GEMMA GALGANI, Saint. - Virgin, b. at Camigliano (Lucca) on 12 March 1878, d. at Lucca on 11 April 1903. Docile to the teachings of her most pious mother

GEMMA GALGANI, saint - Pages of the Autobiography of St. G. The scorch marks are attributed to the devil.(from Estasi, diario, autobiografia, scritti vari di s. G. G. edited by the Postulazione dei pp. Passionists, Rome 1920, p. 232)

(Aurelia Landi), from childhood she had a vivid desire for heaven and a holy transport toward Jesus Crucified. In Lucca she attended the schools of the Sisters of St. Zita and had as her teacher the foundress herself, Sister Elena Guerra. Orphaned of her mother at eight years of age, 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, received her into her home, where she lived until her death, together with the numerous family of the pharmacist Matteo Giannini.

God willed to enrich with singular gifts this faithful servant of his. Ecstasies were very frequent in her, appearing to her with the greatest affability Jesus Christ, the Virgin, the saints, and particularly the guardian angel, who repeatedly carried her letters to her extraordinary director Fr. Germano di S. Stanislao, a Passionist. She also participated, in a sensible manner, in the pains of the Redeemer: sweat of blood, flagellation, crowning with thorns, stigmata on the hands, feet and side; all of which, however, ceased at the will of her confessor, the servant of God Msgr. Giovanni Volpi, bishop. Nevertheless the pains did not cease, especially those of the spirit, which G. bore together with frequent and long illnesses, with a generous soul, as a victim of expiation for the sins of men. Her particular virtues were an ardent love for Jesus Crucified, united with an unquenchable thirst for sufferings. Her characteristic was a naive simplicity, which she manifested both in dealing with God and with men. There exists of her a copious collection of letters and other writings, given to the press, which allow one to follow her in her mystical ascensions. Even the marvelous conversations of her ecstasies were 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 at Lucca, near the monastery of the Passionist nuns.

Bibliography8 works

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

Giacinto del S.mo Crocifisso

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Gemma Galgani, Saint

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