BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

Thee; I am all on fire with thirst for Thy most precious Blood!' And behold, a marvel! Jesus detached an arm
from the Cross and invited her to come to Him. She darted forward, and embraced her heavenly Spouse,
and in His turn He embraced her; she placed her lips to that sacred side and drank copiously from that divine
fountain, and all the while her feet were resting as if upon a cloud. Father Germanus learned these
extraordinary facts from Gemma herself.' [Life of Gemma Galgani, by Father Germanus, C.P., Chap. XXIV.]
VISIONS
Ecstasies of their nature include visions, and Gemma was abundantly favored with them and also with
apparitions. 'It was enough to see her during these happy moments to come to the conclusion that she was
in affectionate relations with God,' Chevalier Matthew Giannini testified. Aunt Cecilia, who was so much in
Gemma's confidence, declared that the visions that accompanied her ecstasies were for the most part of
Jesus suffering with the Cross on His shoulders, but often they were of Jesus in the act of pointing to His
Sacred Heart, or of Jesus as a beautiful child. There were also apparitions of the Blessed Virgin. St. Gabriel,
the Passionist, appeared to her frequently, and St. Paul of the Cross on several occasions.
Her visions of her Guardian Angel were marked by an extraordinary familiarity. The Angels of Heaven were
indeed on intimate terms with this Angel of earth. But it was her Guardian Angel who was nearly always
visibly present. I t is necessary to go back to St. Frances of Rome, to St. Rose of Lima, to Blessed
Crescentia Hoss, to find examples like the extraordinary intimacy that existed between Gemma and her
Angel. She said of Jesus one day: , He makes my Angel always stay with me.' Her Guardian encouraged
her, became her master in the spiritual life, and if she sometimes did not act with the perfection expected, he
reproved her. Thus Gemma besought her Angel: ' If I am sometimes wicked, dear Angel, do not be angry
with me, because I do want to please you.' She was allowed to see him, now floating in the air with unfolded
wings and hands outstretched over her, or joined in an attitude of prayer; now on his knees beside her. They
prayed together; they competed with one another as to who should be the first to utter a favorite ejaculation:
Live, Jesus! Father Germanus declared that every time Gemma raised her eyes to her Angel, she was rapt in
ecstasy, and that no matter how often she looked, even for the shortest space of time, the same
phenomenon occurred.
The lessons Gemma learned from this heavenly master were many. Sometimes he told her to get pen and
paper and to sit at the table, and then standing close by her side, he dictated such maxims as these: '
Remember, my child, that whoever loves Jesus speaks little and suffers much. I command you, in the name
of Jesus, never to give your opinion unless it is asked, never to hold to your opinion but to yield. When you
have committed any fault, acknowledge it immediately, and do not wait until you are taxed with it. Remember
to guard your eyes, for the eyes that are mortified will look upon the beauty of Heaven.'
The Guardian Angel was her guide and companion. Thus one day, when she had stayed too long in the
Church, he came to warn her and accompany her home. It was her Angel who came to solace and help her
after she had been beaten by the demons; it was he who blessed her when she was going to bed, who
watched over her virginal sleep, who awakened her in the morning in time to receive Jesus in Holy
Communion.'
But the following incident has an inimitable beauty all its own. One day at two o'clock Gemma arrived at the
door of the Convent of the ' Mantellate' Nuns, and asked for the Mother Prioress, who on coming down to the
parlour was surprised to see Gemma alone, this being contrary to the orders of Monsignor Volpi, who had
said that she should be accompanied on her way to and from the convent. When the Mother Prioress
reproved her, saying: ' Is this the way you are obedient? ' Gemma answered: 'Do not scold me, Mother,
because I am not alone.' On being asked, however, whom she had with her, she replied ingenuously: 'My
Guardian Angel.' 'Let me see him,' said the Mother Prioress. Gemma, with incomparable artlessness,
opened the door and made a sign as if inviting a person standing outside to enter. Then she said to the
Mother Prioress: 'Behold him.' [Life of Gemma Galgani, by Father Germanus, C.P., Chap. XX.]
Naturally, the nun could see nobody. However, she asked Gemma how he had accompanied her on the way,
and she answered: 'He had his wings outstretched over my head, protecting me.' On principle Father
Germanus considered this familiarity excessive, but in the end he gave in and wrote to her: ' May Jesus be
always with you and your Angel always at your side.'
But very often other heavenly spirits joined with the Guardian Angel in visiting their angelic sister. Then the
competition in repeating 'Viva Gesu ' must have grown more intense, and ended, to use her own phrase, in
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