BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

‘They (the demonic apparitions) were waiting for her in her room in the evening,' deposed Cecilia Giannini,
referring to the time when Gemma still slept at home, 'in the form of dogs, of cats, of men, black monkeys
like those one sees in a menagerie. Gemma suffered a great deal, and even spoke to her confessor about
them, and he, having asked me through Gemma to come to see him, told me to find out how these things
were happening.' Sometimes on her return she met two of these strange men, who made her swing round
violently, and then beat her with ropes. But what did these blows matter to one so eager for suffering, even
when they were struck with satanic hatred? 'I ought to scourge myself,' she used to say to them. 'You can do
it for me.' Things came to such a pass that the Evil One took the form of a person known to her, who used to
work in her father's pharmacy, a good boy with whom Gemma had never spoken; She occupied a room next
to that of her Aunt's who testified that he never had entered their house.
During her serious illness, a certain Signora Rossi used to bring her sweets, a practice of hers when visiting
the sick. The sweets were placed in a chest of drawers, but when they were again taken out they were found
to be so spoiled that they were unfit for use. Aunt Elisa asked Gemma whether the children had been at the
drawers, but she answered: 'No one has been near them; it is the Devil himself who has done that.' Thus the
malign spirit sought to destroy the few comforts which the charity of others procured for in her sickness.
Subsequently these persecutions became so real that her aunts who slept near and were subject to
disturbances, thought of giving her a room more remote from them. Thus Gemma wrote to Monsignor Volpi:
‘Aunt Elisa got out of bed because she said she heard me crying, and I told her I had cried. I was almost in
despair. I besought her to return to bed and not to wake the others. But she began to argue with me and with
herself, and then went away. This morning, however, she told me that she would give me that dark room you
know of, to sleep in. " There you will be at your ease," she said, " and besides I do not want to miss my
night's sleep!" ‘
One day the Prioress of the 'Mantellate' Nuns, Sister Agnes, saw Gemma holding up her left elbow with her
right hand. She was obviously in pain and confessed to her: 'I am in great pain here.' On being asked what
had happened, she replied: 'I have done nothing. Chiappino' -that is what she called the Devil- 'has given me
a blow here on the arm.'
Still more serious was the following incident which is attested to by the same Sister Agnes to whom, on the
advice of Monsignor Volpi, Gemma confided the secrets of her soul. We shall quote her exact words :
‘She had many anxieties, especially because of the Devil. He tried to terrify her, appeared to her and struck
her blows. She told me once that one evening on returning home and entering her own room, she saw
Monsignor Volpi sitting there in his Episcopal robes. Filled with terror she ran to cast herself on her knees
before a picture of our Blessed Lady of Sorrows. Whilst she was thus praying, this apparition in the likeness
of Monsignor Volpi, took out a knotty stick and beat her unmercifully, so that he made her spit blood. After
that he disappeared and everything was peaceful once more, but nevertheless she remained all that night in
prayer before the Blessed Virgin.'
The following incident was attested to by Marianna Bianchini:
‘One day when she was living, as far as I know, in the Via del Biscione and used to frequent the Church of
St. Peter Somaldi, she told me that the Devil often tried to prevent her from receiving Holy Communion. She
said that the Devil in the guise of a coarse looking man would push her and even throw her down on the
ground in the mud, in order to compel her to return home, and that she used to go back and change and then
return to the church to receive Holy Communion. Sometimes she met him at the door of the Church of St.
Peter, in the appearance as usual of a coarse-looking man, and he said to her: "Do not go to receive
Communion; you will commit a sacrilege. Last night you were guilty of wicked things!" Gemma usually paid
no attention to him, but she confessed to me that on one occasion she did listen to him and did not receive
Holy Communion although she went to the church to hear Mass. On leaving the church she found the man
there at the door, and he was pleased with her and rejoiced because she had listened to him at last. Then
Gemma realized that she had been tricked by the Evil One, and returning immediately to the church she
received Holy Communion. She confided to me that on turning back with the firm resolution to go to
Communion, she said to the man: "Oh, I understand!" And by that she meant to say: "So you are the Devil!
Well, I am going to receive Holy Communion to spite you."’
Gemma's reception of Holy Communion must have been very displeasing to the enemy of souls, and that is
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