Gemma
Galgani is one of the Church’s mystics. She was born in Camigliano,
Italy on March 12, 1878 of devout parents. The fifth child and eldest
daughter in a family of eight, she was given the name “Gemma” meaning
“gem”. The family later moved to Lucca where Enrico Galgani practiced as
a pharmacist.
Gemma’s beloved mother was the first to show her
the way of Christian piety. “It was Mamma,” Gemma was to say, “who made
me desire to go to heaven”. But tuberculosis took Aurelia Galgani when
Gemma was only seven. This great grief was softened by Gemma’s first
mystical communication which assured the little girl that her mother was
in Heaven.
Gemma began to attend school with the Sisters of St.
Zita and was considered bright. She longed to receive Holy Communion and
so begged and pleaded that she was granted the favor at age nine, then
an early age for first communicants. “I feel a fire burning here” was
her comment as she pointed to her heart.
At home, Gemma worked
diligently to fill her mother’s shoes. She loved the poor, giving them
what she could. She also taught religion to children, and visited the
sick in hospitals.
By age nineteen, Gemma was doubly orphaned by the death of her father, and had also lost two brothers and a little sister.
All
the while she made great strides in her spiritual life, her desire to
suffer with Jesus for the good of souls increasing. Gemma came down with
a spinal meningitis that almost took her life, but was healed through
the intercession of St. Gabriel Possenti of the Passionist Order who
appeared to her and to whom she became greatly attached.
Refused
entry into a Passionist convent, partially because of her health, Gemma
submitted to God’s will. From the time of her healing she began to
experience mystical graces that eventually led to her receiving the
stigmata of Christ. At this time she and other family members were
living with an aunt, and as her ecstasies became more frequent, she had
little privacy or understanding.
Through the influence of the
Passionists, she was introduced to the exceptionally devout Giannini
family, who ultimately adopted her as a daughter. The Gianninis became
the “reliquary” that enshrined the “gem” so her sanctity could develop
to the fullest.
Two other great friends were to accompany Gemma
during her life: her confessor Fr. Germanus, who guided her wisely and
securely, and her Guardian Angel, whom she saw often, and who instructed
and admonished her, delivered letters and messages to Fr. Germanus for
her, and who even brought her coffee in bed during her illnesses.
On
Pentecost Sunday in 1902, Gemma was stricken with a mysterious illness
which led to her death on Holy Saturday in 1903. She was twenty-five.
Gemma was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1940.
Sunday, April 11, 2021
St. Gemma Galgani
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