Memorial: 11 April
Profile Daughter of a poor pharmacist; mother died when she was seven, her father when she was eighteen, and she took care of her seven brothers and sisters. Laywoman. Cured in her 20's of spinal tuberculosis by prayer to Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows. Rejected by the orders to which she applied who would not believe her cure, she became a Passionist Tertiary. Stigmatist, receiving the wounds on her hands and feet each Thursday evening through Friday afternoon starting in June 1899 and continuing into 1901. Visionary; she saw her guardian angel daily, and visits from the devil who tempted her to spit on the cross and break a rosary. Her canonization faced stiff opposition by those who either disbelieved or wished to avoid attention to her visions and stigmata.
Born: 12 March 1878 at Borgo Nuovo di Camigliano, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy
Died : 11 April 1903 (Holy Saturday) of tuberculosis
Beatified: 1933 by Pope Pius XI
Canonized: 2 May 1940 by Pope Pius XII
Patronage apothecaries, druggists, loss of parents, pharmacists, temptations
Reading
If I saw the gates of Hell open and I stood on the brink of the abyss, I should not despair, I should not lose hope of mercy, because I should trust in You, my God.
Saint Gemma Galgani
O my soul, bless Jesus. Never forget the many graces He has given thee. Love that God who so loves thee. Lift thyself up to Him, who has lowered Himself for thee; show thyself as He shows Himself with thee; be clean of heart, be pure. Love thy Jesus, who has lifted thee out of so much misery. Love thy God, bless thy Lord
Saint Gemma Galgani
Gemma Galgani from Lucca, most pure virgin, being in her twenty-fifth year, died of consumption, but was more consumed by the fire of divine love than by her wasting disease. On the eleventh of April, 1903, the vigil of Easter, her soul took its flight to the bosom of her heavenly Spouse. O beautiful soul, in the company of the Angels!"
inscription on the marble tablet that covers Saint Gemma Galgani's remains in the chapel of the Passionist Sisters in Lucca