St Gemma's New Year Resolutions

The New Years Resolutions of a Saint

On New Years eve, 1895-1896 Gemma writes:
"So I resolved to change my life, because Jesus had given me clear lights to the effect that I should be a religious. I had a good occasion to do this, for we were about to begin the year of 1896. I wrote in a little notebook: "During this new year I resolve to begin a new life. I do not know what will happen to me during this year. But I abandon myself entirely to you, my God. And my aspirations and all my affections will be for You. I feel so weak, dear Jesus, but with Your help I hope and resolve to live a different life, that is, a life closer to You."

Some of Gemma's other resolutions:
Writing to her spiritual director Gemma writes:
“Father, do you know the latest idea that has come into my head? It is to become a saint at all costs. I made this resolution yesterday evening. During my meditation I was thinking that one lives only once, and it is certain that one is going to die; then one will have to answer to God.”

-But could she ever have imagined that she would not only become a saint in heaven, but become a canonised Saint of the Catholic Church- the first canonised Saint who lived in the 20th century! -O Saint Gemma, pray for us!

Again she writes to her spiritual director: 'Yesterday at the end of my meditation, I was making as usual my resolutions to love Jesus with all my heart, and then my Angel appeared and said-'

"Well then, we shall soon see whether you will prove your resolutions."
'I told this to my confessor, but even he does not know to what the Angel referred. Please tell me if you know.'

And soon afterwards we read how Jesus came and asked her if she would suffer in union with Him for the conversion of sinners, and with her consent He removed the crown of thorns upon His head, and placed is upon hers, causing her much suffering but at the same time much joy, because in doing so she knew that she was pleasing Jesus.

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"Oh My Jesus, mercy!" -Another resolution and one of Gemma's favorite sayings

Gemma once wrote another resolution in her Autobiography:
"Every time the clock strikes I will repeat three times: 'My Jesus, mercy!''


In fact, this was probaly her favorite saying. So much so in fact that during the last days of her life when one of the Nusrisng Sisters of the religious Order of St Camillius (who were caring for her at that time) asked Gemma what was her favorite aspiration to God, and Gemma immediately replied- "My Jesus, mercy!"

This saying of Gemma is even immortalised in a beautiful relic crucifix that was made in her honor, and which I have the grace of having in my possession. In the photo to the left we can see Gemma's words immortalised in Latin above the Sacred Heart of Jesus "O mi Jesu, misericordia" (O my Jesus, mercy").
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"My heart is always united to Jesus, who more and more consumes me. Oh my most sweet Jesus, I would wish to be all dissolved in the midst of the flames of Your Love. Oh, how can I correspond, my God, since You have given me so much? Who will help me in this? To Your Mercy alone I owe the little love that there is in my poor heart for Thee." -St Gemma Galgani

St Gemma handmade relic pouch offer

St Gemma handmade and handpainted relic pouch offer to benefit the Passionist Nuns at the Monastery-Sanctuary of Saint Gemma in Lucca, Italy

I am offering a variety of very unique and beautiful St Gemma Galgani handmade and handpainted relic pouches individually as a fundraiser for the Passionist Nuns at the Monastery-Sanctuary of Saint Gemma in Lucca, Italy. The nuns at the monastery kindly sent me a number of these, so I thought I would offer a few of them individually as a fundraiser, and all donations from the offer of these relic pouches will be donated to them.

This relic pouches are light cream colored, pink or blue (see photos) and are hand-sewn closed. The flowers on front are hand painted.

The Passionists nuns have told me in writing that the relics inside consist of fragments of wood from wooden box of Saint Gemma fragment of "wooden box" of Saint Gemma--(relics are identified in Italian as "Legno della cassa dovè stata S.Gemma"), pieces from candles that the Holy Father blessed on the feast of St Agnes, and palms blessed on Easter Sunday--both the candles and the palms are from beside the relics of St Gemma at the main altar at the Monastery-Sanctuary of St Gemma in Lucca. Gemma's holy remains are kept beneath this main altar, where Mass is celebrated each day.


I am offering each of these relic pouches individually for a free will offering of any amount (suggested donation is $25.00 for each pouch). I will ship the relic pouch as soon as the donation is received, and I will include a free Saint Gemma holy card with each donation. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. My email address is: gdallaire1@gmail.com

Or, those in the U.S.A. who prefer to use the mail may send American cash, personal check or money order, well hidden in an envelope to:
Glenn Dallaire
42 Crown St.
Bristol, CT 06010

When ordering, please be sure to include your current mailing address and also let me know if there is a specific color that you would like.

To order, click here to go to the St Gemma Gift Store.

Free photo holy prayer card included

Included with the relic pouches is a free photo St Gemma holy prayer card (large sized 3-1/2" x 5"). On the back of the free holy card is the following prayer:

"Oh holy Gemma, I am near you, help me to pray. You who know what I and those near me need; look after my urgent needs and my spiritual and material wants. You take care of them! I confide in you and entrust all to your loving care. Offer up to Jesus that tender and constant care that you bore Him here on earth.
Oh holy Gemma, you who physically suffered all the pains of the Passion of Jesus, I beseech of you the grace to meditate on and live the Passion of Jesus, and the sufferings of Holy Mary. Pray that I will be able to walk in the path of humility, simplicity, love and sacrifice, fulfilling at all times and in all ways, the holy will of God. Let me live united with Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and you, for all eternity. Amen."

As of August 2012 I now have more colors availible. See the following link for more pictures and details:
http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/2012/06/st-gemma-relic-pouches-with-free-2nd.html

To order, click here to go to the St Gemma Gift Store.

God arranges everything -The timing of the deaths of St Gemma's friends

The incredible story of the miraculous timing of the deaths of two of St Gemma's friends: Saint Elena Guerra and Cecilia Giannini. -The extraordinary Providence of God.

-From Heaven, Gemma takes care of her friends

I was astounded when I first read about the providential timing of the deaths of two of Gemma's friends, because there is absolutely no possible human explanation to explain the remarkable timing of them outside of the hand of God, and the intercession of His servant St Gemma. I think that the facts presented below will make even the most disbelieving person reconsider the Providence of God, and how He arranges everything in the lives of His faithful ones.

The Hand of God- The incredible story of the miraculous timing of the deaths of St Gemma Galgani and Saint Elena Guerra.
Those who know the life of St Gemma know that St. Elena Guerra was one of Gemma's teachers during her childhood. Both Gemma and Elena lived in Lucca throughout their holy lives, and they knew each other very well and were truly "friends in Christ". I will go into more details below of the life Bl. Elena Guerra and the relationship between St Gemma and Bl. Elena (Bl. Helen Guerra in English), but I want to now present the most extraordinary evidence of how God arranges everything in the lives of His friends.

St Gemma died on Holy Saturday, April 11, 1903. She had often said that she "wanted to die on a great feastday of the Church", and God answered her prayer -as the bells were ringing for the Easter Vigil, she was celebrating her first Easter with Jesus in heaven. Easter and Christmas- the two great feastdays of the Church! But more on that later...

Now we all know that the timing of Easter varies each year, as it is based on the moon- Easter is always on the first Sunday after the full moon after the vernal equinox (March 21). And so Easter can fall anytime between March 23 thru April 25th. But what is all this leading up to? Well, Gemma's great friend, St. Elena Guerra died on the same day of the year as Gemma, April 11th (1914)--a remarkable coincidence? But that is not all! Not only did both Gemma and Elena die on April 11, but in a circumstance that is absolutely the hand and Providence of God, they both died on Holy Saturday, April 11, eleven years apart!!!

To contemplate the extraordinary unlikelihood of such an remarkable train of events, we should briefly look at the frequency of the occurrences of the date of Holy Saturday coinciding with the date of April 11th. In fact, there is an excellent, concise chart here which depicts the frequency of the dates of Easter (and therefore Holy Saturday), so no one need not take my word for it! In short, here are the facts:

-From 1875 to 2024, that is for exactly 250 years, the likelihood of Holy Saturday falling on April 11 is only 9 occasions! The dates are 1903, 1914, 1925, 1936, 1998, 2009, 2020, 2093 and 2099. Now, we should note in the figures above that St. Elena died on the next possible Holy Saturday (April 11, 1914) after St Gemma on Holy Saturday, April 11, 1903. Now, after examining these facts how can we not appreciate the extraordinary hand of God! After all, it would be quite remarkable of itself if these two friends died on the same date, but to die on the next possible date 11 years later when it so happened to also fall on Holy Saturday--well even the most incredulous person would have to reconsider their position.

