BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

The life of Blessed Gemma Galgani is full of the most surprising marvels. To confound the pride of mankind
in this age of positivism, God has been pleased to allow Himself to be glorified in the humble Virgin of Lucca.
And it is necessary to go far back in the history of Christian holiness to find souls as privileged as she was.
In the preceding pages we have already mentioned some of these marvels. Other extraordinary things have
only been touched upon in passing, as it were. And so as not to weary the reader, we have not lingered over
useless details.
The raising of a Servant of God to the honours of the altars certainly does not imply the recognition of such
supernatural gifts; this is a secure principle, beyond all discussion. Supernatural phenomena have no
essential relation to sanctity or to the virtues that constitute sanctity. They are a free gift of God who, in the
designs of His Providence, may grant them even to those who merit them least. When the Church glorifies
one of her children she presents him or her to us not only for our admiration, but also for our imitation. And
because the Christian virtues are the foundation of all sanctity, she is on the look-out for them more than for
anything else. As the Church has declared in proclaiming the heroicity of her virtues, this foundation was
most solid in Blessed Gemma.
But in proclaiming the heroic nature of her virtues, the Sovereign Pontiff made no pronouncement about the
supernatural phenomena. The Decree which gave her the right to be called Venerable was concerned with
the virtues practiced by her, and with nothing else. The Holy Father, nevertheless, referred to ' the summits
exceedingly high and difficult of ascent,' adding that the virtues of which the Decree speaks were the base
upon which were raised these ' summits exceedingly high and difficult of ascent,' and that ' around the foot of
these dizzy heights, the familiar plain stretched out smilingly.'
The Decree declared that Blessed Gemma ' lived on the earth with the \body whilst her soul was even then a
citizen of Heaven; so great indeed was the ardor of the charity that was drawing this most innocent maiden
to God, that she seemed freed from the burden of her body, already a stranger to the passing things of this
world.' This is more than enough to give Gemma a place among those fortunate souls whose conversation is
in Heaven, and who can say: 'Now I no longer live, but Christ liveth in me.' These words describe the life of
the Seraphim before the throne of God-the Seraphim who, according to St. Gregory, burn with an
incomparable love. It is not astonishing, therefore, that' freed from the burden of her body,' Gemma should
have been rapt into ecstasies.' [L'Osservatore Romano, 1931, November 30-L'Eco di San Gabriele, XX,
num. 1]
As we have begun, so we shall continue with confidence to treat of these supernatural gifts ' that were not
lacking in the humble Servant of God.'
ECSTASIES
Very early in life Gemma began to have ecstasies. The reader will remember that when she entered the
Giannini family these supernatural manifestations were already familiar to her, and also that if Monsignor
Volpi insisted that Cecilia Giannini should keep Gemma with her as far as possible, it was precisely because
these manifestations were making things in her own home more difficult every day.
In the Giannini household not much importance was attached at first to these extraordinary happenings. I t
was thought that they were the result of some form of illness. As the reader will remember, Chevalier
Matthew took her into the family out of charity. The first to realize that Gemma was receiving extraordinary
graces was Cecilia Giannini, and there began from that moment the latter's great mission in life-a mission
under the direction of Monsignor Volpi and later of Father Germanus, to protect Gemma and to defend the
precious gifts God had deigned to bestow upon her.
Following Father Germanus, the witnesses in the Processes declared that Gemma's ecstasies w-ere of
several kinds, namely, the small, the great and the extraordinary . We have already spoken of the
extraordinary ecstasies. They happened twice a week, on Thursday at about eight o'clock in the evening until
about three o'clock on Friday afternoon. They also happened irregularly at other times during the year. They
came on here- these periodic ecstasies -mostly during the evening meal. Their approach could be perceived
from her profound recollection. Then she unobtrusively got up from her place and retired to her room. In a
few minutes she was on her knees with her hands joined, her eyes raised towards Heaven, and completely
wrapped out of her senses. When the ecstatic rapture overtaking her made itself felt more strongly she would
place herself upon her bed, and then they would find her, as a rule, in a sitting posture, wrapt in ecstasy.
82