Gemma Galgani

Gemma Umberta Maria Galgani (12 March 1878 – 11 April 1903), also known as Gemma of Lucca, was an Italian mystic, venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church since 1940. She has been called the "daughter of the Passion" because of her profound imitation of the Passion of Christ. She is especially venerated in the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus ( Passionists).

Early life

Gemma Umberta Maria Galgani was born on 12 March 1878, in the hamlet of Camigliano in the province of Capannori. Gemma was the fifth of eight children and the first daughter; her father, Enrico Galgani, was a prosperous pharmacist.Germanus 2000, p. 1

Soon after Gemma's birth, the family relocated north from Camigliano to a larger new home in the Tuscan city of Lucca. Her parents moved the family to Lucca to increase educational opportunities available to their children. Gemma's mother, Aurelia Galgani, contracted tuberculosis when Gemma was two-and-a-half years old. Due to the difficulty of raising a child without her mother, young Gemma was placed in a private nursery school run by Elena and Ersilia Vallini.

Several members of the Galgani family died during this period. Their firstborn child, Carlo, and Gemma's little sister Giulia died at an early age. On 17 September 1885, Aurelia Galgani died from tuberculosis, which she had suffered from for five years, and Gemma's beloved brother Gino died from the same disease while studying for the priesthood.

Education

Galgani was sent to a Catholic half-boarding school in Lucca run by the Oblates of the Holy Spirit. She excelled in French, arithmetic, and music. At the age of nine, Galgani was allowed to receive her First Communion.

Adolescence

At age 16, Galgani developed spinal meningitis, but recovered. She attributed her extraordinary cure to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the intercession of Saints Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows and Marguerite Marie Alacoque. Galgani had a particular devotion to the Sacred Heart.

Shortly after turning 19, Galgani was orphaned, and thereafter was responsible for raising her younger siblings, which she did with her aunt Carolina. She declined two marriage proposals and became a housekeeper with the Giannini family.

Mysticism

According to a biography by her spiritual director, Germano Ruoppolo, Galgani began to manifest the stigmata on 8 June 1899, at the age of 21. She stated that she had spoken with her guardian angel, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and other saints especially Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows. According to her testimonies, she sometimes received special messages from them about current or future events. With her health in decline, Ruoppolo directed her to pray for the disappearance of her stigmata; she did so and the marks left. She said that she resisted the devil's attacks often.

Galgani was frequently found in a state of ecstasy. She has also been reputed to levitate: she claimed that on one occasion, when her arms were around the crucifix in her dining room and was kissing the side wound of Jesus, she found herself raised from the floor.

Stigmata

Galgani is said to have experienced stigmata on 8 June 1899, the eve of the feast of the Sacred Heart. She wrote: In her subsequent rapture, Gemma saw her guardian angel in the company of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

The physician Pietro Pfanner, who had known Galgani since her childhood, examined her stigmata. In his opinion, the marks were signs of hysterical behaviour, and he suspected Gemma may have suffered from a form of neurosis. Pfanner examined Galgani and noted spots of blood on the palms of her hands, but when he ordered the blood be wiped off with a wet towel, there was no wound. He concluded the phenomenon to be self-inflicted. On another occasion, Galgani's foster mother Cecilia Giannini observed a sewing needle on the floor next to her. Psychologist Donovan Rawcliffe claimed that Galgani's stigmata were "self-inflicted wounds of a major hysteric".

Reception

Galgani was well-known in the vicinity of Lucca before her death, especially to those in poverty. Opinions of her were divided: some admired her extraordinary virtues and called her as “the virgin of Lucca” out of pious respect and admiration, while others mocked her. These included her younger sister, Angelina, who would make fun of Galgani during such experiences.

Death, canonization and veneration

In early 1903, Galgani was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and went into a long and often painful decline accompanied by several mystical phenomena. One of the religious nursing sisters who attended to her stated, At the beginning of Holy Week 1903, her health quickly deteriorated, and by Good Friday she was suffering tremendously, eventually dying in a small room across from the Giannini house on 11 April 1903, Holy Saturday.

After a thorough examination of her life by the Church, Galgani was beatified on 14 May 1933 and canonized on 2 May 1940.Saint Gemma, p. 46. Galgani's relics are housed at the Sanctuary of Santa Gemma associated with the Passionist monastery in Lucca, Italy. Her bronze effigy atop her tomb was crafted by sculptor Francesco Nagni. In 1985, her heart was enshrined in the Santuario de Santa Gema in Madrid, Spain. Gemma Galgani's confessor, Germano Ruoppolo, produced her biography.Germanus, Venerable Father (2000). The Life of St. Gemma Galgani. Illinois: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc. .

References

Bibliography

* Rudoph M. Bell; Cristina Mazzoni (2003). The Voices of Gemma Galgani: The Life and Afterlife of a Modern Saint. Chicago, IL, US: University of Chicago Press. .
* Robert A. Orsi (2005): "Two Aspects of One Life" in ''Between Heaven and Earth: The Religious Worlds People Make and the Scholars Who Study Them''. Princeton University Press, p. 110–145.
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External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Galgani, Gemma
1878 births
1903 deaths
20th-century Christian mystics
20th-century Christian saints
20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Angelic visionaries
Italian anti-poverty advocates
Christian female saints of the Late Modern era
Tuberculosis deaths in Italy
Italian Christian mystics
Italian Roman Catholic saints
Canonizations by Pope Pius XII
People from Capannori
Roman Catholic mystics
Stigmatics
Infectious disease deaths in Tuscany