Before we contemplate fact #2 of the remarkable hand of God in the deaths of St Gemma's friends, we should briefly describe the life of Saint Elena and her holy friendship with St Gemma. In 1866 Elena founded the Society of Mary, Daughters of Saint Agnes in Lucca, Italy and became its first member; the community later became the Oblate Sisters of the Holy Spirit (Sisters of Saint Zita or "Zitine Sisters") which cared for and saw to the religious education of girls. Saint Gemma was one of her students, and the Oblates continue their work today with houses in Italy, Brazil, Canada, Philippines, Lebanon and Iran.

Before Gemma's miraculous cure in 1899, when Gemma lay dying in her bed of pain, she was given a little Holy Hour booklet written by Bl. Elena Guerra entitled "An hour of prayer with Jesus agonizing in Gethsemane". About Gemma and this "Holy Hour" booklet written by St. Elena, Gemma's spiritual director, Venerable Father Germanus C.P. writes- "She resolved to practise this devotion even while confined to bed....Gemma looked on it as a treasure, and at upon first receiving it promised Jesus that if she recovered her health, she would recite the Holy Hour every Thursday night." Gemma of course was cured by Jesus, and keeping her promise she therefore practised this "Holy Hour" each Thursday evening until her death, years later. In fact it was often during this "Holy Hour" that was written by Bl. Elena that during which time Gemma received some of the most extraordinary graces from God-as Jesus would often appear to Gemma, and He would often give her His crown of thorns during this time, along with many other extraordinary graces, as documented in her Diary, Letters and Autobiography. In one letter for example, she explains why she looks forward with such joyous expectation to the Holy Hour: 'How happy I am after I have spent an hour compassionating Jesus! When Thursday evening draws near, I feel absolutely different, so happy: For me Friday is always a festival day.' [Lettere ed estasi, p. 30.]

One last note: When in 1907 St. Elena Guerra heard that steps were being taken to have Gemma raised to the altars of the Church, she wrote: 'My poor heart rejoices in the knowledge that they are working for the glorification of my holy pupil, Gemma Galgani.' And Gemma it seems, in gratitude for the care bestowed upon her by St. Elena and her religious Sisters, seems to have obtained for this noble woman the grace of dying on Holy Saturday as the Easter bells were ringing out, but precisely on April 11, 1914 -not only the anniversary of Holy Saturday-the day which Gemma died, but also the date of the anniversary of Gemma's own death (April 11)!

The remarkable hand of God in the timing of the death of another of Gemma's friends: Cecilia Giannini-Gemma's closest friend and "other mother" Cecilia Giannini, who dies on the vigil of Christmas -the other great feastday.

For Christians there are two great feastdays in the Church that because of their importance are set above all other feast days- Christmas and Easter: one the holy birth, and the other the resurrection of our Lord. Now that we have seen the remarkable hand of God in the dates of the deaths of St Gemma and her holy friend Bl. Elena, let us see once again the Providence of God in the date of the death of Gemma's closest friend, Cecilia Giannini.

Those who know the life of St Gemma know the importance of Cecilia Giannini, Gemma's "adoptive mother", who's family took Gemma in after the death of Gemma's father. For surely it was God Who, in the designs of His Providence, had arranged that these two holy souls, Gemma and Cecilia Giannini, should meet on the pathway of life in order to assist one another to sanctify their souls and become better instruments of His Glory; for surely it was God who awakened in their hearts from their first meeting an undying affection for one another. They loved each other in Christ, and their holy love for each other was mutual. Cecilia wrote that she experienced in Gemma's presence a sense of spiritual well-being. ‘I prayed more,' she said. 'I was more recollected, and in trouble and difficulties I was more at peace. She [Gemma] was generally silent, but when I asked her a question or mentioned any of my trials, a word from her was enough to calm me.' This was the reason why she wanted Gemma near her, and she always took every opportunity to be with Gemma. On her side Gemma wished to be with her friend and says so expressly in her Autobiography: 'From then I loved her as if she were my mother -and I have always regarded her as such.'

But to give the reader some idea of the great affection that Gemma and Cecilia had for each other we shall relate the following story:
A few months before Gemma's death, due to concerns of Gemma being possibly contagious, she was forced to move out of the Giannini's house and into a small apartment across the street. She was thus physically separated from Cecilia and the rest of her adoptive family. It was the will of God as He wanted her to detach herself from all earthly things, to be better prepared to soon join Him in heaven.

About this Cecilia herself writes:
'She was detached from everything and everybody, and in the end even from me, so that I began to think that she no longer cared whether I was near her or not. I therefore reproved her, pointing out that she was ungrateful and that Jesus could not be pleased with her conduct. "Have I not done a little for you?" I concluded, "and Jesus rewards even a glass of water given in His Name. I have indeed made many a sacrifice for you. How is it that you utter not a word even though I am reproaching you with being ungrateful!"
And Gemma answered: "What are you saying? If there is one person in the world I have loved it is you!.... " And with that she began to weep.
"Do whatever seems best to you," I said. "I will not say another word about the matter."

But if Cecilia Giannini could have read her adopted child's heart she would not have been disturbed by such fears of Gemma no longer loving or caring about her. Referring to her forced move out of the Giannini home, she wrote to Father Germanus Gemma revealed her inmost thoughts. 'After taking away my earthly mother,' she confided to him, 'Jesus gave her back to me in the person of 'Aunt' Cecilia. But now I am orphaned once more. Twice I have been an orphan on earth!'

So, as it was from heaven that St Gemma in 1914 arranged with God the miraculous timing of the death of her friend, Saint Elena Guerra, what date could she possibly have arranged with God for the holy death of her best friend, Cecilia Giannini? The Vigil of Christmas of course! -that is, Christmas Eve, December 24, 1931--only a few weeks after the Sovereign Pontiff had declared that Gemma had practiced virtue in an heroic degree, and had bestowed upon Gemma the title of "Venerable". And so it was that God gave Cecilia the grace to live to see the day of her great friend Gemma receive the initial honors of the Church, then only a few weeks later He took her to Himself on Christmas Eve, so that she might spend her Christmas with Him and her great friend Gemma.

And so it is that God works extraordinary wonders through His Saints, and from His throne on-high He arranges everything for the greater good of those who love Him. And we see once again that death does not separate loved ones, and that those who have gone to God can obtain wonderful graces for us, as did Gemma for her friends Bl. Elena and Cecilia.

~St Gemma, pray for us!
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"Poor Jesus! He abases Himself to come and dwell in this vile body of mine. And when my dear Jesus lovingly says to me that all His joy is to be with me, I ask Him: Oh my Jesus, what is there in me to give Thee pleasure? You come to a soul that has a thousand times rebelled against Thee, that has in a thousand ways outraged and even dishonoured Thee! But Jesus, please bear with me. The more I think, the more I realize that I can be happy only by casting myself upon Thy infinite Mercy. - Oh Jesus most merciful!" -St Gemma Galgani

All for Jesus alone -Gemma turns down two marriage offers

All for Jesus -St Gemma declines two marriage offers

In his extensive biography-hagigography of Saint Gemma entitled "La Povera Gemma", Padre Enrico Zoffoli has a chapter entitled "Gemma era bella" that is, "Gemma was beautiful". Who looking at the photographs of Gemma could argue that point? For the "Gem of Christ" was truly a gem of exceedingly rare combination- she was beautiful to behold both on the outside and even moreso on the inside, possessing both an extraordinary external beauty matched with an interior array of virtues rarely found amongst even the most devoted christians.

It is no wonder then that Gemma had young men who were very attracted to her. Beginning in her home at Lucca when she was about sixteen years of age, when her father was still alive, she was sought after officially by a young cavalry lieutenant. Elisa Galgani tells the story:

‘I used to accompany Gemma to the school of the Zitine Sisters. One day Gemma said to me: "Come with me always to the gate, because there" -she pointed to a corner of the street- "that silly fellow awaits my coming and stares at me."

