BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

how much ingratitude and malice there is in the world ! Sinners continue to live in their obstinacy. My Father
will no longer bear with them. Vicious souls make no effort to overcome the desires of the flesh. Souls in
affliction become downhearted and fall into despair. Fervent souls gradually become lukewarm. The
ministers of My Sanctuary . . . (and here Jesus paused, but after a little while went on) ... to them I have
confided the continuation of the work of Redemption . . . (again Jesus was silent) . . . I give them light and
strength continually, but what do they do! . . . Those whom I have regarded with such predilection, whom I
have loved as the apple of My "eye ... (Jesus stopped and sighed). From creatures I continually receive
nothing but ingratitude and an indifference that grows greater every day, and no one sees the error of his
ways. And all the time I am bestowing graces and favors from Heaven upon creatures, light and life to the
Church, strength to My Vicar, wisdom to whomsoever is bound to enlighten souls that are in darkness,
constancy and fortitude to those souls who ought to follow Me, graces of every sort to all the just, and even
to sinners who are lost in the black night of their sin. To these latter especially I give light and I manifest to
them the tenderness of My Heart so that they may be converted, but alas, about the new convent, but he
was full of regret because no one down there is even thinking of it as yet .... Only one year remains-and yet
no start has been made.'
On other occasions St. Gabriel appeared in order to give her minute and important particulars concerning the
foundation, which she afterwards passed on to Father Germanus, thus:
‘One day while I was praying, I was rapt out of myself and I found myself before Confrater Gabriel, who
asked me: "Gemma, have you nothing to say to me?" I had, indeed, many things to say, even on behalf of
my confessor, as he wanted to know about this convent, who was to commence the work, who would finish
it, and when this would happen. When I asked all these questions I saw several people before me, and
Confrater Gabriel pointed them out one by one. There were seven and I recognized three of them. "And who
are those there ? " I asked. "They will be Passionist nuns," he answered. "Tell your confessor that he himself
will be the one who will set this great work on foot, that he is to be brave because the Devil is ready to make
violent assaults. But what does that matter; let him go forward .... " He then remained silent. He afterwards
pointed out a young lady, saying: "Look at her! " (and I looked). " She is the one who will give the finishing
touch to this work. Do you know her?" " No," I replied. He told me her name and surname, and the city where
she was born and brought up. Then he disappeared. Nevertheless I was not quite persuaded about the truth
of all this, but on more than three occasions the same thing happened, and on the last occasion he added:
"At the end of two years, on a Friday, the work will be commenced."’
To Mother Joseph she wrote: 'I shall pray for all your intentions one at a time, but I want you, on the contrary,
after having made known to Jesus the great needs of my soul, to supplicate Him on behalf of the new
Convent.' 'Signora Cecilia is going to write to the Father to-day to see if something cannot be done about the
Convent. I am hoping for the best. Jesus wishes to hide me in some place.'
Gemma nevertheless felt the delay very much, especially on the part of Father Germanus, and she thus
complained: 'If the good Father would only make up his mind to do what Jesus wants, everything would be
all right. Let us pray that Jesus may give him the grace to overcome his hesitation and have courage to act.'
On her own side she never ceased to pray for the foundation, and she was heard to say in ecstasy: '0 Jesus,
my confessor says that I am to insist upon Thy establishing this Convent .... He says I am not praying, but, 0
Jesus, You know how I feel, and. how much I suffer. Do You hasten the day! You have said that You have a
great desire to see this work finished, and it is You who have put this desire in my heart also; do You think of
it.'
Notwithstanding the sacrifice which, as we shall see, she had to make of her vocation, Gemma continued to
pray until the end of her life for the accomplishment of the great work. In the last letter she wrote to Father
Germanus, or rather in a letter to the Blessed Virgin, which she sent to him, she said: 'I am praying for this
work .... 0 Mary, my Mother; see, so many victims are needed! '
We shall here relate some prophecies Gemma made concerning the establishment of the convent, though
not in detail. It is sufficient to say that they were all completely fulfilled. They are taken from a letter she wrote
to Father Francis of the Heart of Jesus, then Provincial Consultor of the Passionists :
'. . . Jesus said to me almost smiling: " You must tell Father Francis that it is easier for Heaven and earth to
fall than that My words should not be fulfilled completely. Tell him that as soon as he obtains his Provincial's
permission he is to go to Rome and say on My behalf to the General Consultor" (who, according to
Monsignor, is Father Ignatius), "that he is to speak to the Father General about this foundation, and that he
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