Excerpt from Life of Blessed Gerard Majella: Lay-Brother of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer An abundance of the most extraordinary operations of divine grace, set in the frame of a very ordinary human life, is what is here presented to the reader. The atmosphere of miracles, which he enters who disdains not to peruse these pages, will in no manner mislead the reader, provided he keeps constantly in mind the design of God in raising up souls similar to the Venerable Gerard Majella. God's design does not aim simply at setting in the firmament of the Church, as new stars, those extraordinary beings who shall serve to increase the knowledge of "day and night," and point out the right course through the dangerous sea of this life; that is, God does not wish to raise up only such saints, who by their efforts and struggles and the clear manifestation of their soul's life in every particular may serve as models for instruction and imitation. God's design is a loftier one, showing forth, in these vessels of grace, in an unmistakable and even palpable manner, His continued presence and working in the Church; and by means of heavenly ornaments, exhibiting this Spouse of the Holy Ghost in all her grandeur and majesty. As our Lord, in the beginning of His Church sought, by the glory of His miracles and those of His Apostles, to attract the attention of men and to make them acknowledge "Here is the truth because here is omnipotence;" so He also acts, and shall act, continually to the end of time, for the benefit of future generations. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.