“Oh, if all were to know how beautiful Jesus is, how loving He is, they would all die of Love. And yet, how is it that He is so little loved?”
Gemma Umberta Maria Galgani was born in 1878 in a small Italian town of Capannori. She was the 5th of 8 children and her father was a prosperous pharmacist.
Soon after her birth, the family relocated to the Tuscan city of Lucca, which was to aid in betterment of the children’s education. Her mother contracted tuberculosis, making it very hard on the family, and Gemma was placed in a private nursery school at the age of 2. Several of her family died of this illness during this time, which included her mother, and her brother who was studying for the priesthood.
She was later sent to a Catholic half-boarding school in Lucca which was run by the Sisters of St. Zita where she excelled in French, arithmetic, and music. Even with her difficult life, she was loved by her teachers and fellow students and always had a smile for everyone.
At the age of 16 she developed spinal meningitis and with her prayers Jesus told her, ‘My daughter, I give myself entirely up to you and you will be entirely mine’ and she was cured miraculously.
At the age of 19, her father passed and she was responsible for the upbringing of her younger siblings with the help of her aunt. She declined 2 marriage proposals and became a housekeeper.
She had an immense love for the poor and even with her great responsibilities, helped in any way she could. She often saw her guardian angel and sent him on errands for others. She longed to join a convent, but her poor health prevented her from being accepted. She offered the disappointment to God as a sacrifice.
At the age of 20 she began receiving mystical experiences and the following year she received warning that an unusual grace would be granted to her. She felt pain, and blood began coming from her hands, feet and heart to provide marks of the Stigmata, the wounds of Christ. Every Thursday evening, she would fall into a mystic state and the wounds would appear. They then would heal by Saturday, leaving white marks in their place. Because of her weakness and ill health, her spiritual director encouraged her to pray for them to stop. They ceased, but the white marks remained.
She was frequently found in a state of ecstasy, and some of the words spoken at that time were recorded by her spiritual director and a relative. The 3 years of recordings, along with Gemma’s letters, have been published.
She was ridiculed and suffered heartaches in reparation, remembering that Our Lord had been misunderstood and ridiculed as well.
At the age of 25, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and suffered greatly at the start of the Holy Week in 1903. Nurses reported that they had never seen such great suffering before. She died on Holy Saturday, April 11th. The Parish Priest noted that she died with a smile.
She was well known in the vicinity of her town, especially amongst those in poverty. She was beatified in 1933 and canonized in 1940, only 37 years after her death. Since 1985, her heart has been housed in the Santuario de Santa Gema in Madrid, Spain.
She is the patron saint against temptations, death of parents, tuberculosis, of students and pharmacists.
Her feast day is April 11.
“Is it possible that there are souls who do not understand what the Blessed Eucharist is? Who are insensible to the Divine Presence…..to the mysterious and fervent effusions of the Sacred Heart of my Jesus?”
For God’s Glory.
Santuario de Santa Gemma
