BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

arrangements which have to be made in such circumstances . . . and she gave an example of resignation,
fortitude and forethought, especially to her younger brothers and her elderly aunts.'
Gemma was not present when her father died and it was the family doctor, Del Prete, who brought her the
news. Calling her aside he said he had something to tell her. (How is father?' she asked. 'He is gone to
Heaven,' was the answer. Then from her heart a cry burst forth-a cry long withheld, but which was henceforth
to be always uppermost: 'Now it is time for me to be a nun.' But strong as was her will-power, nature must
have its tribute also. She fainted. When she recovered she reproached herself for having allowed herself to
weep, because tears are unworthy of a spouse of Jesus Crucified. She wrote afterwards in her
Autobiography:
‘The day father died Jesus forbade me to give way to cries and useless tears, and I passed the day in prayer,
being very resigned to the will of God Who had then become my earthly Father as well as my heavenly
Father.' [Autobiographia, PP' 35, 36]
Elisa Galgani deposed in the Processes for the Beatification :
‘Gemma felt the death of her father very much and wept a great deal, but she resigned herself to God's
will ... and began at once to help the soul of her poor father with prayers and Communion. The morning after
his death she would have liked to go to Church to receive Communion, but I said that we should receive
together after the body had been removed from the house. She acquiesced in this arrangement and on the
following day went to Communion, and thus began a practice she continued ever afterwards.'
CRUELTY AND HEROISM
But all the details have not yet been disclosed of what happened around the deathbed of that honest and
upright man, while his seven children looked on helplessly, stunned by the blow they had received. It seems
impossible that men should be so cruel, or that greed for money should so deaden the most elementary
feelings of compassion.
Scarcely had the news of Enrico Galgani's death got abroad when his creditors arranged with the authorities
to send police and bailiffs to close his shop and seize all his furniture. They went further. They searched the
children's pockets and made them hand over every penny they had. Gemma mentioned this herself: 'They
put their hands in my pocket and took the five or six soldi I had.' Cecilia Giannini, Gemma's adopted mother,
who will be frequently met with in these pages, said:
‘Gemma knew the name of the man who had put his hand in her pocket but she would never tell me his
name. I found it out later on, and I know that he died in the hospital. Nor did she ever speak of the other
creditors.'
REDUCED TO DIRE WANT
Thus the Galgani family was in the literal sense of the word thrown out on the roadside, with nothing left
except their tears. To crown their misfortune their aunts, who had signed over their property to their brother,
also lost all they possessed. This family of nine was therefore reduced to absolute poverty. The sad story is
told by two witnesses. Cecilia Giannini deposed:
‘The family was ruined and at times reduced to such straits that it was necessary to solicit help from others ...
to beg. Elisa Galgani told me that it was she who went out to try and get something for a family that was
dying of hunger, and how she met a man who gave her a franc with which she bought a loaf of bread and a
few things to bring home. During the months in which Gemma came to us and returned home in the evening,
she used not to stay for dinner, because we dined late, and I usually accompanied her home after
Benediction. Once I said to her: " You won't be offended if I buy you a couple of eggs ? You can eat them
when you get home." She answered that she certainly would not be offended, so I bought them and gave
them to her. I afterwards learned that she had used them to make an omelette on which the family dined. But
she told me this only when I insisted, and on condition that I would not divulge it. Having thus come to know
of their poverty, I used to give things to the aunts, who willingly accepted what I gave. When about to set out
to accompany Gemma home in the evening, I sometimes said to her: "Do you want anything? Have you
something to eat when you get home?" And sometimes she would say: "Let me have a little wine and that
will do for my supper." And that was all she wanted; she used to say even that it was too much. When she
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