgiate Comasco is a comune in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan and about southwest of Como...
for another miracle: he had been dead for forty days when the citizens, afflicted by a serious disease called "syncope" (it is uncertain exactly what disease it was), on the advice of a hermit went on a pilgrimage to his tomb in MonzaMonzaMonza is a city and comune on the river Lambro, a tributary of the Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy some 15 km north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Monza and Brianza. It is best known for its Grand Prix motor racing circuit, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.On June...
and the disease disappeared. Gratitude perpetually vowed to repeat the pilgrimage every year, it still does every April 25th. The olgiatesi also spread the cult of St Gerard in neighboring towns: in 1740 the historic Monza Antonio Francesco Frisi lists over 14 places where the saint was venerated, including ComoComoComo is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy.It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como....
and MendrisioMendrisioMendrisio is a municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.Mendrisio is the seat of the Accademia di Architettura of the university of Italian speaking Switzerland ....
. - To St. Gerard were attributed different cures. Among them is important for the healing of Nazario from Sesto San GiovanniSesto San GiovanniSesto San Giovanni is a comune in the Milan metropolitan area, located in the province of Milan and region of Lombardy in Italy. Its railway station is the northernmost stop on the Milan Metro M1 line. The city is informally referred to as "Sesto"...
, which refers Morigia, drunk, fell under the wheels of a heavy cart. And pressed the throat; believed dead, awoke after an hour perfectly healthy. - Morigia reports a rather curious event, which also was considered miraculous in 1324, during a war, some soldiers went up on the roof of the Church of St. Gerard and began to dismantle for firewood. Faced with protests from the citizens, one of the soldiers swore and offended the Saint and immediately all fell from the roof and the blasphemer died instantly.
- Morigia also describes one Miracle that features a woman in San Fruttuoso (district of Monza), this woman, married, named Onorina from Cascine Bovati, getting old, but had lost his sight, insisting with his relatives, he was able to be accompanied in the church which was erected to contain the remains and worship. Conducted at the grave, she kissed the mantle and this woman came to see. The miracle is witnessed by a priest, chaplain of the church of S. John and confessor of the woman.