'One day when I was taking Gemma for a walk, I was stopped by a lieutenant whom I recognized as the man whom she had called a "silly fellow." He said to me: "Signora, I wish to speak to you."
"Speak," I answered, "what do you want?"
"I should like to become betrothed to that young girl who is standing by. Please, I am serious. Is she your daughter?" To which I replied: "She is still but a child, and besides she does not want to be married."

The lieutenant stood frowning for a while and then exclaimed: "I am very sorry. She appears to be such a good girl. And I am a respectable young man and come from a good family. If you want to know about me I will tell you who I am and about my family, and where we live."

But Gemma came up to me hastily and said: "Let us go, let us go home." We went, as usual, to a church to visit the Blessed Sacrament, and say our prayers. I noticed that for some time the lieutenant followed Gemma. He contented himself, however, with passing the house and looking up at the windows, at which no one appeared. When these things were known Gemma used to say to me: "I don't wish to have any men around."

When Gemma’s father died a few years later, relatives soon came to the assistance of the poverty-stricken family and Gemma, then age 20, was invited to stay with her aunt Carolina at Camaiore. This aunt was her father's sister, who had mar­ried a rich widower, Dominic Lencioni. Gemma usually spent her vacation with them and was held in such high esteem by her uncle Dominic that he once said to her: "If you remain with us I will leave you as much money as I shall leave to my other niece who lives here."
"Oh, no!" said Gemma. "I am hoping to be a nun, but if you give me something for my dowry, I will be very grateful."

While Gemma was pretty at sixteen, she was even moreso now at the age of twenty, even though she dressed simply in a black dress and mantle, and without any jewlery, she was simple yet graceful, and was governed by piety and modesty in every gesture, thus she was understandably admired by the young men of the place. One of them went with his father, a physician, to see Gemma's uncle and made a formal proposal of marriage. This turn of events appeared to be a providential means of retrieving the fortunes of her family, as the young man and his family were very well off. But Gemma already had given herself to her beloved Jesus and His Mother, who she affectionately called her heavenly "Mom", and her hearts desires were for Jesus and Mary, and not for things of the earth. And this is why she loved others, especially sinners so much, because she loved them out of love for Jesus.

But going back to this marriage proposal, it is easy to imagine the efforts that were made to change Gemma's mind, but none of them succeeded in altering her determination to give no other love a place in her heart except for the love of Jesus. To the worldly-minded such a refusal was complete foolishness, but Gemma had chosen "the fool­ishness of the Cross"; she had no eyes for anyone but her Beloved Jesus and His Mother, and she therefore gave up all earthly love to completely possess her heavenly Spouse.

In spite of this, another young man, who bore the most fitting name of Romeo, made an attempt at a proposal. He worked in a pharmacy across the street in the rear of the Lencioni house. Standing there in the doorway he asked one of the servants at work in the kitchen to declare his intentions to Gemma. "When I refused to do so," says the good woman, "he had the effrontery to write a letter and made me the bearer of it. Gemma took the letter, opened it quickly and read it out loud: it was a declaration of affection. She made a gesture of disgust, exclaiming: 'Look what the silly fellow did! Wait. I'll write him a few lines and you take it to him.' I refused to do this and, even though the letter was written, Gemma said: 'I think I will go and see him myself.' And she tore up the letter."

So let us then have this servant, Alessandrina Valsuani, tell this incident in her own words :
'And, indeed, Gemma went with me to the garden of a man named Ghivizzona, whose house was near to the chemist's shop and to our house. I told Ghivizzona that Gemma wished to speak to a young man from the chemist's and that she would be obliged if he would allow them to meet in his garden in his presence. Then leaving Gemma and Ghivizzona together, I went to the chemist's to tell the young man: "Gemma wants to speak to you," I said, "and she is with Ghivizzona in his garden waiting for you. Go, she expects you."

He went at once and found Gemma where I said. I was not present at the meeting because I went to tell her aunt what had happened. But I had hardly done this when I returned to Ghivizzona's garden. Gemma was already on her way home. The young man had returned to the shop. As soon as she saw me (Ghivizzona was still with her) Gemma exclaimed: "You will see whether I shall be left alone. Do you know what I said to him? I told him not to think of me, not even to look at me, because I belong to Jesus, and that all my thoughts and affections were for Him alone."

And indeed the young man, although I believe he continued to think of her, left her alone afterwards, although he still admired her.'

This one-sided romance did not escape the no­tice of the usual small-boy tormentor, her cousin, Aloysius Bartelloni, in 1922, as a witness in the Processes of Canonisation, took an impish delight in recalling how he teased Gemma on that occasion. "On the kitchen door I wrote this sentence: 'Gemma and Romeo are going down to the Abbey bridge to make love.' And to vex her all the more, I used to walk behind her chanting the same words. It wasn't worth the trouble I took. Gemma abso­lutely avoided all such things, and was hurt by my provoking conduct, yet it was my sister and my aunt, and not Gemma, who scolded me and made me cease annoying her."

To avoid these repeated unwanted advances from the young men at Camaiore, Gemma besought God in prayer and the answer came in the form of a serious sickness. ‘All of a sudden,' she tells us, 'I began to suffer from curvature of the spine and to experience violent pains in my back." [Autobiography, p. 37] and with this excuse, she returned to her home in Lucca - to a home that was now very poor and devoid of every comfort. When she was leaving, all were sorrow stricken, and even her Uncle Dominic, usually an unemotional man, shed tears, but because of her new illness they had to yield to her wishes.

And now at home she continually grew worse; her headaches became violent; she lost her hearing; all her hair fell out and paralysis seized her whole body. The doctor looked at the abscesses on her back and after consultation, he pronounced her disease, tuberculosis of the spine [or perhaps spinal meningitis]. First they fitted her into a heavy iron brace, and as she steadily grew worse and became bedridden, they then cauterized her spine in twelve places. And thus she remained almost helpless, crucified in a bed of pain for some months, until her miraculous cure on March 3, 1899. (The miraculous cure of St Gemma can be read here.)

But going back to the topic of marriage proposals, Gemma's aunt, Elisa Galgani was very surprised at Gemma's return to Lucca; not that she was not glad to see her, but since the death of Gemma's father the poverty of the home was so great! Furthermore, because she was obviously not in good health. Elisa Galgani therefore could not refrain from putting a leading question. "Oh! Why have you come back, Gemma? Perhaps they did not treat you well ?'
'Yes, I was treated well, but you know, there were persons there who wanted to marry me. But I want to belong entirely to Jesus.'

Thus Gemma gave herself entirely and completely to Jesus --she was all His, and in response He gave Himself completely to her. She writes in one of her letters:

"Today I am no longer in myself. I am with my God; all for Him, and He all in me and for me; Jesus is with me, He is all mine....He dwells in the miserable cell of my heart and His Majesty disappears. We are alone, alone, and my heart beats continually with that of Jesus. -Jesus forever! The Heart of Jesus and my heart are one and the same thing. A moment does not pass without my feeling His dear presence always manifesting Him­self in the most loving way." -St Gemma Galgani

Words of Jesus on suffering -The reason for suffering

Words of Jesus to St Gemma -The reason for suffering and her share in the Sacred Passion
--Gemma's reply of love
Jesus says to Gemma: "When I shall be a spouse of blood to you, I will love you, but you must be as one crucified. Prove your love for Me as I have proved My love for you; and do you know how? -By suffering pains and crosses without number. You must consider yourself honoured when I treat you thus, and when I lead you through thorny and sorrowful paths. It is with My permission that the Devil torments you, that the world fills you with disgust, that the persons dearest to you cause you affliction. ... And you, My daughter, must think of only one thing during this time, that is, of exercising great virtues. Keep on the path of the Divine will, and humble yourself, and be convinced that if I nail you to the Cross, I love you."

