BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

It would need ice to extinguish it. I t is very annoying, for it prevents me from sleeping or eating. It is a
mysterious fire that shows itself externally even, and the flesh is somewhat scorched. You understand, it is
not a fire that torments me, but one that consumes me.'
And again she writes:
‘Yesterday evening before going to supper, I said a few prayers, among which was this ejaculation: "Grant, 0
Lord, that from this frugal supper I may pass to the possession of infinite joy." I shut my eyes for a few
minutes to think of it, and then I felt myself pushed towards Jesus, and my heart began to throb. And this
always happens every time I think of Jesus, and particularly when it seems to me that Jesus is inviting me to
receive Him, or when He says-and it seems to me that He often does say so-that He is coming to repose in
my heart.'
OTHER MARVELS
But the inventory of the precious gifts bestowed by Jesus upon His chosen spouse is far from being
complete. We' shall mention a few more. Thus she sometimes perspired copiously, and no natural cause
could be assigned for this phenomenon. The following fact was deposed by Cecilia Giannini:
'One morning we were at the "Rosa" and received Holy Communion. After a little we went home, and I found
that she was wringing wet allover. I made her change her clothes, but after a while she was in the same
condition. This happened several times. She was helping me with a little work, but she was nevertheless so
very silent and unusually recollected that I knew that her thoughts were elsewhere, probably on the Holy
Communion she had just received. All the same, she was doing her work very carefully, without breaking
anything. The second time it happened I scolded her, saying: "This is not perspiration; you have splashed
water all over yourself." And I said this because I believed that she had carried up the water for the rooms. "I
did not carry it up," she answered, "ask Zita." Zita was one of the servants. Gemma's words "ask Zita" were
in reply to my question: "If you did not bring it up, who did?" Then she added: "Not to prove that I am right,
but for your own satisfaction, send Basil to the ' Rosa ' to look at the place where I was after Communion."
(Basil was one of the workmen.) She said nothing more. I went myself and looked where she had been
kneeling, and saw that the spot was very wet. I came back immediately, but I said nothing. It was Gemma
who first spoke. "Do not go away," she said after a while, " because it must happen in your presence." "What
must happen? " I asked. She did not answer. We were sitting side by side, working. Gemma went into
ecstasy, and I watched her. She was in her accustomed attitude and began to perspire so freely that large
drops fell down upon the floor from her hands and feet. After it was over I made her change her clothes. She
did not want to do this, but sacrificed her will to obedience. This perspiration was similar to that which
naturally comes out when one works hard. As far as I remember it was not Summer weather, and besides,
she never perspired as we did. I never heard her make a remark about the weather being hot. She had these
sweats on several occasions; in fact, very often. Father Germanus knew about them before I did, and told
me that I was to see that she always changed her clothes after she had them.
It seems to me, but I do not remember and I may make a mistake, that these happened in 1902, and not
throughout her life. I used to think that they were consequences of her great sorrow for her sins, for she used
to say to me: "I feel such great contrition for my sins that at times I perspire."’
Among the other gifts which God deigned to shower upon His Servant we must mention the sweet odour that
was diffused by her person -an odor instilling a love of virtue in all who were fortunate enough to experience
it. Signora Justina Giannini attests: 'A certain distinguished and very religious person named Carlo de Nobili
visited me when I was ill. He said: "I am always more than delighted to come to this house, because I am
conscious of such an indescribably pleasant odor when Gemma is around.'"
That she was also favored by God with the gifts of prophecy and the discernment of hearts is easily deduced
from the Processes. Thus when Signora Justina was so seriously ill that no hope Was held out for her,
Gemma declared that she would be cured, but that she would always be afflicted with a slight indisposition.
She told her Aunt Elisa that Euphemia Giannini would be a Passionist nun. This was a long time before
Euphemia entered the convent. Euphemia herself did not hear of the prophecy until she was a nun. When
Monsignor Volpi was Vicar-Capitular of the Archdiocese of Lucca, and was working to establish a foundation
of the Passionist nuns in that city, Gemma told him to make haste because he had not much time to spare.
And indeed in a short time he was transferred to the See of Arezzo. She often predicted the arrival at the
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