BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

The foundation was indeed made. To-day the convent arises, an oasis of delightful peace, outside the Porta
Elisa of Lucca, near the venerated relics of her whom the religious love to salute as the true foundress of
their home.
We shall not go into the details of this foundation.
We repeat, however, that all Gemma's prophecies in connection with it were fulfilled. The first Passionist
nuns came to Tarquinia in Lucca on March 16, 1905, two years after Gemma's death. On July 31, 1908, on a
Friday, and not long after the Beatification of St. Gabriel, they entered into possession of their new convent.
Pius X had already blessed the new foundation and had assigned as the special object of this community
that which Jesus had asked of His faithful servant, namely: , to offer themselves as victims to the Lord for the
spiritual and temporal needs of the Church and of the Supreme Pontiff.' Blessed Gemma must indeed have
rejoiced in Heaven at the fulfillment of her ardent desires.
A PASSIONIST IN SPIRIT
For the above reasons, therefore, the sons and daughters of St. Paul of the Cross have always considered
Blessed Gemma as a member of their Congregation. 'If, for reasons that were independent of her will,
Gemma never wore the Passionist habit,' remarks Sister Gesualda, the Carmelite, ' she was nevertheless a
true Passionist. She was a Passionist in soul and she had the Passionist spirit. The Order has made her its
own. Her convent has been established for years and is flourishing. Her prophecy has been fulfilled: "The
Passionist nuns would not accept me; but I want to be one of them, and shall be with them when I am dead ..
"' [Unfiore di Passione nella citta del Volto Santo, p. 251]
To supplement and clarify the meaning of the above words, it is necessary to add that Blessed Gemma was
never clothed with the Passionist habit, notwithstanding the assurances she had from Heaven concerning
her vocation and the new convent. The fact is that these assurances were made dependent upon the
fulfillment of certain conditions, that is, upon the carrying out by certain persons of the .work which God had
designed them to do. But the conditions were not fulfilled and Gemma died without being clothed in the habit
of the Passionists.
Pope Benedict XV, in the Decree introducing the cause of Blessed Gemma's Beatification, condensed in a
few words the reasons why she belongs to the Congregation of the Passion. 'The pious virgin; Gemma
Galgani,' he said, 'if not by habit and profession, undoubtedly by desire and affection, is rightly numbered
among the religious children of St. Paul of the Cross.' And Pope Pius XI, in promulgating the Decree
concerning the heroicity of her virtues, cordially congratulated the sons and daughters of St. Paul of the
Cross upon their possessing this true gem of sanctity and upon the honor their Congregation would receive
from the glorification of the Servant of God.
CHAPTER XXIII
HER DEATH -A VICTIM OF EXPIATION
The life of Blessed Gemma was drawing to its close. Her whole existence for twenty-five years had been
marked by the purest innocence and the most intense love of God. The program she had mapped out for
herself, namely, to belong entirely to Jesus and to live for Him alone, had been faithfully and completely
carried out.
On the feast of Pentecost, 1902, her soul seemed to have been set on fire with the flames of divine love. On
that day there was an abundance of heavenly communications; she was more than usually recollected and it
was noticed that she was breathing deeply. And in the midst of these ardors Jesus once more spoke to His
faithful servant: 'I desire,' He said, ' a great expiation to be made, particularly for the sins and the sacrileges
by which I am offended.' This new complaint of her divine Spouse moved Gemma's heart profoundly. What
would she not have done for Him ? Then, when He asked her whether she would undertake the expiation of
these offences, she answered: '0 Jesus, You know I am most willing to do so. Yes, 0 Jesus, unburden
Thyself upon me, and glorify Thyself in me, Thy miserable creature.'
Her offering was accepted. She became seriously ill. For two whole months her stomach could retain no
food, her only nourishment during all this time being a little wine. Although it was obvious that she was
109