Gemma Galgani

Infobox Saint
name=Gemma Galgani
birth_date=birth date|1878|3|12|mf=y
death_date=death date|1903|4|11|mf=y
feast_day=April 11
venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church


imagesize=
caption=
birth_place=Camigliano, Italy
death_place=Lucca, Italy
titles= "The Flower of Lucca" and "The Virgin of Lucca"
beatified_date=1933
beatified_place=
beatified_by=Pope Pius XI
canonized_date=May 2, 1940
canonized_place=Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, Rome, Italy
canonized_by=Pope Pius XII
attributes=Passionist robe, flowers (lillies and roses), guardian angel, stigmata, heavenly gaze
patronage=Students, pharmacists, tuberculosis patients, love, and hope
major_shrine=Passionist Monastery in Lucca, Italy
suppressed_date=
issues=
prayer=
prayer_attrib=

Gemma Maria Galgani (March 12, 1878 in Camigliano, Italy – April 11, 1903 in Lucca, Italy) was a mystic and is a Roman Catholic Saint, who was canonized by Pope Pius XII on May 2, 1940.

The eldest daughter of a poor pharmacist, she suffered throughout her life with ill health and was unable to finish school. Gemma was not accepted by the Passionists to become a nun because of her poor health and visions. At age 20, Gemma developed meningitis, but healed and attributed her recovery to Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Gemma was orphaned shortly after she turned 18, making her financially responsible for the upbringing of her younger siblings, which she did with her aunt Carolina. She declined two marriage proposals and became a housekeeper with the Giannini family.

According to legend, Gemma began to display signs of the stigmata in 1899 at the age of twenty-one. She stated that she had spoken with her guardian angel, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and other saints (especially Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, a Venerable at that time). According to her testimonies, she sometimes received special messages from them about the coming wars and the corruption of church officials. With her health in decline, her spiritual director told her to pray for the disappearance of her stigmata; she did so and the marks ceased.

Gemma was well-known in the vicinity of Lucca before her death, especially those in poverty. Opinions of her were divided: some people admired her virtue and referred to her as "The Virgin of Lucca" out of awe; others mocked her (included her younger sister, Angelina, who apparently used to make fun of Gemma during such experiences and during Gemma's canonization process was deemed as 'unfit' to testify due to accusations of attempting profit from Gemma's reputation), and some thought that she had a mental illness with her stigmata originating from a nervous breakdown. Doctors in medicine have stated that a psychosomatic response may have been the reason for her stigmata due to depression. She was often treated with disdain by church hierarchy; even her own spiritual director was slightly skeptical toward her claims.

In early 1903, Gemma was diagnosed with tuberculosis and died in a small room next to the Giannini house on April 11, 1903. She was beatified in 1933 and canonized in 1940. Her relics are housed at the Passionist Monastery in Lucca, Italy.

As one of the most popular saints of the Passionist Order, the devotion to Gemma Galgani is particularly strong in Italy and Latin America. She is a patron saint of students (said to be top of her class before having to leave school) and of pharmacists.

External links

* [http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/ St Gemma Galgani]
* [http://www.gemma-galgani.org/ Sainte Gemma Galgani] fr icon
* [http://www.svatagemma.sk/ Svätá Gemma Galgani] sk icon
* [http://www.cptryon.org/compassion/75/gemma.html Review of the book "The Voices of Gemma Galgani, The Life and Afterlife of a Modern Saint" by Cristina Mazzoni and Rudolph Bell]

See also

* Lightworker
* Mysticism