BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

suffering, no one understood what was the matter with her. Towards the end of June, she exclaimed: '0
Jesus, we have almost come to the end of Thy month. It has been entirely Thine! '
When Father Germanus heard what was happening to his spiritual child, he wrote before the month was out:
'In the Name of Jesus I command you that at the end of June you must return to your previous state of good
health. Ask Jesus to do this because of holy obedience.' She obeyed and prayed. Jesus gave her to
understand that out of regard for obedience and in order to show that He was indeed the Author of what was
taking place in her, He would cure her, but only for a little while; that she would again fall sick and never get
better. And so it happened.
Gemma was restored to her former health and strength, her usual color returning to her cheeks, but after
three weeks or so she had a relapse. In September, following an apparition of the Blessed Virgin-an
apparition spoken of in the course of this book-Gemma was once again restored to health. But it was only for
a short time. She then became feverish and often coughed up blood from her lungs. But this innocent victim
had something more to suffer than mere physical pain. To intensify her martyrdom and render her holocaust
more pleasing in His sight, God withdrew all supernatural communications. Except for infrequent and
momentary lights she was alone, without a ray of comfort. This was the great sorrow which Jesus had told
her was to overshadow the end of her life.
Her dreadful sufferings soon reduced her to a skeleton. She was a prey to the most awful desolation of soul.
I t was sometimes thought that the end was near, and some of the household watched by her bedside all
night. The doctors did not know what to do.
Cecilia Giannini wrote to Father Germanus asking him to come and comfort Gemma, and advise the family
what they should do in the emergency. In October, Father Germanus came. Gemma wanted to get up to
receive him, but he sent her a command that she was to remain in bed. 'Well; Gemma, what are we going to
do ? ' he asked her as he sat by her bed. 'I am going away with Jesus, Father,' she answered, full of the
liveliest joy. , This time Jesus has made it quite clear. To Heaven, Father, to Jesus; with Jesus in Heaven!'
'But what about your sins? ' objected Father Germanus. , Jesus has thought of that,' she said. 'He will make
me suffer so much in the short time I have to live, and so sanctify these sufferings by the merits of His
Passion, that His divine Justice will be satisfied and He will then take me with Him to Paradise.' , But if I do
not want you to die yet?' 'But if Jesus desires me to die, what then ? '
They continued to talk together. They discussed the particulars of her death, the reception of the Last
Sacraments, her burial, and the care of her body which she did not want any profane hands to touch,
because of Jesus, she said. That evening Father Germanus once again heard her general confession.
On the following morning she received the Holy Viaticum. In spite of her fever she did not want to break her
fast even with a drop of water. She sat up in bed, with assistance, dressed as a bride with a white veil on her
head. She had spent the whole night in fervent preparation, her heart on fire with loving expectation. Father
Germanus retired to a corner of the room to pray. The priest came with the Blessed Sacrament, but Gemma
was already She was detached from everything and everybody, and in the end even from me, so that I
began to think that she no longer cared whether I was near her or not. I therefore reproved her, pointing out
that she was ungrateful and that Jesus could not be pleased with her conduct. "Have I not done a little for
you? " I concluded, "and Jesus rewards even a glass of water given in His Name. I have indeed made many
a sacrifice for you. How is it that you utter not a word even though I am reproaching you with being
ungrateful! " She answered: " But what are you saying? If there is one person in the world I have loved it is
you .... " And with that she began to weep. "Do whatever seems best to you," I said. "I will not say another
word about the matter." Gemma then continued-it was about a month or so before her death: " Nothing
remains for me to do now except prepare for death, because I have made a sacrifice of everything." "Even of
Father Germanus ? " I asked. "Yes," she answered, " even of him." ,
If Cecilia Giannini could have read her adopted child's heart she would not have been disturbed by such
fears. In writing to Father Germanus Gemma revealed her inmost thoughts. ' After taking away my earthly
mother,' she confided to him, ' Jesus gave her back to me in the person of Aunt Cecilia. But now I am
orphaned once more. Twice I have been an orphan on earth! '
When the question of her leaving the Gianninis was still under consideration, Father Paul Tei, who knew her
well, when alone with her one day, said: , You know, of course, that they want you to go away because there
is a possibility of your having tuberculosis ?' 'They are doing what is right,' she replied calmly, 'but all the
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