April 11: Saint Gemma Galgani

Daughter of Our Lord’s Passion

“Suffering teaches us to love,” wrote Gemma Galgani. Her short life was marked by suffering and poverty. In the Lord’s Passion she found the path to holiness and, united with the Crucified, she offered herself completely as a pleasing sacrifice to God for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of souls.

Gemma was born on March 12, 1878, in Borgonuovo di Camigliano (Lucca), into an upper class family. Her father was a pharmacist and owned a pharmacy. From an early age she was marked by suffering: at just 7 years old she lost her mother. This was followed by the death of her brother Gino, a seminarian, and then her father, Enrico. Sadly, after her father’s death, economic ruin struck the family, and Gemma and her relatives had to move into a poor dwelling. But the misfortunes were not yet over. She fell ill with osteitis of the lumbar vertebrae and mastoid otitis, to the point that she was bedridden and partially paralyzed. During that time of suffering, she read the biography of Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, deeply impressed by his spirituality and example, choosing him as her guide and protector. From that moment, she was drawn to the charism of Saint Paul of the Cross. She was healed from her illness thanks to a novena to Saint Mary Margaret Alacoque. She then considered entering the Visitation nuns, but did not feel at ease, as in the city she was known as “the girl of the miracle” and could not even privately pray in peace.

She understood, however, that she wanted to offer her life entirely to the Lord and tried to enter the Passionist nuns, but was not accepted. On June 8, 1899, during the Octave of Corpus Christi and on the eve of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, she received the gift of the stigmata. They reappeared every week, from Thursday evening until 3 p.m. on Friday. She received many signs from Heaven, although many doubted their authenticity. There are accounts of mystical conversations with Jesus, the Virgin Mary, her Guardian Angel, and Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, which she recorded in her diary, autobiography, and letters.

She found in the Passionist Father Germano Ruoppolo—who became her confessor and spiritual director—a strong support and defender. Reduced to poverty, she was welcomed like a daughter into the home of the wealthy Giannini family. Sadly, in May 1902, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and, as a precaution, was housed in another apartment of the same family. She died on Holy Saturday, April 11, 1903. She was clothed in the Passionist habit, of the Order whose monastery she had wished to enter; only after her death does she rest there. She was beatified in 1933 by Pope Pius XI and canonized on May 2, 1940, by Pope Pius XII.