Gerald was born in Northumbria, England, and ended up being a monk at Lindisfarne. When Celtic liturgical practices were prohibited there, he left England and went into an abbey on the island of Inishbofin off the coast of Mayo, Ireland. When the English and Irish monks there quarreled, he constructed an abbey for the English monks on the mainland. He prospered St. Colman as abbot.

In the latter half of the 11th century, Bernard, the Archbishop of Toledo, was entrusted by the Pope to produce an ecclesiastical reform in Spain. He hired numerous French clerics and monks, amongst whom was St. Gerald, Abbott of Moissac, who was designated choir director of the Cathedral of Toledo.

So well did this saintly guy meet his tasks therefore much did he affect individuals for great, that when the See of Braga ended up being uninhabited, Gerald was chosen by the clergy and individuals of that city to be their bishop. Gerald visited his diocese eliminating the abuses that had actually emerged, particularly that of the administering of ecclesiastical investiture by laypersons.

Lessons

Although St. Gerald was a relatively boy, he showed a sensible ruler and governed Mayo till 697, when, it is stated, he resigned in favor of St. Adamnan. Some authors hold that St. Adamnan commemorated the Roman Easter at Mayo, in 703, and after that went to Skreen, in Hy Fiachrach, which after his departure the monks dominated on St. Gerald to resume the abbacy. The Saxon saint continued to govern the Abbey and Diocese of Mayo till his death.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for St. Gerald and his example, not just to those of his own day however to us in this present time. We ask that St. Gerald, in addition to all our brethren in paradise and the angelic hosts, supervise us and wish us that we might live according to Your will. Amen.

Other Saints We Remember Today

St. Sabbas (532 ), Abbot

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