"My daughter "-Jesus said to me- "if you truly love Me, you will love Me even in darkness. Embrace the Cross, My daughter, and be certain that whilst you are satisfying your desire of suffering you are satisfying My heart; and remember, the more bitter the Cross seems to your heart, the more agreeable it is to Mine."
And again Jesus has said to me: "Do you know why I desire to send crosses to the souls that are dear to Me? I desire to possess them entirely, and for that reason I surround them with crosses, and I shut them in with tribulations so that they may not escape out of My hands; for that reason I spread thorns everywhere so that giving their affections to no one they may seek all their pleasure in Me alone. My daughter, if the Cross was not felt, it could not be called a Cross. Be certain that if you stand beneath the Cross you will never be lost. The Devil has no power over those souls who weep near the Cross. My daughter, how many would have abandoned Me, if I had not crucified them. The Cross is a very precious gift, and many virtues can be learned through it."

And to this Gemma writes: ‘The Lord delights in playing with souls that are very dear to Him, but He plays with them because He loves them. Now He consoles them, now He allows them to become well esteemed by mankind, and afterwards He allows them to become a laughingstock to the world. At one time He makes them so courageous that Hell has no terrors for them, and at another time, He allows them to be frightened at the least thing. Whoever thinks that he is suffering, knows little; but whoever suffers and yet thinks that he suffers little or naught, is enlightened. Whoever is humiliated on earth, is in Heaven and on the Cross; whoever has the first place on earth, has the last before God. He who knows the Cross, desires it; he who does not know it, runs away from it.'
Gemma was meditating on and even living the Passion of Jesus Christ, and from this meditation she drew all her consolation. 'To meditate on Thy Passion, oh Jesus, has always been a great relief to holy souls.'
And this is how she wrote of the fruits she gathered from this meditation. 'Every day I make a meditation, but always on the Passion. If I did not do so, it would seem to me that Jesus would reprove me thus: "See, My daughter, here I am on the Cross, through love, a victim for your many faults. Consider well My sufferings, and then deny Me, if you can, the tender compassion that I deserve.'

[All the quotations in the following section have been taken from the “Lettere ed estasi di Santa Gemma”.]
‘When I see Jesus weep, my own heart is transfixed with sorrow; I think . . . I think how I have by my sins caused some of the oppression which Jesus suffered in the Garden. At that time Jesus saw all my sins, all my omissions, and besides, He saw the place I should have occupied in Hell, if Thy Heart, oh Jesus, had not granted me pardon.'
‘When I am looking at the Crucifix, it seems to me that Jesus turns to me with words of reproof and says: "If you allow yourself to sin you will crucify Me anew. Are not these sufferings enough?"Mia Dio! After these words could I hold out any longer? But Jesus turning to me, very pleased, added and repeated: "Love Me as much as you can, and I shall give you all that you desire. Love Me with all your heart and I shall forgive you all your sins."-Oh the infinite goodness of Jesus! All He asks of me is love! '

‘Many times I have asked Jesus to teach me the true way of loving Him, and then Jesus allows me to see all His open Wounds, and that He says: "Look, My daughter, look how I have suffered! Do you see this Cross, these nails, these thorns? They are the works of love. Look and learn how to love."

Again Jesus teaches Gemma the value of suffering:
“My child, you complain because I desire to keep you in the dark; but remember that after darkness comes light, and then you shall have light indeed. I put thee to this test for My greater glory, to give joy to the Angels, for your greater gain and also for example to others. If you really love Me, you ought to love Me even in the midst of darkness. I delight in and play with souls. I thus play through love. Be not afflicted if I begin to abandon thee. Do not think it chastisement. It is truly My own Will in order to detach you from creatures and unite you to Myself."

"When I appear to be far away then I am near at hand. Take courage, for after the battle comes peace. Fidelity and love must be your necessary weapons. For the present, therefore, be patient if I seem to leave you alone. Suffer, be resigned and be consoled. I am leading thee by rough and sorrowful ways, and you should consider yourself honoured when I treat you thus and when by a daily and hidden martyrdom I allow thy soul to be tried and purified. Think only for the present of how you are to practice great virtue."

"Make haste in the ways of divine love, humble thyself, and rest assured that if I keep you on the Cross, that I love you. Be not like some who, being attached to consolations and spiritual satisfactions, care but little for the Cross. Then, finding themselves in desolation of spirit, they shorten by degrees the time of prayer because they no longer find in it the consolations they had before experienced.” – Jesus to St. Gemma Galgani
HEROIC RESOLUTIONS
The lessons which were taught in this school of love and suffering penetrated into the soul of the holy girl. The resolutions which she was thereby induced to make are among the most heroic that can be conceived, and the maxims she formulated almost divinely sublime.

‘I shall compensate Thee, oh Jesus, by treating myself as Thy slave, and by putting my shoulders under Thy Cross.'
‘Suffering will raise my spirits, and far from discouraging me will give me the strength necessary to correspond with Thy grace.'
‘Oh, how much I realize that by doing what the goodness of Jesus wills, every cross is changed into joy, suffering even becomes too pleasant! He has neither cross nor fear who is closely united with Jesus.'

‘My heart possesses Jesus and possessing Jesus I feel that I can smile even in the midst of so many tears. I feel, yes, I feel happy even in great suffering oh Jesus, whether Thou caresses me or strikes me, it is the same to me. Yea, when Thou dost strike me, I am all the more pleased, because it is really what I deserve.'
‘It ought not be that suffering should adapt itself to us, but we ought to adapt ourselves to suffering.'

‘Whoever loves Jesus has sufficient strength to suffer any cross whatsoever.'
‘Whoever truly loves, suffers gladly.'
‘The more a cross is contrary to my desires, the more it is like to Thine, oh Jesus.'
‘The masters of this world teach always with the voice, and You with suffering.'

‘Who knows how many would have abandoned Thee, if Thou had not held them to the Cross.'
‘ In loving it is Thou who delightest my soul, and in suffering it is I who delightest Thy Soul.'
'Why are you so afflicted, 0 my soul? You offend your Beloved if you do not embrace the Cross with gladness. If you do not send your thoughts to Calvary, you are not concerned about Paradise.'
‘Oh Jesus, You give crosses to those who love Thee! '
‘Oh Cross, when I am near thee I feel strong! '
'All my days are sown with crosses. Oh holy Cross, I have embraced thee! '
‘May my life be a continual sacrifice! May You increase my sufferings, my humiliations! '
‘If I had to live in the world without suffering I should say to Thee: "Let me rather die now. Either crucify my soul or make me die ! '

Upon hearing a cry like this-a cry that only the love of the Crucified could inspire, we shall now contemplate Gemma’s love for God:

TRANSPORTS OF LOVE FOR GOD
In a letter Gemma says- ‘Oh Passion of Christ! You Angels of Heaven, bow down with me in honour of the Passion of Jesus; together let us catch the Blood of Jesus! Passion of Jesus, I love Thee! Angels of Heaven, come, let us all adore the Passion of Jesus! '

‘How sweet and good Jesus is to me, in spite of my being so wicked! How shall I ever correspond with the mercy that Jesus shows me? What shall I give to Jesus in exchange for all the benefits He showers upon me?'
‘It is true, is it not, Jesus, that love is the best exchange for Thy gifts? And even I can love Thee. But I do not love Thee because of Thy gifts to me. I love Thee because Thou art my Jesus, I love Thee because Thou alone art worthy of being loved. I love Thee because Thou art good, because Thou hast promised, You have sworn never to abandon me....'

‘I love Thee because You are my benefactor, my preserver, because You consume my soul and make my soul divine. Because You are my Spouse, I seek Thee always, I seek Thy affection, Thy friendship, Thy glory.'

‘You ask me how I should like to love Thee? With that purity with which the virgins loved Thee; with that fortitude with which the martyrs loved Thee. Yes,... You know, 0 Jesus (but do I say it too often?), I want to love Thee as Thy holy Mother loved Thee.'
‘I should like to possess the purity of the Angels, and even that of our Mother, most holy Mary.'
‘Do You know what chastisement I fear to merit? It is that of being condemned not to love Thee any more, my Jesus.'

‘Love demands love, and fire calls upon fire--Even from the depths of my unworthiness I love Thee, 0 my Jesus, and intensely. It would be impossible for me not to think of Thee. . . . I spend my days uttering burning aspirations of love.'
‘But what do You call me? What do You say of me? I am Thy delight, 0 Jesus? I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus; You are the staff of my life, the flame of my heart, the apple of my eye.'

