BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

Maddalena, was chosen. In this way I came to know the family and Gemma. My stepmother asked me if I
would undertake to teach the children their prayers and catechism. I then began to teach Gemma and her
brother Tonino the catechism, after which I used to bring Gemma to the Church to visit the Blessed
Sacrament and say the Rosary and the other prayers I knew . Nothing seemed as pleasing to Gemma as to
go to the Church to say her prayers. She never grew tired. When she had said an Our Father, Hail Mary and
Glory be to the Father in honour of her Angel Guardian, she used to turn to me and say, "To whom should I
pray now?" If I told her a pious story she always wanted another one and said repeatedly, " Tell me more, tell
me more." Although so very young, when she was in the Church she always remained kneeling with her
hands joined, and she was quite recollected.'
The evidence of the Vallini sisters completes the picture of Gemma and her family, given by Elisa Galgani
and Isabella Bastiani.
‘Our family had a villa and some property in the neighborhood of Porcari about six miles from Lucca, and in
consequence we formed a close friendship with Carlo Galgani, the district doctor. On the Feast of St. Michael
to whom our Church was dedicated, he and his wife and children used to dine with us, and we returned the
visits. In the course of time Carlo Galgani's son, Enrico, came to live at Lucca, and knowing that we kept a
school there, with his wife's consent willingly entrusted to us his five little children, the second of whom was
Gemma, then not more than two years of age.' [Elisa Galgani said that Gemma was three years of age when
she first went to school, and since she was usually most exact in her statement she is not likely to be wrong
on this occasion.]
Even at this tender age Gemma had reached the use of reason and her intellect was prematurely developed.
We could teach her prayers that lasted twenty-five minutes without her ever growing tired. At five she could
read the Breviary like an experienced person. She was assiduous at her work and learned all that was taught
to her. She was loved by all her companions for these good qualities. All the time she was with us, we had no
occasion to punish her; a word of reproof was enough for the defects inseparable from her age. Her two
brothers and two sisters were with her at school, but never once was she known to be angry with them. She
allowed them to select the best fruit, and at dinner she was always contented, whatever she had, the smile
that played on her lips being the only sign that she was pleased or displeased.'
EARLY GROWTH IN HOLINESS
If Gemma's good qualities were pleasing to all who knew her, they were certainly a source of great
consolation to her parents. To her father she was , the light of his eyes.' He seemed unable to do without her,
his first question on returning home always being: 'Where's Gemma?' He used to say that he had only two
children, Gemma and Gino. Gino was two years older than Gemma and was her rival in virtue. Of him
Gemma wrote in her Autobiography: 'I really loved him more than all the others, and we were always
together. During the holidays we used to amuse ourselves by making little altars. . . .' [Autobiographia, p, 26]
Enrico Galgani's preference for his eldest daughter reminds one of the particular affection between St
Therese of Lisieux and her father. Her clothes had to come from the best shops. She very frequently
accompanied him and whenever they were in the city at the dinner hour, it was made evident that in his
opinion the best hotel was her due.
This favoritism did not altogether please her: she seems to have recognized the friction and jealousy it might
cause. 'Am I your only child? ' she asked her father one day. 'I love all the children,' he answered, 'but
remember, you are my eldest daughter.' When he took her on his knees to caress her, she used to break
away from him crying: , Papa, do not touch me.' 'But I am your father,' he would expostulate. ' Yes, Papa, but
I do not want anyone to touch me.' Enrico, puzzled but not displeased, used to say: ' I wonder what will
become of my Gemma! '
So great indeed was her objection to being touched in any way by anyone that she even preferred to wash
herself rather than permit her Aunt Elisa to do so. Once, when she was only six or seven, a cousin who came
on horseback to deliver a parcel at her home, paid dearly for trying to kiss her, as she ran to take the parcel
from him. He held her outstretched hand and bent down to caress her, but she repulsed him so violently that
he lost his balance and, falling off the horse, hurt himself. Gemma was punished for this conduct by having
her hands tied behind her back for a whole day.
Her mother's love, though not less tender, was certainly more solid. She, too, preferred Gemma. Was she
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