BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

the chemist's to tell the young man. " Gemma wants to speak to you," I said, " and she is with Ghivizzona in
his garden waiting for you. Go, she expects you." He went at once and found Gemma where I said. I was not
present at the meeting because I went to tell her aunt what had happened. But I had hardly done this when I
returned to Ghivizzona's garden. Gemma was already on her way home. The young man had returned to the
shop. As soon as she saw me (Ghivizzona was still with her) Gemma exclaimed: "You will see whether I shall
be left alone. Do you know what I said to him? I told him not to think of me, not even to look at me, because I
belong to Jesus, and that all my thoughts and affections were for Him alone." And indeed the young man,
although I believe he continued to think of her, manifested his regard for her.'
RETURN TO LUCCA
All these happenings saddened Gemma and made her long for the poverty of her own home where at least
she would be free from such importunities. But it was not going to be easy to find an excuse to return home.
The affection her uncle and aunt bore her was one of the chief difficulties. Therefore with lively faith she
began to beg of God-as sometimes in the early centuries of the Church the virgins and martyrs begged of
God-to come to her aid and to free her, even at the cost of her health, from the dangers which threatened
her. And God heard her prayer. She was struck down with a serious illness. ‘All of a sudden,' she tells us, ' I
began to suffer from curvature of the spine and to experience violent pains in my back." [Autobiographia, p.
37]
To Gemma this seemed a suitable opportunity for suggesting to her relatives the advisability of returning
home to her own family. She had made up her mind to do so . and nothing could turn her from her decision.
All were sorrow stricken, and even her Uncle Dominic, reputed to be an unemotional man, shed tears, but
they had to yield to her wishes.
So Gemma returned to Lucca, where her illness, far from being cured, grew steadily worse owing to the
privations necessarily imposed by the poverty of her family.
CHAPTER VIII FROM DEATH TO LIFE -NAILED TO THE CROSS WITH JESUS
Elisa Galgani was very surprised at Gemma's return to Lucca; not that she was not glad to see her, but the
poverty of the home was so great! Furthermore, she did not appear to be in good health. Elisa Galgani
therefore could not refrain from putting a leading question. , Oh! Why have you come back, Gemma?
Perhaps they did not treat you well ?' 'Yes, I was treated well and I am well, but you know, there were
persons there who wanted to marry me. But... I want to belong entirely to Jesus.'
‘At home Gemma once more began her daily round of household duties and her practices of piety. But the
illness that showed itself at Camaiore continued its implacable course. The pains in her back became so
severe and the spinal curvature so marked that she was compelled to make her sufferings known to her
aunt. The evil,· however, had made great progress before she spoke about it. Elisa Galgani decided that a
doctor should be summoned, but she hesitated somewhat because of Gemma's modesty. As a child Gemma
had been struck by the words of St. Paul, the Apostle: ' Your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost.' Ever
since that time she had guarded her body with the utmost jealousy. She did not allow herself even now to
look so as to find out what might be the cause of her present suffering. No wonder her aunt hesitated to send
for a doctor. Gemma experienced a feeling of extreme repugnance at the very idea. She mentions these
details herself in her Autobiography:
‘Already for a long time I had felt pain in that part, but I did not want to touch it or look at it, because when I
was a little child I had heard in a sermon that our bodies were the temples of the Holy Ghost. These words
impressed me, and so far as I have been able I have carefully guarded my body. What agony I suffered
when I had to submit to a medical examination. Every time I heard the doctor coming I used to cry.
[Autobiographia, pp. 38-39]
But Gemma's condition was growing worse. She was now subject to violent headaches. She became deaf.
Her hair fell out, and her members became paralyzed. The doctor was sent for. Elisa Galgani made good use
of the authority she had over Gemma, for she knew that her desire to be obedient was the only means of
overcoming her repugnance to seeing a doctor.
At his first examination, the doctor-his name was Del Prete-found that Gemma had an advanced abscess in
the lumbar region, which seemed to communicate with the spine. To make sure he decided upon a
24