‘See, Jesus, if You had shown Thyself less lovable; if You had not made me understand the extent of Thy love for me, I should have loved Thee less. But You have made me love Thee, and now I cannot do without Thee.'
‘What would happen to me if Jesus ceased to love me? I not to love Jesus, and Jesus not to love me? But it is a thought that terrifies me, and I beseech Jesus to continue to love me, to think of me, even though I do not succeed in loving Him as I ought.'


‘Oh dear Jesus, come to me, come! Do not be disgusted with my misery, for although it is great, Thy mercy is greater still. Come, and with Your purity, make my heart clean; with Thy meekness, beat down my pride. Visit my conscience, and if there is anything that displeases Thee, root it out and destroy it. Until my heart is full of true and solid virtue, do not come to it, do not expose to insult the honour of Thy glory, the greatness of Thy Majesty. Oh my God, You lower Thyself to the vilest of Thy creatures such as I am, repair the harm my sins have done, and raise me up, oh Jesus! And then, come to me always, oh Jesus....'

'I consider my soul as a high mountain with Jesus resting against it to prevent it from falling. Yes, it is indeed so! If Jesus did not sustain me I should fall. . . . 0 my God, make haste that I die, and die of love for Jesus! Do You not see that my heart and my body are in the throes of an agony and that I am on fire? Do You not see that I am a victim of love and that I shall soon die of love? The world wearies me; I long for one thing only, love, love, love.'

'What do You say, 0 Jesus? That when I am small then I am great? The smaller I feel, the more I feel I love Jesus. His love inebriates me, filling me ever more and more…I shall be alone with Jesus….What joy one experiences when one abandons oneself into the arms of Jesus! The faithful soul becomes His dearest child. He opens His arms to receive it, and presses it to His most Sacred Heart. Oh Jesus, I am in such need of Thy love!’
Source: "Blessed Gemma Galgani" by Father Amedeo C.P., Translated into English by Father Osmund Thorpe C.P., 1935.______________________________________________
“Oh Jesus, can there be a sweeter thing in the world than to love Thee?” -St Gemma Galgani

Saint Gemma offers her life for others

ST. GEMMA OFFERS HERSELF AND HER LIFE FOR OTHERS

A duty which she wished to be reserved for herself alone, was the care of the sick in the large Giannini family. For this provided her with an excellent means of showing her gratitude. 'When she was with me,' attests Aunt Cecilia, 'she looked after those who were sick and showed them the greatest care and attention, being always punctual with the medicine, visiting them regularly, taking note of their temperature. We should have forgotten many things, but she was always so attentive and so exact. She had no favourites. She acted just the same whether it was my sister-in-law who was often sick, or Father Laurence Agrimonti, or a servant, or one of the children. She was always prepared, but spoke very little, and all this she did for the love of God.'

On one occasion Signora Justina [the mother of the Giannini family who had twelve children] was seriously ill with what the physician felt was cancer in the stomach. Notwithstanding all the remedies that were tried, she grew worse from day to day, and it was feared that she was dying. On her own initiative Gemma spent a great deal of time caring for her. Justina herself deposed as follows in the Processes for Beatification:

‘During my long sickness, Gemma of her own accord undertook to write down every day an account of the progress of the disease and filled several pages of a day-book .... I asked Doctor Nerici to read Gemma's manuscript in order that he might know the history of my sickness, and when he had done so he said:

"One would think this had been written by a doctor."

In order to obtain Justina's cure a friend of the family had arranged for a triduum in honour of the Sacred Heart in the Church of S. Giovanni. All the household took part in it. But Gemma- she whose heart was burning to be near Jesus- remained with the sick woman, and recited with her the prayers that were being said in the church.

Gemma must have received a revelation from heaven because one day she simply said to Cecilia "it is not cancer" but nevertheless she seemed to know that it was life-threatening. According to the testimony of Signora Justina, Gemma sometimes spent entire days in the sickroom without saying a word. And what was she meditating in that long silence? She was praying and making a heroic resolve--she was thinking of offering to Jesus her own life which seemed to her of no account, in exchange for the life of her benefactress who was also the mother of twelve children. She therefore approached her confessor and her director to obtain their permission. Thus she wrote to the Ven. Father Germanus:

'Father, the mother is very seriously ill. I have been thinking this way: when I was sick she was ready to help me even more than she was able, but I have had no opportunity of showing them gratitude. Perhaps the time has come? The mother is sick and I cannot make any return for all she has done for me. Up to the present I have offered for her only a little suffering, some little mortifications. . . . This morning I spoke to Jesus, and afterwards I said to my confessor: "I should like to give my life for the poor mother!"
He said:
"No. Absolutely no." I then said: "Two years, at least? May I not give at least that much!" Jesus was satisfied, and [throuugh the confessor said: "Yes, you may. However, on condition that the Father director is also satisfied!"

I want to make this promise, this vow, tomorrow morning, but I cannot unless I get your permission. Father, you will not refuse, will you? Two for Serafina, and two for the mother, and more if needed. I am very anxious that you should reply immediately.'

Serafina was a friend of Gemma who had mentioned her to her spiritual director before. 'I have only about eight years to live,' she wrote to him. 'I should like to give three to Serafina and keep the others for myself.' After several refusals and many evasions, Gemma persisted and at length she eventually obtained the desired consent. Signora Justina was cured except for an inconvenience of another nature which Gemma herself had foretold. Gemma, however, became seriously ill with stomach trouble, and was in violent pain. It seems that she literally took upon herself the pains of Justina's illness. Aunt Cecilia realized how much she was suffering because Gemma said that the effect of 'swallowing a drop of water was like a burning fire in her stomach'. Father Germanus attests that both of the women mentioned above got better, but that Gemma died at the exact end of the period she had bargained to live. In the letter to Father Germanus she wrote "I have only about 8 years to live", and Gemma was 22 years old when she was given the permission to make the offering of 'three years for Serafina, and two years for Justina' and the fact remains that Gemma died exactly three years later, at age 25.

If the laying down of one's life out of love for a person who returns it, is according to the Gospel an act of the greatest charity, what must be said of that charity by which one is impelled to offer one's life and one's services on behalf of a person by whom one is actually despised? There was a servant in the house who had a disgusting wound in the leg, which was dressed by Gemma with every care even though she received only abuse in return. Euphemia Giannini (who later became a nun named Mother Gemma Giannini) said that when passing the room where the servant was ill, she saw 'Gemma on her knees kiss and then dress and bandage the sore.'

Here is another rare and sublime act of heroism on the part of Gemma. When Gemma used to go to the Convent of the ‘Mantellate' Nuns, she heard that one of the religious nuns frequently suffered greatly from terrible attacks of the Devil. What was she to do to help her? Gemma was not one to measure the extent of her generosity, or to hesitate at obstacles. She immediately decided to offer to take upon herself these diabolical attacks in order that the nun might be thereby released from suffering. Besides, she would have liked to undergo this kind of suffering on behalf of sinners. Having obtained Monsignor Volpi's permission, she asked Jesus to make the exchange. The nun was freed and Gemma was submitted to this new and awful suffering. There must have been many poor sinners who reaped spiritual profit from this extraordinary act of charity!

In fact throughout her life Gemma had long worked, suffered and prayed for the salvation of sinners when a few years before her death Jesus decided, as it were, to invest her solemnly with this mission of converting souls, and thereby consecrating her as an acceptable victim to His most Sacred Heart. Thus Gemma became a victim soul suffering in union with Jesus for the conversion of sinners. In fact, only two days before her death, she obtained one of her many conversions. It was her last. She had prayed long and earnestly for this man who was well known for his sinful actions. During her last illness she said: 'I shall bear him on my shoulders, all this Lent, but then I shall leave him alone.' And indeed she did leave him alone on Holy Thursday, the day he was touched with sorrow for his sins and returned to God by a humble confession, to the great surprise of all who knew him. And having brought this last sinner back to God, Gemma died two days later- on Holy Saturday, as the bells of the Easter Vigil where beginning to ring.

