BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

indeed have continued her intercession in Heaven, because it was not until towards 1919, three years before
Signora Giannini was cited to give evidence at the Apostolic Process then sitting at Pisa, that the person's
conversion took place.
Mother Gemma of Jesus has left us the following intimate description of her friend's zeal for the salvation of
souls: 'She had always at heart the glory of God and the spiritual good of her neighbor. Above all she prayed
for sinners and offered herself as victim for their conversion. . . . She prayed for the Church and for the return
into its bosom of all heretics and schismatics. When the Passionist Fathers were giving missions, she
redoubled her prayers for the conversion of sinners. . . . The Servant of God did not limit herself to prayers
and exhortations, but she practised penance and indescribable mortifications for sinners and desired to
experience in herself all the pains which Jesus suffered in His Passion.' To complete this deposition we shall
again quote Cecilia Giannini. She deposed as follows: 'I heard her pray for the Pope, for priests, for the
triumph of the Church, and I heard her offer herself as a victim to stave off the chastisements which the
offences against God were calling down upon mankind.'
Gemma's heart was so on fire with zeal for souls that she was capable of enduring everything on their
behalf. For instance, the following prayer was uttered by her while she was in ecstasy. The person
mentioned was one from whom she had a right to expect entirely different treatment, for from being a friend
he had changed into an implacable enemy, and his attitude to her was so offensive that St. Paul of the Cross
had appeared to her to console her. '0 Jesus, I recommend to Thee my greatest enemy, the one who is most
opposed to me. Guide him, be with him . everywhere. If You do intend to lay Thy hand heavily upon him, do
not do so. Lay it instead upon me. Be good to him, o Jesus. . . . Do not abandon him; console him. I t does
not matter if I am in pain, but it is different with him. I recommend him to Thee now and always. . . . 0 Jesus, I
beseech Thee do not speak of it; help him, help him and console him. Give him in grace twice the measure
of the evil -Do You understand, Jesus? -the evil he wished to do me. Will You be revenged on me? No,
Jesus, with Thy help . . . I recommend him to Thee; think of him, guide him. . . . And to show Thee that I love
Thee, to-morrow morning I shall offer my Holy Communion for him. He is perhaps thinking of doing us evil,
but instead we wish to do him good, ever so much good.' This is indeed heroic virtue. The Saints alone are
capable of praying like that.
Here is another rare and sublime act of heroism. When Gemma used to go to the Convent of the ‘Mantellate'
Nuns, she heard that one of the religious frequently suffered greatly from terrible attacks of the Devil. What
was she to do to help her? Gemma was not one to measure the extent of her generosity, or to hesitate at
obstacles. She immediately decided to offer to take upon herself these diabolical attacks in order that the
nun might be thereby released from suffering. Besides, she would have liked to undergo this kind of suffering
on behalf of sinners. Having obtained Monsignor Volpi's permission, she asked Jesus to make the exchange.
The nun was freed and Gemma was submitted to this new and awful suffering. There must have been many
poor sinners who reaped spiritual profit from this extraordinary act of charity!
Gemma had long worked, suffered and prayed for the salvation of sinners when Jesus decided, as it were, to
invest her solemnly with this mission of converting souls, and thereby consecrating her as an acceptable
victim to His most Sacred Heart. Of this, however, we shall treat in the chapter which follows, since it
concerns what we shall relate in that place. But here we must state that all these new confidences on the
part of her Divine Spouse did but excite her heart to greater efforts for the conversion of sinners. Only two
days before her death, she obtained one such conversion. It was her last. She had prayed long and
earnestly for him. During her last illness she said: 'I shall bear him on my shoulders, all this Lent, but then I
shall leave him alone.' And indeed she did leave him alone on Holy Thursday, the day he was touched with
sorrow for his sins and returned to God by a humble confession.
A MESSENGER OF GOOD
But Gemma's heart was great, immense. It was not satisfied with withdrawing poor erring sinners from the
brink of perdition. She also desired to excite the good to practise virtue and to embrace the way of perfection.
It is enough to say here that God made use of her as a messenger of good for His greater glory. She
transmitted the orders of Jesus with that admirable simplicity which was such a characteristic of hers
throughout her life, going immediately, without useless preamble, to the heart of what she had to say. Here
are some instances.
A prelate once asked her whether his method. of government was sound. She answered: 'It is better to go
somewhat slower, and do things more gently; otherwise you will please no one.' To her own spiritual director,
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