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Saints and Blesseds
Saint Gerlac
[January 14]
St. Gerlac was born in the 12th century, of noble parents, at Houthem, Netherlands, called at present, Houthem St. Gerlac. He was an officer in the army of the German emperor. He had led a life of dissipation and sin until the grace of God touched him at a tournament of nobles at Julich, where he hoped to carry off again the prize for military skill and bravery. When all were assembled and the tournament was about to begin, a messenger brought him sad news of the sudden death of his beloved wife. This sorrowful message overwhelmed him with almost uncontrollable grief, but it conveyed at the same time a salutary lesson. It unveiled to him the vanities of the world. Without a moment's delay, he left his aristocratic associates and returned to Houthem. Having put his affairs in order, he took the pilgrim's staff, visited various shrines, repaired to Rome and threw himself at the feet of Pope Eugenius III. He made a general confession to the Holy Father and asked for a severe penance in expiation of his sinful life. The pope ordered him to go to Jerusalem and there to serve the sick and the poor in the hospitals for a period of seven years. After this time of severe penance combined with works of charity, Gerlac returned to Rome where he gave an account of his activities to the Sovereign Pontiff Adrian IV, who was educated in one of the schools of the Order and, according to some historians, was a member of the Norbertine family. By the pope's advice he returned to Houthem to lead a hermit's life. Not far from the castle in which he was born there stood a hollow oak tree of large dimensions in which he made his dwelling place, a little matting being his bed and a stone his pillow. Under the white habit of St. Norbert, which he had received, he carried various instruments of penance. Each day he visited the tomb of St. Servatius of Maastricht, and each Saturday he made a pilgrimage to the shrine of our Lady at Aix-la-chapelle. His favorite saying was "Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner." Like St. Benedict Labre, he had much to endure from ill disposed people who misunderstood his penances and pilgrimages. When he was at the point of death, his biographer narrates that St. Servatius appeared to him and gave him the consolations of our holy religion. He died in 1171, on January 5th.
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