BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

Gianninis' (mentioning the exact hour) of Monsignor Tei, or Father Germanus, or of their letters. She
prophesied her own death, a long time before, about six years in fact, and indicated the circumstances that
were to accompany it.
We cannot resist mentioning a prophecy that has been fulfilled only in our day. Once when she was doing
her hour on guard before the Blessed Sacrament, the Infant Jesus appeared to her, and among other things
said: 'Assure your confessor that it is Jesus who speaks to you; and that through My operation within you,
you will be a Saint, and work miracles, and be raised to the honors of the altars." [Letter to Monsignor Volpi.
See Positio super revisione scriptorum, p. 90.]
To a child as innocent and ingenuous as Gemma Jesus could safely reveal such secrets, without fear of
exposing her to the danger of pride. However, there have been other Saints to whom a similar revelation was
made: for instance, St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Benedict Joseph Labre.
SUPREME UNION
Thus Gemma's soul, great yet little, resting in the arms of her Divine Spouse, mounted the steps of the
spiritual life, to the very summit. Father Germanus gives two long chapters of his biography to a detailed
account of this journey to perfect union with God through unaccustomed ways. Gemma herself was once
heard to utter in ecstasy these burning . words: '0 Jesus, must it be always "daughter"? Must it be nothing
more? Yet there is something I should like, 0 Jesus! Yes, I mean it; but it would seem to be too much for me,
0 Jesus. Or shall I say what it is I desire? I desire, 0 Jesus, I desire to be Thy spouse. Yes, Thy spouse, oh
Jesus!'
Jesus heard her prayer, and united Himself to her with the indissoluble bond of love. 'And,' says Father
Germanus, 'these mystical espousals were not to be without pledges. Jesus revealed them to her as He had
also revealed them to St. Catherine, St. Paul of the Cross and other Saints, when He appeared to her under
the form of a beautiful Child held in the arms of His Mother who took a ring from His finger and placed it upon
Gemma's.'
The reader must not think that because of these extraordinary favors Gemma was living in an ocean of
spiritual delights. One must have forgotten all we have said up to the present, or be ignorant of the most
elementary notions of the spiritual life, to come to this conclusion. The truth is, the heartbreaking, yet
resigned, lamentations of Gemma in ecstasy drew tears from the eyes of all who heard them. Jesus was in
hiding, and her heart was bursting with desire for Him. 'Father, I am alone,' she wrote to her director on one
of these occasions . • I am abandoned, but as I desire suffering, no one can console me .... Jesus is no
longer with me. Tell Jesus that I am His and that I will be His always. If He avoids me, I will always follow
Him. But I hope that He will come back, will He ?' And on another occasion she wrote: .' Jesus does not want
me, He rejects me, yet I will seek Him always.' [Life of Gemma Galgani, by Father Germanus, C.P., Chapters
XXIV-XXV.]
Towards the end of her life Jesus told Gemma of the greater spiritual progress she would make, and of the
new sorrows still to be borne. This is what she wrote to her confessor: 'Monsignor, one morning after I
received Holy Communion, it seemed to me that Jesus spoke these words: " Already your confessor must
have perceived that I desire you to pass through all the grades of the mystical life. The first part of the way is
now over, and soon we shall be at the end of that which is called the way of sorrow and love. Then the way
of great sorrow will be entered upon, and finally the dark night of the soul will come, and this will be the
.second and last part of your life, and at the end of it, My child, I shall take you to Heaven." [Lettere ed estasi,
p. 14]
CHAPTER XXI
TRANSPORTS OF LOVE -HER HEAVENLY MOTHER
[All quotations in this chapter are taken from Lettere ed estasi unless otherwise stated.]
Gemma loved the Queen of Heaven ardently. As the reader will remember, she took her as her Mother when
her earthly mother died. It was on the advice, at least implied, of the latter that Gemma did so, for a little
statue of Our Lady of Sorrows before which she had learned to say her prayers, was her mother's last gift to
her, and she brought it with her to the Gianninis' and treasured it until her death.
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