BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

wrote to the latter:
'Father, the mother is very seriously ill. I have been thinking this way: when I was sick she was ready to help
me even more than she was able, but I have had no opportunity of showing them gratitude. Perhaps the time
has come? The mother is sick and I cannot make any return for all she has done for me. Up to the present I
have offered for her only a little suffering, some little mortifications .... This morning I spoke to Jesus, and
afterwards I said to my confessor: "I should like to give my life for the poor mother!" He said:
"No. Absolutely no." I then said: "Two years, at least? May I not give at least that much!" Jesus was satisfied,
and said: "Yes, you may. However, on condition that the Father director is also satisfied!" I want to make this
promise, this vow, to-morrow morning, but I cannot unless I get the permission of the Father director. Father,
you will not refuse, will you? Two for Serafina, and two for the mother, more if there is need. I am most
anxious that you should reply immediately.'
Serafina was a friend of Gemma who had mentioned her to her spiritual director before. 'I have only about
eight years to live,' she wrote to him. 'I should like to give three to Serafina and keep the others for myself.'
After several refusals and many evasions, Gemma at length obtained the desired consent. Signora Justina
was cured except for an inconvenience of another nature which Gemma herself had foretold. Gemma,
however, became seriously ill with stomach trouble, and was in violent pain. To make Aunt Cecilia realize
how much she was suffering, she said that the effect of swallowing a drop of water was like a burning fire in
her stomach. Father Germanus attests that the two women mentioned above got better, but that Gemma
died at the exact end of the period she had bargained to live.' [Lettere ed estasi, pp. 35-36]
If the laying down of one's life out of love for a person who returns it, is according to the Gospel an act of the
greatest charity, what must be said of that charity by which one is impelled to offer one's life and one's
services on behalf of a person by whom one is actually despised? There was a servant in the house who had
a disgusting wound in the leg, which was dressed by Gemma with every care even though she received only
abuse in return. Mother Gemma Giannini said that when passing the room where the servant was, she saw
Gemma on her knees kiss and dress the sore.
After her death Gemma continued to prove her gratitude to her benefactors. Chevalier Matthew Giannini well
recognized this and in his evidence before the ecclesiastical tribunal he said:
‘For my part I must say this, that although my five sons were all at the war, exposed to the greatest danger,
they all came back safe and sound, and one who had been appointed to a very dangerous post, was not
sent. All this I owe, I believe, to the intercession of Gemma, to whom we have always prayed. And I think that
it is to her I also owe the success of all my sons. They are a great consolation to me, for they go to Holy
Communion every day, and are much occupied in promoting Catholic Action. Of my daughters, five are nuns,
one has remained at home and one is married.'
Notwithstanding all this, Gemma feared that she was a source of scandal to her benefactors. Thus she wrote
to a nun: 'Say a prayer for me, Mother, that Jesus may give me the grace to set a good example to this
family and not to be a scandal to it." [Lettere ed estasi, p. 141.]
HELPING THE NEEDY
The reader will remember how charitable Gemma was as a child, how she was even still more charitable
when her family fell from prosperity to absolute want. In the Giannini household, the desire she had of
assisting the poor, did not meet with so many obstacles, and she was able to satisfy it to her heart's content.
The Gianninis, knowing her kind-heartedness, made her the channel of their charities to the poor, and Aunt
Cecilia's recollections give us an insight into this aspect of Gemma's virtue. The poor have a way of finding
out where they will be well treated, and there was always a goodly number who knocked at the Gianninis'
door. Gemma knew their knock, being able to distinguish it from others. She went, therefore, to offer
whatever Aunt Cecilia had set apart for the poor. Sometimes, however, there was a disagreement between
Gemma and her adopted mother. But we had better give Aunt Cecilia's own account:
‘In order to be able to help her neighbor, Gemma was willing to go hungry. She would have liked to give
away everything. On the contrary I did not approve of this and I scolded her because, I said, I did not want to
encourage the poor to come to the house in a procession. Besides, in case of any trouble I should not have
been able to help Gemma. At table she usually put aside something for the poor, and then when there was a
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