BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

"I am sorry that some of my companions did not pass. I should have liked all to pass, for then I should have
been happier myself." She did not like amusements or games, not even those suited to her age, and did not
play with dolls. I remember that on one occasion her father wanted her to go to hear the city band which was
to play in the Piazza. "Gemma," he said, "take your sister this evening to hear the band." But she answered:
"No, Daddy, let us go to the Walls; there we shall enjoy ourselves better." The people of Lucca being
gathered round the band the path on top of the walls was deserted. They would also be able to go along in
good time to the evening devotions in the parish church. Unlike other children Gemma never went alone into
the City.'
Although Gemma did not enter for the public examinations, because it was not customary at the College, she
did well at the examinations which were held by a visiting professor. According to her teacher, she attained a
high degree of proficiency in literature, science and mathematics. But it was in the knowledge of her religion,
the catechism, the Bible and ecclesiastical history, that she shone conspicuously. In a competition amongst
the children of the city she won the gold medal for Christian Doctrine. This success elated her father, who
thought of sending her later on to the University. But Gemma's answer to the suggestion was
uncompromising: 'No, the University is not for me.'
Man proposes, but God disposes. God was preparing Gemma for another mission in life, and her thoughts
were already turned away from this world. Sister Julia Sestini gives us a glimpse of Gemma's soul:
‘She used always to say that her hopes were in Jesus, and often repeated: "How dreary it is upon earth! "
and raising her eyes to Heaven, " How pleasant to be up there !" She used to turn towards the Chapel where
Jesus dwelt behind closed doors and say: "Faith breaks down all barriers and love stands chained to Jesus."
When we suggested to the children on one occasion some act of mortification, advising them to practise
these acts frequently, Gemma said: "What wealth! We can go to Heaven with overflowing riches!" She often
said: " Gemma is good for nothing, but Gemma and Jesus can do all things!" It was thus she encouraged
herself to overcome obstacles.'
CHAPTER III
HER FIRST HOLY COMMUNION -‘GIVE ME JESUS!’
The most important event which occurred while Gemma was at the College of the Zitine Sisters was her first
Holy Communion, an event which had a profound influence upon her subsequent life. The desire to draw
near to Jesus and receive Him in Holy Communion had very early inflamed her heart. The example of her
mother, for whom the Eucharist was daily bread during her long sickness, certainly helped to intensify this
desire, and we may be sure that in answer to the oft-repeated request: 'Talk to me about Jesus,' Aurelia
poured into the heart and mind of her child her own ardent longings for the Divine Guest of the Altar.
That Gemma yearned to receive the Bread of Angels, we have the testimony of her aunt Elisa, who also
deposed in the processes for the Beatification that the curate of St. Leonard's parish where the Galgani
family lived, had said to Gemma: , You will receive Holy Communion when you are seven; you are too young
now.' But her seventh birthday came without the fulfillment of this promise. There was then a universal
prejudice against allowing young children to receive Holy Communion. If Gemma had lived a few years
longer she would have seen a Pope, the saintly Pius X, open to innocent hearts the Tabernacles of the world,
and would have grieved that she had been born too soon to be able to enjoy this privilege.
When, after her mother's death, Gemma was sent to the College of the Zitine Sisters, the desire of being
united to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament grew more ardent. I t became her only thought, the one aspiration
of her heart. She now said to her teachers at the College what she had already often said at home: 'Give me
Jesus, and you will see how good I shall be. I shall be different; I shall not commit any more sins. Give Him
to me; I long for Him so much that it is becoming unbearable.' But her age, according to the then prevailing
custom, was against her. Besides, because of her delicate appearance she looked like a child, not of nine,
but of six years, and all her tearful requests were in vain. In her humility, Gemma seems never to have
realized why her repeated requests were refused, for in her Autobiography she attributes it to her sins: '. . . I
early manifested the desire to receive Holy Communion, but I was found so bad and ignorant that they were
afraid to allow me to do so. They began to instruct me and to give me good advice, but I always became
worse.'
Finally, the spiritual director of the College, Mgr. John Volpi, was conquered by the child's insistence and
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