After her death Gemma continued to prove her gratitude to her benefactors. The patriarch of the family, Chevalier Matthew Giannini well recognized this and gave this testimony:
“For my part I must say this, that although my five sons were all at the war, exposed to the greatest dangers, they all came back safe and sound, and one who had been appointed to a very dangerous post, was not sent at th last moment. All this I owe, I believe, to the intercession of Gemma, to whom we have always prayed. And I think that it is to her I also owe the success of all my sons. They are a great consolation to me, for they go to Holy Communion every day, and are much occupied in promoting Catholic Action. Of my daughters, five are nuns, one has remained at home and one is married.'

Notwithstanding all this, Gemma feared that she was a source of scandal to her benefactors. Thus she wrote to a nun:
'Say a prayer for me, Mother, that Jesus may give me the grace to set a good example to this family and not to be a scandal to it.'


The reader of these lines will remember how charitable Gemma was as a child, how she was even still more charitable when her family fell from prosperity to absolute want. In the Giannini household, the desire she had of assisting the poor, did not meet with so many obstacles, and she was able to satisfy it to her heart's content. The Gianninis, knowing her kind-heartedness, made her the channel of their charities to the poor, and Aunt Cecilia's recollections give us an insight into this aspect of Gemma's virtue. The poor have a way of finding out where they will be well treated, and there was always a goodly number who knocked at the Gianninis' door. Gemma knew their knock, being able to distinguish it from others. She went, therefore, to offer whatever Aunt Cecilia had set apart for the poor. Sometimes, however, there was a disagreement between Gemma and her adopted mother. But we had better give Aunt Cecilia's own account:

“In order to be able to help her neighbour, Gemma was willing to go hungry. She would have liked to give away everything. On the contrary I did not approve of this and I scolded her because, I said, I did not want to encourage the poor to come to the house in a procession. Besides, in case of any trouble I should not have been able to help Gemma. At table she usually put aside something for the poor, and then when there was a knock at the door, she would ask my permission to give it away. I used to answer: "Yes, but you must not bring them into the house."

'She then took whatever she could and brought it to them. She used to sit with the poor person at the back of the stairs in the loggia, and it was while I watched from a window looking on to the stairs that I heard the good advice she gave her poor.'
Gemma used to give the poor short instructions in the Catechism, hoping thereby to raise their thoughts to Heaven and thus make the sorrows of life more tolerable.

Aunt Cecilia declared that Gemma often urged her to visit certain sick people who otherwise would never have been visited, and for this purpose put forward such arguments that she was obliged to yield, and Mother Gemma Giannini attests that it can truly be said that all her aunt's (Cecilia's) charities were inspired by Gemma.

In fact Gemma had to be closely watched, for she would have given away everything that belonged to her, although she was scrupulous in her care of the goods of the house. She had not much to give, however. Her furniture consisted of a rough chest of drawers in which she kept her linen, and a little table. Every month her aunt at Camaiore sent her five or six lire, but her various charities claimed this money immediately. When she first came to the Gianninis' she had about thirty lire which she had given to Palmira Valentini for safe keeping. A certain person in need asked for it, and Gemma would have given it away at once, only she was accustomed to ask permission in such circumstances from Aunt Cecilia. However, both Aunt Cecilia and her confessor Monsignor Volpi opposed this, and the former kept the money for the use of Gemma and her family.

But Gemma's charity was not confined to the material sphere. Matthew Giannini deposed that when she went with them to the country, 'she instructed the men and the boys, teaching them their catechism, and giving good advice to many of them.'
And Joseph, the lawyer, adds: 'She taught the little children to have devotion to the Blessed Virgin and to their Guardian Angels.'
Once when Euphemia gave way somewhat to vanity wearing a beautiful dress in hopes of being seen by others in going out for a walk with her father, Gemma met her on the stairs, and smilingly said: 'Whoever tries to please men, does not succeed in pleasing Jesus.'
These words haunted the girl during the whole walk. Gemma never let slip a chance of doing good. On another occasion Euphemia asked her to give her a thought that would serve as a line when practising handwriting, and Gemma suggested the following words: 'If everyone would endeavour to know and love God, this world would be changed into a Paradise.'

-Source for this article is the excellent book "Blessed Gemma Galgani" by Padre Amedeo, C.P., 1935.
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“How good Jesus always is! I desire never to leave Jesus. I want to offer Him all that I have. I want to offer Him all of myself. But what do I possess? Nothing but my sins, my miseries and my great self-love. And this is the gift that I make to Jesus. But, He will have compassion on my misery. I fall and fall again, but Jesus is with me. He will give me strength. He will give me grace. Thy mercy, oh Lord, is the foundation of all my hopes. I know that the mercy of God is greater than my ingratitude.” –Words of St Gemma Galgani.

Revenge Youself upon me -Gemma's suffers in union with Jesus

“Revenge Thyself upon me, but spare all sinners!" –St Gemma speaking to Jesus

-Below is excerpts from the rare book “Blessed Gemma Galgani” by Padre Amedeo, trans. by Osumund Thorpe C.P., 1935. This book is full of details about St Gemma not available in English elsewhere.

GEMMA SHARES IN THE SACRED PASSION
On one occasion Jesus said to Gemma: 'My daughter, there are a few of your age in Heaven to whom it has been given to share so largely in My sufferings.’
One by one Gemma experienced all the sorrows of the drama of the Sacred Passion, so that the prayer she had uttered was completely answered: ‘Jesus is the Man of Sorrows, and I desire to become the daughter of sorrow.' This was always the one desire of her heart. 'When will the time come when I can embrace the Cross, and feel the thorns, the nails, the pains . . . and be as it were immersed in the Wounds of my Saviour? . . .'

From the moment that Jesus appeared to her covered with wounds and wearing the crown of thorns Gemma intensely longed to help Him in the conversion of sinners that is, the redemption of humanity. She did indeed become so steeped in the Passion of Christ that she once said: 'I am fruit of Thy Passion, a flower of Thy Wounds."

THE SUFFERINGS OF GETHSEMANI
Before the Redeemer of the world suffered the awful torture of the scourging, the crowning with thorns, and the Crucifixion, He underwent the Agony in the Garden, in which He shed His blood so copiously. Among the causes that contributed to the Agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemani were the sins and the ingratitude of mankind. The same considerations made Gemma not only sweat blood, but even shed tears of blood, as was testified by witnesses in the Processes for her Beatification. One of these, Mother Gemma Giannini, asserted that so great was Gemma's grief over the sins of the world and for those which she thought she herself had committed, that she often sweated blood and even wept tears of blood. 'She used to sweat blood because of the sins that gave such great offence to God,' declared Cecilia Giannini, 'and she often said in ecstasy:' "Revenge , Thyself upon me, but spare all sinners!"

Gemma would sweat blood on numerous occasions, often accompanied by the crown of thorns and/or the stigmata. This mysterious phenomenon manifested itself particularly once during a whole month when Jesus called her to suffer for priests. And she also experienced the deep sorrow of the Passion and would sweat blood (and on at least one occasion fainted) when anyone blasphemed God in her presence. But first we shall contemplate the crown of thorns.

THE CROWN OF THORNS
One of the most exquisite torments suffered by Jesus in His Passion was the crowning with thorns. For a long time Gemma desired to wear this diadem, and her desire grew all the more ardent when Jesus Himself allowed her to see Him crowned with thorns, and asked her whether she would like to be crowned in the same way.
The first time that she mentioned this matter in her diary was on July 19, 1900. She wrote:

‘This evening at last, after six days of suffering through Jesus withdrawing Himself from me, I am somewhat recollected. I began to pray as I am accustomed to do every Thursday. I began to think of the Crucifixion of Jesus. At first I did not feel anything, but after a few moments I became a little recollected, Jesus was near. To the recollection there succeeded what usually happens. I went into ecstasy and I found myself with Jesus Who was suffering excruciating pains. What was I to do, seeing Jesus suffer without being able to help Him? I felt then a great desire to suffer and I asked Jesus to grant me this grace. He granted my wish immediately and did what He had done on other occasions.'

And here, after having described how she received the crown of thorns from Jesus, she continued: ‘And so I remained an hour suffering with Jesus. I should have liked to remain there the whole night.' On the following day, July 20, she wrote again: 'At three o'clock I was again in the presence of Jesus .... He took off the crown from my head, and put it on His own head again, and I ceased to suffer pain.'
But Gemma began to live these 'sorrowful, but happy moments' long before this date.

