Santa Gema Galgani
His party is celebrated on April 11 (only in Spain on May 14)
Biography of Santa Gema Galgani
He was born on March 12, 1878 in Camigliano, a village near Lucca, in Italy. Gema is the Italian word for “gem”, precious stone. Her father was a prosperous pharmacist and her mother was also of noble lineage. The Galganis were Catholic and were blessed with eight children. Gemma, the fourth daughter and the first girl in the family, developed an irresistible attraction to prayer when she was still very young. This was a result of her pious mother, who taught Gema the truths of the Roman Catholic faith. Her mother especially instilled in the precious soul of her daughter the love of Christ crucified.
The young saint applied herself zealously to devotion. When Gema was only five years old, she read the Offices of Our Lady as easily and quickly as if she were an older person.
When Santa Gema’s mother had to go about her daily chores as a housewife, little Gema would tug on her mother’s skirt and say, “Mom, tell me a little more about Jesus.”
Unfortunately, Gema’s mother died soon. On the day that Gema received the sacrament of confirmation, as she ardently prayed at mass for her mother to recover her health (Mrs. Galgani was seriously ill), she heard an unmistakable voice within her heart say: “Will you give me to your mom?” “Yes,” Gema replied to her voice, “but as long as you take me too.” “No,” her voice replied, “give me your mother without reservation. For the moment you have to stay with your father. I’ll take you to heaven later.” Gema simply answered “yes”. This “yes” was to be repeated throughout Santa Gema’s short life in response to Our Lord’s invitation to suffer for Him.
Following the death of her beloved mother, Gema was sent by her father to a Catholic boarding school in Lucca, run by the Sisters of Santa Zita.
Reflecting on her school days later she would say, “I started going to the sisters’ school; I was in paradise.”
He excelled in French, arithmetic, and music and, in 1893, won the Grand Prix d’Or for his religious knowledge. One of his teachers at school summed it up nicely by saying, “She (Gema) was the soul of the school.”
Gema had been preparing hard for her First Communion. She used to beg: “Give me Jesus… and you will see how good I will be. I will have a big change. I will never commit a sin again. give it to me I long for Him so much, I can’t live without Him.”
Gema was allowed to receive First Communion at the age of nine, which was a younger age than usual. With her father’s permission, she went to a convent for ten days to intensively prepare for this solemn event.
Gema’s big day finally came on June 20, 1887, on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In her own words she described her first intimate encounter with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament this way:
“It is impossible to explain what then happened between Jesus and me. He made himself felt so strongly in my soul!”
Eric Galgani
The next major incident in Santa Gema’s life was when her father died in 1897. As a result of his great generosity, the unscrupulousness of his business contacts and his creditors, his children were left with nothing, and they had no money. not even the means to support himself. Gema was only nineteen years old, but she already had greater experience in carrying the cross.
Gema soon began to get sick. She developed a curvature in her spine. She also developed meningitis, leaving her with temporary hearing loss. Long abscesses formed on her head, her hair fell out, and finally her limbs became paralyzed. A doctor was called and tried many remedies, all of which failed. She only got worse.
Gema then began her devotion to the Venerable Gabriel Possenti of the Mother of the Afflicted (now Saint Gabriel). On her sickbed she read the story of her life. Later she wrote about the Venerable Gabriel:
“My admiration for his virtues and manners grew. My devotion to him increased. At night I didn’t sleep without having his portrait under my pillow, and then I began to see him close to me. I don’t know how to explain this, but I felt his presence. All the time and in every action, Brother Gabriel came to mind.
Gema, now twenty years old, seemed to be on her deathbed. A novena was suggested as the only chance of a cure. At midnight on February 23, 1898, she heard the sound of a rosary and understood that the venerable Gabriel was appearing before her. He spoke to Gem. “Do you wish to recover your health? Pray with faith every night to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I will come to you until the novena is over, and we will pray together to the Most Sacred Heart.”
On the first Friday of March the novena ended. Grace was granted: Gema was cured. As she rose from it, those around her wept with joy. Yes, a miracle had been performed!
Gema, now in perfect health, had always wanted to be a consecrated nun, but this was not to be. God had other plans for her. On June 8, 1898, after receiving Communion, Our Lord let her servant know that that very night she would give him an extraordinary grace.
