His mother, Benedetta Galella, then sent him to her brother so that he could teach Gerard to sew and follow in his father's footsteps.

[2] Upon the bishop's death, Gerard returned to his trade, working first as a journeyman and then on his own account, but earned a minimal income.

One of the Pirofalo girls spotted the handkerchief moments after he had left the house, and she ran after Gerard to return it, but he told her to keep it in case she might need it someday.

Years later when the girl, now a married woman, was on the verge of dying in childbirth, she remembered the words of the saintly lay brother.

That was no small feat in an era when only one out of three pregnancies resulted in a live birth, and word of the miracle spread quickly.

At the process of his beatification, one witness testified that he was known as "il santo dei felice parti," the saint of happy childbirths.

Each year during the Feast days, which include October 16, there are traditional lights, music, food stands and a street procession.

[9] The St. Gerard Majella Annual Novena takes place every year at St. Josephs Church in Dundalk, Ireland.

In Scotland, there is a church and primary school dedicated to St Gerard Majella in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, opened in 1971 & 1973 respectively.

Nowadays the Saint Gerard School is used by a charity organisation "Geraarke" (local name) which supports poor people with clothes and food packages.

In Nigeria, there is a shrine dedicated to St Gerard Majella at a place called Oba, in Anambra State.

The Redemptorists also built a school for the poor and most abandoned in the shrine site dedicated to St Gerard Majella.