“Blessed Joseph Gérard, OMI”
 
 Joseph Gérard, born in 1831 in France, joined the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate at the age of 20.

Two years later, he was sent by the Order’s founder, Eugene de Mazenod, as a missionary to Southern Africa. He was never to see his family or homeland again.

Ordained in South Africa in 1854, he first served in the Oblate mission to the Zulu people. Later, he helped set up the first Catholic mission in Lesotho. It was there he would spend the rest of his days. He died in 1914, on May 29, his feast day, and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1998.

Blessed Joseph Gérard, OMI, is depicted with the Constitutions and Rules of the Missionary Oblates in his right hand.

The only distinctive sign worn by the Missionary Oblates is their missionary cross. On the cross, the head of Christ is raised, Christ alive.

Under the OMI, there is the state flower which survives all kinds of climate, a symbol of hope, beauty, and stability.

Blessed Joseph Gerard, pray for us!
 
© 2015 Clyde Rausch, OMI