he answered with a smile: "Yes, I should like to eat some cherries". She thought he was delirious. He insisted, however, and she went out partly convinced that she would find cherries. There, in a small enclosure, she saw a cherry tree full of very red and very ripe fruit "as fine and fresh as in June". It was for that reason that Gerard Mecatti is depicted dressed in grey but wearing the cross of Saint John on his breast and carrying a branch loaded with red cherries. On 13 May 1254, he died in his hermitage, full of meritorious years and virtues. His body was placed not far from there in the branches of an oak tree, so that he might be out of reach of the fanatic piety of the villagers who would not have hesitated to dig him up in order to divide his relics. But the precaution did not suffice; the Republic of Florence had to send soldiers to protect his body in that elevated position. Then, it was decided to build a church in his honour in Villamagna. He now rests there, under the main altar, in a reliquary of stone. As late as the 17th century, his body was still well preserved and intact; it emitted a pleasing fragrance, as could be corroborated every year on the day of his feast - the second day of Pentecost - when it was shown to the people. Beatification His beatification was approved under Pope Gregory XVI on 18 March 1833. References External links Saints SQPN Saints of the Day: 13 May Saints of the Order of St. John/Order of Malta: Blessed Gerard Mecatti 1174 births 1242 deaths People from Bagno a Ripoli 13th-century venerated Christians 13th-century Italian Christian monks Franciscan beatified people Italian beatified people Italian Franciscans Members of the Third Order of Saint Francis Venerated Catholics