RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
George, Saint G-erberon
GEORGIOS SCHOLARIOS. See Gennadius II.
GER. See Proselytes; Stranger.
GERARD, je-rard' (Fr. Gerard, zhe-rar'; Germ. Gerhard): The name of sixty or seventy worthies in the hagiological tradition of the Roman Church, some classed as saints, some as blessed. Among the more noteworthy are :
1. Saint Gerard of Brogne: Abbot of Brogne (Bronium, Braine-le-Comte, 13 m. n.n.e. of Mons), reformer of Benedictine monasteries in Lorraine and Flanders; b. at Staves (Stablecellce) in the diocese of Namur, between 880 and 890; d. in the monastery of Brogne, presumably Oct. 3, 959. He descended from a noble family and in his youth served under Count Berengar of Namur. While on a hunting trip with the count, he retired to a chapel to pray and beheld a vision of the apostles; Peter a.sked him to build a larger church in place of the chapel in honor of Peter and the martyr Eugene, and to bring thither the bones of the latter. Gerard obeyed, built a church and a canonry (913), and devoted himself to an ascetic life. He went to Paris and studied in the monastery of St. Denis. After having been consecrated presbyter, he returned to Brogne, about 923, as an independent abbot. From St. Denis he brought the relics of Eugene and many other saints. The rumor of miracles effected by these relics in the church of Brogne spread far and wide, and people came in such crowds that Gerard shut himself up in a small cell to conclude his days in quietness and prayer; but he was repeatedly called from his hiding-place as a reformer. In 931 Duke Giselbert of Lorraine asked him to introduce the Benedictine order in the demoralized monastery of St. Ghislain in the diocese of Cambrai. Six years later Count Arnulph of Flanders called him to restore the destroyed monastery of St. Bavo in Ghent and to introduce the Benedictine rule in the neighboring canonry of Blandinium. Several other monasteries were subsequently reformed by Gerard after strictly Benedictine principles, especially St. Bertin of Flanders, in the diocese of Therouanne about 944 and St. Amand in the diocese of Tournai 952. Apparently in this later period of his life, he made a pilgrimage to Rome to ask the blessing of the pope for his institutions and a privilege for his monastery of Brogne. After his return, he undertook a general visitation of his monasteries. Various miracles, it is said, were wrought by his dead body, in consequence of which Innocent II. canonized him. The monastery was united to the bishopric of Namur by Paul IV. in 1556.
Bibliography: An anonymous Vita with commentary is in ASB, Oct., ii. 200-320; the Vita is also in MGH, Script., xv (1888), 654-673, cf. Ex virtutibus S. Eugenii, ib. pp. 646-652, and Sermo de adventu S. Eugenii in Analecta Bollandiana, v. 395 sqq. Consult: U. Berliere, Monaslicon Beige, i. 28 sqq., Bruges, 1890 (contains very complete list of literature); P. Gunther, Das Leben des heiligen Gerhard, Halle, 1877; W Schultze, Gerhard von Brogne und die Klosterreform, in Forschungen der deutschen Geschichte, xxv. 223-271, Gottingen, 1885; A. Servais, Essai sur la vie de S. Gerard, Namur, 1885; E. Sackur, Die Cluniacensur, i. 121-141, Halle, 1892; Hauck, KD, iii. 345-349.
2. Gerard Sagredo: Bishop of Csanad (44 m. n. of Temesvar), eastern Hungary; b. at Venice c.
960; d. at Csanad Sept. 24, 1046. Before he went as missionary to the Magyars he lived as a monk in San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice. In recognition of his successful missionary work Stephen I. of Hungary gave him the honorary title Apostle of Hungary and made him bishop of Csanad in 1036. He retained his bishopric under the two less Christian successors of Stephen, until his death as a martyr. He is said to have been the first to teach the Hungarians to address the Virgin Mary as " Our Lady."
Bibliography: An anonymous Vita and an Elogium with comment are printed in ASB, Sept., vi. 713-725. Consult: H. Marczali, Ungarns Geschichte, pp. 24-33, Berlin, 1882; Wattenbach, DGQ, ii (1886), 185, ii (1894), 209.
3. Gerard of La Sauve: French Benedictine reformer, founder of the congregation of Sauve- Majour in Guienne; d. 1098. Under his leadership, which lasted till his death, this reform congregation won considerable fame and attained a strength of seventy cloisters.
Bibliography: S. Cirot de la Ville, Hist, de la congregation de . la Grande Sauve, 2 vols., Bordeaux, 1844; Moniquet, S. Gerard de I'ordre de S. Benoit, Paris, 1895.
4. Gerard of Toul: Bishop of Toul (14 m. w. of Nancy); b. at Cologne c. 935; d. at Toul 994. He was made bishop of Toul by Archbishop Bruno, and deserves mention here as the restorer of the cathedral at Toul, and as the self-sacrificing shepherd of his diocese during the famine and pest of
981. (O. ZoCKLERf.)
Bibliography: The early Vita and the Miracula by Widric are in ASB, April, iii. 206-213, and, ed. Waitz, in MGH, Script., iv (1841), 485-509. Consult Wattenbach, DGQ, ii (1886), 115, i (1893), 337, ii. 127-128.
GERASENES, ger"a-sinz': According to the best readings of Mark v. 1 and Luke viii. 26, the name of the people in whose region Jesus healed a demoniac, permitting the " legion of demons " to enter into a herd of swine. In Matt. viii. 28 " Gadarenes " is the preferable reading, and " Gergesenes " is also found. Gadara, the capital of Persea, has been thought too far from the Sea of Galilee to satisfy the narrative, but its territory reached to the shores of the sea. A hill west of the sea, Jabal Kuran Jaradi, has been thought to retain the old name, changing Gadarenes into Garadenes. Gerasa can not be the modern Jerash, but may be Kersah, a ruined village on the left bank of the Wadi as-Samak about half-way between the northern and southern extremities of the Sea of Galilee, or as-Sur (connected with kursi, " seat ") farther up the same wadi. See Gatjlanitis; Per^ea.
GERBERON, zhar"be"ren', GABRIEL: One of
the most famous disciples of St. Augustine and one of the most profilic writers of his time; b. at St. Calais (95 m. s.w. of Paris), in Maine, Aug. 12, 1628; d. at the abbey of St. Denis, Paris, Mar. 29, 1711. He received an excellent education from the fathers of the Congregation of St. Maur, of which he became a member in 1648. He taught rhetoric, philosophy, and theology in different abbeys; but, developing too great a zeal for the doctrine of the " disciples of grace " and being suspected as a Jansenist, his superiors finally sent him to the abbey of St. Germain des Pres at Paris, under supervision. After 1675 he was active in the abbey of Corbie
Gerbert Gerhardt