BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

taken to have Gemma raised to the altars of the Church, she wrote: 'My poor heart rejoices in the knowledge
that they are working for the glorification of my holy pupil, Gemma Galgani.' On her side Gemma, as it were
in gratitude for the care bestowed upon her, seems to have obtained for this noble woman the grace of dying
on Holy Saturday as the Easter bells were ringing out, on April 11, 1914 -the anniversary of her own death.
Sister Elena is said to have influenced Leo XIII to issue his Encyclical on devotion to the Holy Ghost.
Gemma was delighted with her new school. ‘I began to go to the Nuns' school’ she wrote in her
Autobiography, 'and I was in Heaven.' It could not have seemed otherwise to such a child. She lived in an
atmosphere of piety, under the guidance of religious who were still filled with that fervour which
characterizes, more particularly, the first members of a new religious Institute.
'I WILL STRIVE TO BE A SAINT'
Gemma's longing for divine knowledge, already seen in her conversations with her mother, began to be
manifested more clearly now. She asked Sister Catherine Vagliensi to tell her something about the sufferings
of Christ in His Passion, and drank in every word so eagerly, and allowed herself to be so penetrated by the
recital, that she became ill. , I told my mistress of my desire (of knowing Jesus Crucified),' wrote Gemma, '
and she began to tell me something every day, choosing an hour for the recital when the other children were
in bed.
One evening she described the Crucifixion, the crowning with thorns, and all the other sufferings of Jesus so
vividly, that the sorrow and compassion I felt brought on a high fever and I had to remain in bed the whole
day after.'
Fortunately, when the processes for the Beatification were set on foot, Sister Julia Sestini, who on the death
in 1888 of Sister Catherine Vagliensi, became Gemma's mistress and confidante, was still living, and able to
make important depositions concerning her pupil. One incident she mentioned recalls something similar in
the life of Blessed Bartolomea Capitanio, Foundress of the Sisters of Charity of Milan. One day a teacher in
school asked Bartolomea and her companions which of them desired to be a saint. They answered with one
voice: all wanted to be saints. Who would be a saint first? The teacher decided to solve the question by
casting lots. . She procured as many straws of unequal length as there were pupils, and holding them in her
hand declared that whoever drew the longest straw should be a saint first. Bartolomea drew the longest
straw. She was so surprised that she at once ran to the Chapel to pray.' [Le Beata Bartolomea Capitanio,
Fondatrice delle Suore de Carita, Venice, 1926, p. 27] Gemma did not run to the Chapel when in a similar
way she drew the longest straw. According to Sister Julia Sestini, she danced with joy and cried out: ‘Yes! I
will strive to be a saint.'
Another incident, related by Elisa Galgani, again reveals the innocence and artlessness of this singular child.
One day when she came home from school she said to her aunt: 'The Superior, Sister Elena Guerra, said to
me: "Gemma, Gemma, you have committed an act of pride to-day." Aunt, what are acts of pride? Explain to
me what an act of pride means; I do not know this sin.' Her aunt suggested that she should ask the Mother
Superior herself for a definition of an act of pride. She did so, and was greatly relieved to find that she had
not committed it. She returned home. on the evening of that day very pleased and said: 'No, I have done
nothing wrong, but I am glad also to know what this sin is.' Years later she wrote in her Autobiography: 'Yes, I
did indeed commit this sin, but Jesus knows whether I recognized it or not. I often went to all the teachers, to
all the pupils, to the Mother Superior, to ask pardon for this sin. In the evening and very often at night, I wept
over it alone. Without being aware of it I fell into this sin many times a day.'
STRUGGLING TO FORM CHARACTER
It will be interesting to know why this holy child was accused of pride. From what has been said, it is clear
that she herself was often responsible and she knew it-for these accusations. She even admitted in her
Autobiography that pride was the only defect of which she was accused and for which she was punished.
'The teacher,' she wrote, ' often called me a proud girl.'
According to Father Germanus, her first biographer-and everyone who knew her at this time agrees with him-
Gemma was 'by nature vivacious. , Whoever watched her closely,' he says, ' could not but observe that she
had a sanguine temperament and that her blood was easily fired. Only the violence she did to her natural
bent prevented her from becoming what indeed some said she was, a little imp. Alert and perspicacious as
she was, this inclination might easily have dominated her whole character. ' [“Life of Gemma Galgani”, by
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