Her own words imply this: 'He did what He had done on other occasions.' Perhaps the King had placed His precious diadem upon the head of His beloved Gemma before He had allowed her to bear the marks of His Wounds. If we are not to confuse it with the sweat of blood over her whole body, of which we have spoken, this phenomenon took place during her first stay with the 'Mantellate' nuns. It was deposed in the Processes that one of these religious on arranging Gemma's hair noticed to her great surprise that every hair had a drop of blood on it.

Besides, the several witnesses who spoke of the manifestations of the Stigmata also mentioned that blood flowed freely from her head. But the evidence given by the priest, Father Laurence Agrimonti, deserves to be quoted. In his account of the extraordinary things that happened to Gemma during the first months of her stay with the Giannini family, that is i It 1899 before she came to live permanently there, he writes: 'On August 20, I, the undersigned, saw Signorina Gemma Galgani, sitting in a chair, she being as in a trance, with her face and hands all stained with blood, and on her forehead certain marks in the form of a crown of thorns.'

Matthew Giannini, one of the older Giannini children deposed: 'I saw her and it seemed as if she had a drop of blood on every hair. It was her own blood. I saw the stains left on the cloths with which my sister wiped away the blood, and these cloths were afterwards sent to the laundry. At first the blood exuded from the skin near the hair. Afterwards it came out all over her forehead, as if there was a crown of small red drops dripping down upon her face.' Similar descriptions were given by other members of the Giannini family. Joseph Giannnini, the lawyer, gave the following evidence under oath:

‘I saw on one occasion, I believe it was on Good Friday... something like a circle of blood on her forehead. Some drops were running down her temples, and it really seemed to me that she was exuding blood from the skin, I did not touch her, but my aunt wiped away the blood with white cloths and these showed the true red stain of blood. The blood, however, continued to come. It was certainly a sweat of blood. She was in ecstasy, and suffered much. The circle of blood reached across her forehead from the hair on one side to the hair on the other. I do not know, and I did not try to find out, whether the circle continued its way through the hair. The width of this circle was some millimetres in the top part of the forehead, leaving unaffected a little space between the circle and the beginning of the hair, as well as the lower part of the forehead upon which the blood was dripping.'

'The wearing of the crown commenced on Thursday at the usual hour' said Mother Gemma Giannini [Euphemia Giannini's name in religion] 'and ceased on Friday evening.' This same religious likewise deposed that she heard certain words spoken by Gemma in an ecstasy that preceded the manifestation of this phenomenon. From this testimony one must conclude that her Guardian Angel appeared to her, holding two crowns, one of roses and one of thorns, and invited her to choose. In this ecstasy Gemma said: 'Better that which belongs to Jesus. As you well know, my dear Angel, I recognize that which is His. Give it to me....'

It was observed that on Thursday she suffered more than on Friday evening, and when she was asked why this was, she explained that on Thursday the thorns were driven in, and on Friday they were taken out. Once it was noticed that there remained for a short time in the middle of her forehead near her hair a triangular wound, very distinct and visible. The pain of this coronation was intense. 'She lay stretched out on the bed with only her head to be seen,' said Mother Gemma Giannini. 'Blood was flowing in drops from her forehead, from her eyes like unto tears which afterwards coagulated, from her nose even, and was running down upon her neck like two streamlets, so that gathering under her throat it formed a small mass of blood. In the morning she got up and washed and then not a trace of the phenomena I have described remained. She went to Mass and fulfilled her usual duties.'

Cecilia Giannini speaks of a special manifestation of this phenomenon which took place on Good Friday, 1902. Gemma was occupied with the devotion of the Three Hours' Agony, when there opened on her forehead a punctured wound which later on almost disappeared, only to come again every Thursday, and this continued until the end of June of the same year.

Cecilia Giannini, who more frequently than anyone was a spectator of these phenomena, in order to give an idea of how Gemma looked when she participated in the crowning with thorns, likened her to an 'Ecce Homo'. And what a martyrdom Gemma must have suffered at these times! Certainly it would melt a heart of stone to hear her repeat in ecstasy: 'Oh Jesus, my head! It is too much-I cannot bear it any longer, I cannot bear it any longer! ... My Jesus, help me !' Nevertheless she wanted all this pain, as a proof that Jesus loved her, and as a demonstration of the love she bore Him in return. She earnestly sought to share in His suffering out of her instense love for Him. 'Oh Jesus, show me that You love me. At other times when I asked Thee, Thou didst allow me to feel the Wounds of Thy Passion, the thorns ... I give myself to Thee, 0 Jesus. . . . Oh God, more, more, oh Jesus…still more! Now, Jesus, I know that You love me !' and in a letter she writes : “I am happy in every way that Jesus wills, and if Jesus wants the sacrifice of my life, I give it to Him at once. If He wants anything else, I am ready. One thing alone is enough for me; to be his victim, in order to atone for my innumerable sins, and if possible, for those of the whole world”


THE WOUNDS AND SCOURGING
Gemma desired a still deeper participation in the Passion. She wanted to bear the wounds, and with the wounds, the pain of the scourging. 'Oh my God, give me Thy wounds; they are mine and no longer Thine; give them to me. Quick, oh Jesus; if Thou waits I shall die!' In her abounding love, she longed for a share, not in a few, but in everyone of the torments of the Passion. 'Oh Jesus, let me share in all Thy sorrows; let me suffer while I love, suffer for Jesus who loves, and die suffering for Jesus!'

God answered the prayers of Gemma, not only by satisfying these desires, but also by sharpening them still more. 'This morning after Holy Communion,' she wrote, 'Jesus said to me: "If it is true that you love Me so much as you say, I want you to bear My image impressed upon you. Look at Me! You will see Me ill-treated, despised by all, dead on a Cross. And I invite you also to die on a Cross for me.' Then He showed her the instruments of the Passion. How such a sight made her heart beat! This is how she writes to her spiritual Father: 'It seems impossible; Jesus is so determined. He came yesterday evening before I began to suffer. He came and He had in His hands all the instruments of the Passion. I do not know what He meant. He showed them to me one by one. When He had finished I wanted to say something, but at that moment I could not say a word, and Jesus went away and left me alone....'

But she consoles herself with the thought that Thursday is near. 'Father, this evening is Thursday evening !' And in another letter she explains why she looks forward with such joyous expectation to the Holy Hour: 'How happy I am after I have spent an hour compassionating Jesus! When Thursday evening draws near, I feel absolutely different, so happy: For me Friday is always a festival day.' [Lettere ed estasi, p. 30.]

These divine favours added new fuel to the fire of love that burnt within her, and she cried out to Jesus: 'Love has indeed slain Thee! My Jesus, make me also die of love! Life will be a torment. There is no one in the world who can satisfy my affections, only Thou. The thorns, the Cross, the nails, all are the work of love.' or again ' Yes, I love the Cross, the Cross alone, because I see it always on Thy shoulders. I see well, my Jesus, that all my love is for Thee and Thy sufferings.' or again 'The Wounds of Jesus speak to me with such sweet violence that I should like . . . Oh my Jesus, I should like my heart to be possessed with but one desire, such as the saints had, that I might be able in some way to love Thee.'

The phenomena which we have described continued to be manifested in Gemma until February, 1901, when by order of her spiritual director, she prayed to Jesus to be freed from them. Her prayers were heard. But although the Stigmata disappeared, a new torture took their place--the scourging. The following is the account she gave of it to Father Germanus, her spiritual director:

'Something has happened which I never experienced before....You know that on Thursday and Friday Jesus gives me a little present, and this week another still more dear to me was added. He allowed me to feel some of the blows of His scourging over all the body, very painful, Father, but it was nothing compared with the merciless blows which Jesus received. You remember, we prayed together that Jesus might take away every external sign, and behold Jesus has added another in its place. Viva Gesu! May He be infinitely thanked! Nevertheless He assured me that to please me He would take away the external signs . . . but He added: "Your sufferings will increase and a different life will begin for you....“

To Monsignor Volpi she afterwards wrote thus:
‘It was just at the time when I was praying Jesus to take away all external signs, but Jesus instead added another. He allowed me to feel a few blows of His scourging. To the pain in the hands, feet, head and heart, this was also added. May He be forever thanked! So about five o'clock I began to feel so great a sorrow for my sins that I seemed to be beside myself through fright; but to this there succeeded almost immediately a hope in the mercy of God which calmed me. I did not feel any pain yet.