Gema went home and prayed. She fell into ecstasy and felt enormous remorse for sinning. The Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom Santa Gema was tremendously devoted, appeared to her and spoke to her: “My son Jesus loves you beyond measure, and wants to give you a grace: I will be a mother to you. Will you be a true daughter?
The blessed Virgin Mary then opened her cloak and covered Gema with it.
This is how Santa Gema relates how she received the stigmata: “At that moment Jesus appeared with all his open wounds, but from these wounds no blood came out, but flames. In an instant these flames touched my hands, feet and heart. I felt as if he were dying, and would have fallen to the ground if my mother had not held me up, while all the time I remained under his blanket. I had to stay in that position for several hours. Finally she kissed me on the forehead and disappeared, and I found myself on my knees. I still felt great pain in my hands, feet and heart. I got up to go to bed, and I noticed that the blood was gushing from those parts where I felt the pain. I covered them as well as I could, and then, helped by my Angel, I was able to go to bed…” Many people, including the respected ecclesiastics of the Church, witnessed this miracle of the stigmata, who resorted to for most of the rest of his life. A witness stated: “Blood came out (of Santa Gema) from his wounds in great abundance. When she got up, she flowed to the floor, and when she was in bed she not only wet the sheets, but saturated the entire mattress. I measured some of these streams or pools of blood, and they were between twenty and twenty-five inches long and about two inches wide.”
Like Saint Francis of Assisi and Padre Pio, Gema can also say: “Nemo nihi molestus sit. Ego enim stigmanta Dimini Jesu in corpore meo porto”. Let no man harm me, since I bear the marks of Our Lord on my body”.
At twenty-one years of age, Gema was taken in by a generous Italian family, the Gianninis. The family already had eleven children, but they were happy to welcome this young and pious orphan into their home. The mother of the family, Mrs. Cecilia Gianinni, would later say of Gema: “I can declare under oath that during the three years and eight months that Gema was with us, I never knew of the slightest problem in our family because of her, and never I noticed the slightest defect in it. I repeat: neither the slightest problem nor the slightest defect”.
Santa Gema diligently helped with the chores of this large family. She also had time to pray, which was her favorite activity. Through Providence, she obtained the blessed Passionist Father Germán, CP, as a spiritual director to whom she was totally obedient.
Father German, an eminent theologian on mystical prayer, noted that Gema had the deepest prayer life and resulting unity with God. He was convinced that his “Christ Gem” had passed through all nine classical states of inner life.
Gema went to mass twice a day, receiving communion in one. She said the prayers with faith and at night, with Mrs. Giannini, she went to vespers. In all of her spiritual exercises not once did she neglect her daily chores at the Giannini’s house.
Santa Gema’s guardian angel appeared to him frequently. The two of them talked in the same way that best friends talk. Gema’s purity and innocence must have drawn this glorious angel from heaven to her side. Gema and her angel, with their wings outstretched or kneeling beside her, alternately recited prayers or psalms together. When they meditated on the passion of Our Lord, her angel inspired her with the most sublime thoughts of this mystery. Her guardian angel once told her about the agony of Christ: “Look what Jesus has suffered for men. Consider his wounds one by one. It is love that opened them all. See how execrable (horrible) sin is, since to expiate it, so much pain and so much love have been necessary.
In 1902 Gema, in good health since her miraculous cure, offered herself to God as a victim for the salvation of souls. Jesus accepted her, and she fell dangerously ill. She couldn’t pass any food. Although she briefly regained her health through Divine Providence, she quickly fell ill again. On September 21, 1902, she began to vomit pure blood that came from the violent spasms of love in her heart. Meanwhile, she was going through a spiritual martyrdom that she experienced as aridity and despair in her spiritual exercises. To add, the enemy demon multiplied her attacks against the young “Virgin of Lucca”. Satan redoubled the war against Gema because he knew that her end was drawing near. He strove to persuade her that she had been entirely abandoned by God, using her hellish appearances and even dealing physical blows against her frail body. A witness who was taking care of Gemma said: “That abominable beast will be the end of our dear Gemma – thuds, ferocious animal forms, etc. I walked away from her with tears because the devil was wearing her down.”
Gema incessantly invoked the sacred names of Jesus and Mary, the battle still raged within her. Her spiritual director, the venerable Fray Germán, regarding Gema’s last battle, declared: “The poor sufferer spent days, weeks and months in this way, giving us an example of heroic patience and reasons to feel a beneficial fear of what might happen.” happen to us, if we did not have the merits of Gema, at the time of our death”.
Still, to…