BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

Here will be quoted in part at least some of the colloquies which Gemma held with Jesus while she was in
ecstasy, in order to show with what childlike simplicity she associated with Him :
‘Stay and listen, Jesus. Now I know that it is really You. If it had been my imagination I should not have
wanted it any longer; I should want to die. Listen, You have always told me that You wouldst give me any
grace whatever, and I have told Thee that I want this grace. Yes, and after this grace I want many other
graces. If You grant me this one, You will also grant me the others. Now listen, if You do not grant me what I
now ask I will no longer answer when You call me. Art You inclined to call me! If it is You, then do me this
favour, will You not? Otherwise, when You call me, I shall not pay attention. I'll be deaf to the calling. If it be
You, Jesus, You will not lie; but if it is You, then grant me what I ask. I believe that it is You, but do You not
know that there are others who do not think so? I am not upset about it, You know. I am better so. They do
not believe that it is You; they think that I am mad. But I am not a bit mad, isn't this so, Jesus? Are things to
remain in this way? See to it that they don't torment me any more. But, 0 Jesus, it is for sufferings only that I
should ask. However, grant me this favour, and then You will see . how I shall want to please Thee .... '
Perhaps someone will say that such familiarity is excessive. But with the author of the Imitation of Christ, we
can call this familiarity between Jesus and the soul inebriated with His love, by no other name than sublime,
marvelous, 'familiarities stupenda nimis." [Imitation of Christ, Book I, Chap. I, v. 6.]
FRUITS OF SIMPLICITY
The first-fruit of this simplicity was a spirit of obedience truly heroic. We have quoted incidents here and there
which showed clearly how Gemma exercised this virtue. We shall now give a few more instances, and by
quoting her own words allow her to reveal with inimitable candor her own beautiful heart.
As formerly in her own home, so now in the Giannini household, always and everywhere, she allowed herself
to be guided by obedience, just as if she was an automaton. 'She was very simple,' deposed Monsignor
Volpi, 'and never discussed what she was told to do, or the advice that was given to her.' And the obedience
of this simple soul was so pleasing to God, that He desired it be preserved even during the supernatural
manifestations. A mental command only, even a mental desire of her director, of her confessor, of her
adopted mother, was enough to recall her from ecstasy. When she was in bed at the voice of obedience she
closed her eyes and went to sleep, and then at the voice of obedience awakened again.
From certain inner emotions she sometimes knew the good or the bad state of the people who were near
her. Both her confessor and her director told her not to pay attention to these feelings. She wrote to Father
Germanus: 'With regard to the matter I wrote to you about, that is, my divining the state of people around me,
do not mention it to me again; I no longer think about it. My heart continues to be glad or to be sorrowful, but
I pay no attention to it now, and when it happens, I try to distract myself.' Sometimes she knew when letters
from Father Germanus were to arrive, or when other persons-as Monsignor Tei, Bishop of Pesaro, deposedwere
to come to the house. Father Germanus took occasion from this to mortify her, and she replied: 'I shall
make sure never again to do what I have done nor to say what I have said.' And in another letter: 'I have
overcome myself. This morning early, before Holy Communion, I had an inspiration, and I knew that one of
your letters was to come this morning. I suffered a little from my desire to speak about it, but I repressed
myself and remained silent. That is good, is it not ? '
The familiarity shown in her relations with Heaven appeared excessive to Father Germanus, and he
instructed her to use 'voi ' instead of 'tu ' in her talks with Jesus and the Angels and Saints. She obeyed, but
the habit she had acquired and this interference with her natural simplicity betrayed her, so that she would
humble and correct herself even in her ecstasies. Nevertheless, she could write to her director: 'To the
Angels I no longer say "tu " ; always "voi " from to-day.' Gemma, however, experienced great difficulty in
carrying out this direction, and she complained of it to Jesus, who was pleased to free her from this
embarrassment. She wrote to Father Germanus :
'Father, please listen. Babbo, you are no longer in agreement with Jesus even. Several times you have told
me that I must not say " tu " to Jesus, and that I was not to treat Him so confidentially. But yesterday morning
Jesus said to me: "Look, my child, when I show Myself somewhat cold with people, it is because they have
not all that confidence in Me that I desire. Whoever omits to treat Jesus with confidence, wrongs His
Goodness which has been shown to us so many times and in so many different ways." Besides, it seems to
me, Father, that when we have great confidence in Jesus, we are, as it were, doing Him a sweet violence
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