Gemma Galgani, Saint (GEMMA GALGANI, SANTA) - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. V, p. 1181

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

GEMMA GALGANI, santa. - Virgin, b. at Camigliano (Lucca) on March 12, 1878, d. at Lucca on Apr. 11, 1903. Docile to her mother's pious

(from Estasi, diario, autobiografia, scritti vari di s. G. G. edited by the Postulation of the Passionist Fathers, Rome 1920, p. 232)
GEMMA GALGANI, santa - Pages from the Autobiography of St. G. The smoke smudges are attributed to the devil.

teachings (Aurelia Landi), from early childhood she had a vivid desire for heaven and a holy devotion to Jesus Crucified. She attended the schools of the Sisters of St. Zita in Lucca and had the founder herself, Sister Elena Guerra, as her teacher. Orphaned of her mother at eight years old, she also lost her father, a pharmacist, at nineteen; after which the family found itself in the most squalid poverty. A pious lady of Lucca, Cecilia Giannini, welcomed her into her home, where she lived until her death, alongside the large family of the pharmacist Matteo Giannini.

God chose to enrich this faithful servant of His with singular gifts. Her ecstasies were very frequent, as Jesus Christ, the Virgin, the saints, and particularly her guardian angel appeared to her with utmost affability, repeatedly carrying her letters to her extraordinary director Fr. Germano di S. Stanislao, a Passionist. She also participated in a tangible way in the sufferings of the Redeemer: bloody sweat, scourging, crowning with thorns, stigmata on her hands, feet, and side; all things, however, that ceased by the will of her confessor, the Servant of God Msgr. Giovanni Volpi, bishop. Yet her pains did not cease, especially those of the spirit, which G. bore, together with frequent and prolonged illnesses, with a generous spirit, as a victim of expiation for the sins of men. Her particular virtues were an ardent love for Jesus Crucified, coupled with an inextinguishable thirst for suffering. Her characteristic trait was a naive simplicity, which she displayed both in dealing with God and with men. A copious correspondence and other writings of hers exist in print, which allow one to follow her in her mystical ascents. The admirable conversations of her ecstasies were also collected by eyewitnesses and published after her death. She was beatified by Pius XI in 1933 and canonized by Pius XII in 1940. Her body is venerated in the sanctuary erected in her honor in Lucca, near the monastery of the Passionist Nuns.

BIBL.: Germano di S. Stanislao, S. G. G. vergine lucchese, 10th ed., Rome 1940; id., Lettere di s. G. G., ibidem 1941; id., Estasi, diario, autobiografia, scritti vari di s. G. G., ibidem 1943; Suor Gesualda dello Spirito Santo, S. G. G.; un fiore di Passione della città del Volto Santo, ibidem 1944; Icilio Felici, S. G. G., Florence 1940; Pietronarchi Maria Eugenia, S. G. G., ibidem (I Vittoriosi); Piergiovanni Benardi, S. G. G., Varese 1949.

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