Joseph Gérard, OMI (12 March 1831 – 29 May 1914) was a French Catholic priest and a professed member from the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate; he worked in the missions among the Basotho people in Lesotho and the Free State province of South Africa.

He received his religious education from the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and he later joined their order on 9 May 1851 when he commenced his period of the novitiate.

The order's founder Eugène de Mazenod elevated him to the diaconate and on 3 April 1853 assigned him to Natal in South Africa in 1853; he set off not long after on 10 May after bidding farewell to his family the previous day.

[1][4] In January 1862 he joined Bishop Marie-Jean-François Allard in starting the first Catholic mission in Lesotho since there had existed a Protestant congregation that the a French movement founded.

[1][3] Gérard approached and received permission from the Basotho King Moshoeshoe I and so helped found the "Motse-oa-'M'a-Jesu" ("Village of the Mother of Jesus") mission around 32 kilometers (20 mi) south of Thaba Bosiu now at the present Roma.

Pope John Paul II approved this miracle on 1 June 1987 and beatified the late priest while on his visit to Lesotho on 15 September 1988.