ST. GEMMA GALGANI...
First lay Passionist saint
Despite the fact that deep down we all know
that sanctity is a normal state of grace and that saints don’t necessarily have
to be exceptional people, it is nevertheless also true that the lives of
certain saints definitely show that the Lord has endowed them with very special
graces and that he has specially chosen them to be immaculate in his sight.
This is the impression one certainly gets upon reading the life of Gemma
Galgani. Nothing seems to be missing! Jesus attracts her from a very tender age
with a passionate love and he is opposed by that old enemy of man, the devil,
as well as by the obduracy of divers personalities,
including those in charge of her spiritual direction.
Gemma was born in the town of Borgonuovo, near
Lucca, on the 12th March 1878, her parents being Enrico Galgani, a
pharmacist, and Aurelia Landi. She could read by the age of four. By the age of
five she could handle the breviary and recite the office of Our Lady and that
of the dead, all in Latin. Further on she’ll pray the office of Lauds (morning prayer) together with “Confrater Gabriel” who
frequently appears to her, giver his Passionist “Sign” to her and calls her,
“my sister.”
Gemma was sent to a school near the Zitine cloistered nuns of
At the age of seven, on the day of her
Confirmation, the Lord asks her for a huge sacrifice. She writes, “I received Confirmation weeping because
the person accompanying me wanted to hear the holy Mass and I always feared
that my mother would
leave home without taking me with her. All of a sudden a voice speaks to my
heart and says to me, “are you willing to give me your mother?” “Yes, I
answered, but only if you take me too.” “No! the voice
answered me, you must now remain here with your “babbo” (daddy.) Know that I shall be taking her to heaven.” To this I felt
obliged to answer him, “Yes!” A year later her mother Aurelia passed away.
When she was 9 she received First Communion after
having repeatedly requested this of Bishop Giovanni Volpe, her spiritual guide
together with Fr. Germano Ruoppolo, C.P.
In 1897 Gemma’s father, Enrico, passed away. In
those days there was no pension fund or other assistance, and with a kind and
generous man like Enrico things weren’t made any easier for his family. He had
a number of unpaid debts, his creditors foreclosed on his estate poor Gemma was
to experience poverty and humiliation. Taken in by a maternal aunt, she helped
at her drapery store. Later she went to live with the Giannini family in
She firmly decided she’d “become the spouse of a crucified king, and belong entirely to Jesus. “
She knocked at the doors of various religious houses, especially the Passionist
nuns. But given her poor health and her mystical experiences, nobody would take
her. She once said to the Passionist nuns, “You
haven’t wanted me alive, but you’ll have me when I’m dead!”
Her life was marked by physical and moral
suffering, family deaths and financial poverty.
Many were the signs of Jesus’ special love for
her: ecstasies, interior locutions and apparitions. She had no money for
postage stamps, bit her guardian angel took it upon himself to deliver her
letters to Father Germano. Doctors, quite incapable of perceiving the truth in
Gemma, were of the opinion that her mystical experiences were not authentic.
Even Bishop Volpi, some of whose attitudes were a little infantile, declared
that she was “a little off her rocker.”
Added to all this the
devil paid his own special attentions to her. He appeared to her as the mortal
remains of the Giannini family house boy; he used to strike her, stand in her
way and went so far as to take possession of her diary, though Fr. Germano
forced him to put it back, albeit scorched through.
Gemma was truly enamoured of Jesus Crucified,
and he in turn, in 1899, gave her the stigma of his wounds, so that every week
from then on, from Thursday afternoons through Friday evenings, the marks of
Our Lord’s suffering and Passion were displayed on her innocent body. She would
exclaim, “Oh Jesus, I’m the fruit of
your Passion, a sprout of your precious wounds.” It is not enough to have the
cross before one’s eyes, nor to bear it on one’s
shoulder; one must have it within one’s heart. Oh Jesus, grant that I may drink
of the cup of your Passion right down to the last drop; give it to me a little
at a time.”
It was as a result of her love for her
Crucified Spouse that she obtained the strength to offer up her suffering for
the salvation of sinners. She would pray, “Oh
Jesus, I want to save all the sinners. Punish me in their stead. There are a
great many sinners but few victims.”
In `1896 she underwent an extremely painful
operation surgical operation to try and cure some bone infection. Anaesthesia
wasn’t as common in those days as it is now. Later, in 1899 she underwent
surgery for a kidney abscess and a dozen hot discs were applied along the
length of her spine! Then came an abscess on her head
which healed miraculously.
Gemma was 24 years old when she died in the
month of April, 1903, after living through a Holy Week during which she was
truly nailed to the Cross, jut as the Holy Saturday church bells signalled
the glorious Resurrection of Jesus. Pius XII canonized her in 1940.
This year will be the first centenary of the
death of Gemma. Her life and her heroic mission make her memory more relevant
than ever, even as her presence seems ever closer to us. She is a model of
sanctity for all of us, particularly for the committed laity, called to
holiness through their daily lives, joyfully bearing their daily crosses. Gemma
is a striking example of a lay Passionist and hence rightly held as the patron
the Passionist Lay Movement.
Francesco Valori