BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

must do so quickly. Let them be ready to commence the work when you yourself will give them the word.
These Passionist Fathers, of whom the General Consultor must be the chief promoter, will collaborate with
the Bishop, who must himself co-operate in the work. Do you understand ? " He said to me. "In order that
everyone may be convinced, tell him that it is I Who am speaking and that I desire all these things to be done
notwithstanding the great war which the Devil is preparing to wage. The Devil will succeed in weakening the
courage of some, but Father Ignatius will raise their hearts and infuse new strength.'
THE GREAT SACRIFICE
While all these things were happening, Cecilia Giannini wrote to the Mother : Superior of the Passionist
Convent at Tarquinia, asking permission for herself, her nieces Annetta and Euphemia, and , an orphan girl
named Gemma Galgani,' to make a retreat.
But Gemma Galgani was already known in that convent. The nuns had been told by one who at the time was
very much opposed to Blessed Gemma that the extraordinary phenomena happening to her were
attributable to hysteria, and he. advised the nuns to have nothing to do with her. The Mother Superior,
therefore, replied to Signora Cecilia's letter on February 22, 1902, granting permission to herself and her two
nieces, but refusing it to Gemma. As if this was not enough, she wrote again a few days later, reiterating her
refusal. When Gemma heard of this, she was greatly dis-appointed and wept. But she soon became
resigned. , It does not matter one way or the other,' she said.
The twelve days of Cecilia Giannini's absence Gemma spent in the' Mantellate 'Convent. During this time
there was no manifestation of the usual phenomena. She had been put under the obligation of obedience not
to allow anything extraordinary to happen. Nevertheless her stay at the convent was wonderfully happy.
When Cecilia Giannini returned home and she had to leave the enclosure, she exclaimed: 'I am leaving
Heaven to go to Hell,' and by this she meant to convey how much she disliked the world. In spite of this,
however, she felt that it was not God's Will that she should remain in that convent, and in a letter to Father
Germanus written while she was there, she confessed: 'I t seems to me that this is not the place, because
my heart is not satisfied.' Nevertheless Monsignor Volpi would have liked her to stay there altogether, and
Gemma would have acquiesced in this arrangement. We quote a deposition of Cecilia Giannini: 'Both Father
Germanus and I would have liked to place Gemma as a boarder with those Sisters, but it was impossible,
because when everything was arranged and Father Germanus came to take her there, she began to run a
temperature of over 104 degrees and to spit blood. "In conscience I cannot take her there now," he said. But
Gemma had warned him before arrangements were made, not to make them, because Jesus did not desire
it.'
From this ,moment Gemma had to prepare herself to make the greatest sacrifice of her life-the sacrifice of
her vocation. But she was not left without the encouragement of Heaven. One morning after Holy
Communion she heard Jesus say: 'But, do you know, My child, that there is a life still happier than that of the
Convent ?' And on other occasions He repeated those words. As we have seen, when she asked St. Gabriel
whether she would be a Passionist at Tarquinia or in another place, she received no specific answer, only'
Sister mine, you will be a Passionist.' And when Jesus had confided to her the sorrows of His Heart, and had
asked her to work for the foundation of the convent at Lucca in order to increase the number of willing
victims, in answer to her question whether she would be among the number of those religious, He had only
smiled and kept silence.
At length her divine Master spoke clearly. During midnight Mass of that year, when the priest was at the
Offertory, she saw Jesus offering her as a victim to the Eternal Father, and then presenting her to the
Blessed Virgin with these words: 'You must take care of this dear child because she is a fruit of My Passion.'
I t was her consecration as a Passionist. This was the only way she was to be a nun. She understood it all
and made the sacrifice to God. She still prayed and worked for the foundation of the convent, but she put the
thought of entering it out of her head. 'I no longer ask to enter the Convent,' she said, 'since a better convent
awaits me.' To Cecilia Giannini who, on hearing her often speak of her approaching death, had remarked that
this was not to be until she had been clothed in the black habit of the Passionist nuns, she replied: 'Jesus
has the habit of a Passionist nun waiting for me at the gates of Paradise.'
The want of confidence and the indecision of those who were entrusted with the foundation of the convent
grieved her; she knew that because of these things she had to die. But she did not regret dying. The
foundation had to be the result of her entire sacrifice, and to Cecilia Giannini she said: , Let me die so that
the Passionist Convent may be established later on.'
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