Blessed Joseph Gérard was a French priest and missionary.

Joseph was born in northern France in 1831, the eldest of five children. His parents, Jean and Ursule, ran a farm and he helped them run it throughout his childhood. Joseph received religious instruction from the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, an order of priests that had originated in France. He joined the order in May of 1851, just after his twentieth birthday.

He was sent to South Africa to complete his theological training in 1853 and was assigned a pastoral placement there after diaconate ordination. Joseph never again returned to France.

Joseph was very skilled at learning languages and quickly picked up the native Zulu and Sesotho tongues. Joseph was ordained in 1854 and began work among the Zulu people. In 1862, a local bishop asked Joseph to join in his mission in Lesotho, the land-locked country within South Africa. Joseph worked with the Basotho King to establish the first Catholic mission with the royal cooperation.

Joseph worked to bring the Gospel to and minister to the Basotho people until he died in 1914. Pope John Paul II beatified Joseph in 1988, on his papal visit to Lesotho. Joseph is one of the patron intercessors for missionaries.

Blessed Joseph Gérard, loving missionary for Christ’s Gospel—pray for us!