Born in Northumbria, England; died in Galway, Ireland, 732. Saint
Gerald became a monk at Lindisfarne and probably followed Saint Colman
to Innisbofin Island, Galway, Ireland, when the Celtic liturgical
practices were displaced in Northumbria.
He became a monk, then abbot, of the abbey known as Mayo of the Saxons,
which Colman founded for the English following a quarrel between the
English and Irish monks. The abbey flourished and was so well known for
the erudition of its monks that
Blessed Alcuin (f.d. May 19)
corresponded with its abbot and monks. He lived to a great age and may
have witnessed the introduction of Roman observances into his abbey.
Gerald is sometimes said to have been consecrated bishop, but this is
uncertain.
He is believed to have founded the abbeys of Elytheria, or Tempul-Gerald
in Connaught, as well as Teaghna-Saxon, and a convent that he put under
the care of his sister Segretia. He was buried at Mayo, where a church
dedicated to God under his patronage remains to this day
(
Attwater,
Benedictines,
Delaney,
Encyclopedia,
Farmer,
Husenbeth).