'After about an hour I seemed to see my Guardian Angel who was holding two crowns in his hands, one of thorns made in the form of a hat, and the other made of the whitest lilies. The sight of the Angel caused me as usual to be a little afraid, but afterwards it caused me joy. Together we adored the Majesty of God...and then showing me the two crowns, he asked me which one I should like. I did not want to answer because the Father had forbidden me to do so, but he insisted, saying that it was he who was commanding it, he blessed me and made an offering of me to the Eternal Father, saying to me that I was to forget myself and think only of sinners that night. I was persuaded by these words, and I told the Angel that I would have chosen that of Jesus. He showed me the one of thorns.... I kissed it several times, and after he had placed it on my head the Angel disappeared.

'I began then to suffer in my hands, feet and head, and later on in all the body, and I felt heavy blows. I spent the night in that way, and in the morning I forced myself to get up, so that no one would know these things. The blows and the pain I felt until about two o'clock. At that time the Angel came back, and to tell the truth I could scarcely bear it any longer-and he made me feel well, saying that Jesus had had compassion on me because I was yet a little one, and incapable of suffering with Jesus until the hour in which He expired.... But I was worried about one thing, the marks had not disappeared. In the morning when I received Holy Communion I prayed very fervently to Jesus that the marks would be taken away, and He promised that on the day of His Passion He would take them away.'

From the documents quoted, it must be inferred that Gemma began to suffer the new torment of the scourging about February 7 or 8, 1901, and that the Stigmata ceased on February 12, the Feast of the Commemoration of the Passion. The phenomenon was repeated on the four Fridays of March, and on a few other occasions, as we can see from her letters, although we cannot say exactly how many times they occurred because they passed unobserved. The following is an account given by Cecilia Giannini of the phenomena that happened in March. We have compressed it somewhat :

‘Some weeks she suffered neither the Stigmata nor the crowning with thorns. I was pleased. One evening, however, I saw that she was suffering very much, and went to bed earlier than usual, and seeing this I watched her. I thought she was ill and I was not thinking of the extraordinary things, when suddenly I saw little streaks of blood on the backs of her hands. I uncovered her neck and her arms, turning the sleeves of her nightdress up a little. Gemma was in ecstasy. But I was not thinking of what it could be, and believing that it was her own blood that was trickling from her skin, I tried to wipe away the blood from the back of the hand with a cloth which became stained. It was her own blood. I could not imagine how the thing was happening, but I heard her say in the ecstasy: "Are these Thy lashes, Jesus?" And that made me think it was the scourging.

'This was on the first Friday of March, the manifestation having commenced on the Thursday evening before. It lasted until about four or five in the afternoon of Friday. This was repeated on the Thursday and Friday of the next three weeks of March. In these other ecstasies the scourging was more extensive. In the second I noticed that the skin opened under the streaks of blood. In the third the wounds were wider, and I counted eleven wounds of which three were near the neck, two on the knees, and the others on the calves of the legs and on the arms. I did not uncover from under the neck to the knees, but I noticed that her nightdress was all stained with blood. I did not uncover her shoulders nor her back. On the shoulder of the nightdress, on the right shoulder, I believe, there was a big blood-stain, and besides there was blood all over the bed....A few days after the fourth Friday I said to her: "But tell me this. At first there were only red streaks, and now there are cuts and wounds. Why?"

She answered : "At first they were whips, and now they are scourges." ,

As happened with the other wounds of which we have spoken, all signs of this phenomenon disappeared after two or three days. On one occasion Aunt Cecilia bandaged two of these wounds on her shin, but they would not heal and even festered, whereas left unbandaged they healed of their own accord.

The wound on her shoulder mentioned by Cecilia Giannini was so big and so deep as to compel her to walk bent over towards that side. She felt the effect of it longer than the effects of the other wounds. One witness deposed that having placed a hand a few times on Gemma's shoulder, she said that she felt great pain there.
These things happened until April 5 of the same year, when at the voice of obedience the phenomena disappeared.

The following extracts were taken down while she was in ecstasy contemplating the sorrowful mystery of the scourging.
‘Oh Jesus to what a state Thou art reduced! Oh, the holy Person of Jesus has become a plaything for all! They blaspheme Thee, my Jesus, they treat Thee roughly, they curse Thee .... Oh Jesus, I am surprised that although I see Thee in the midst of these humiliations, I do not wish to hear them spoken of. Oh, if I were able, Jesus, with my blood I should wish... I should wish to wash with my blood all those places where I see Thee outraged!... No more blows on Thee, 0 Jesus. Thou hast not deserved them; I, yes; Thou, no It is I who am the sinner, Thou art innocent.' ,

Tonight, oh Jesus, I wish to suffer all; if You also wisht to suffer, then let us suffer together. Let me be one victim with Thee. Are You pleased oh Jesus? Strengthen me for this, 0 Jesus; I do not ask Thee anything more. Poor Jesus! What a terrible number of blows, poor Jesus! Those men are not sparing Thee, but Thy patience is not exhausted. Leave Jesus alone, beat me! Why revenge yourselves upon Jesus; revenge yourselves upon me. More still, 0 Jesus; more, oh God!...Still more, Jesus-and more, Jesus, more! My Jesus, help me in this hour! Oh Jesus, to whom else do You wish that I go for help? '

And the blows rained down upon the sufferer, so that the spectators of this scene sometimes thought she would die of pain and suffering.

ADDED SUFFERINGS--GEMMA'S HEART OVERFLOWS WITH THE LOVE OF GOD
Although the exterior manifestations ceased God allowed her to suffer just as much as before in those places. She did not shed blood, but that very fact, made her pain all the greater, for the flowing of the blood had given her some alleviation.
God, however, did grant her relief in the mouthfuls of blood which came from her heart. This is how she writes to her spiritual director: 'My Father, my heart being small needs to be enlarged, but there is no room .... It desires to expand, but I am so small; Jesus is infinite. . .' And on another occasion: 'Live, Jesus! Towards half past one my little heart could not contain itself and I began to spit up blood in great quantities.' And again: 'I have disobeyed Monsignor. In forbidding me all those things on Friday, he has forbidden me also to spit blood. Until now I have obeyed, but this morning-it was the Feast of St. Paul of the Cross, who himself had suffered so much from the same most desirable infirmity-about an hour after Communion, in a violent movement of my heart, a little blood came forth.'

Gemma's heart, all on fire as it was with love, could not but be affected by such ardent desires, and indeed It was so affected that three of her ribs were displaced on that side, as was discovered after her death.. 'Imagine' she wrote 'Jesus told me some time back that they (the feelings of burning and oppression in her heart) would every day grow more painful so that I should become unconscious, that in one of these, I do not know how to explain it, I should die. Live, Jesus!'

GEMMA SUFFERS HUMILIATIONS
To make the image of Jesus Crucified in Gemma more complete something was yet wanting. Jesus had been despised, humiliated, mocked spat upon in His Passion, and so was Gemma. Let us take a few facts from the Processes. 'Imagine anyone paying attention to a hysterical girl like that!' These and similar comments are what she sometimes overheard by people whispering about the 'strange girl who dresses so oddly'. And there were times when she went to the church for confession and she was made to wait a long time because purposely ignoring her, those present would not tell the priest that she was there waiting, or at other times she was found fault with because she went to confession so frequently. At times during her long last illness when she was confined to bed, those attending her would call one or another priest to give her Holy Communion, and often her requests received this answer or one similar: 'Go and see whether you can succeed in bothering another priest.' Gemma, however, was always calm and patient, and excused them, saying: 'They [the priests] would come if they were able.'

But here is an ever greater example of outrageously scornful words which were cast at her in the Giannini home by a religious from whom she least expected them, which shows us clearly her love for humiliations--"You worthless consumptive and tiresome nuisance, when will you die and cease to soil this house with your presence?" Gemma, far from being upset, answered calmly: 'You are right; what you say is true.' These humiliations, far from upsetting her, united her all the more to Jesus. 'One evening' deposed Annetta Giannini, 'when Aunt Cecilia, Gemma and I were entering the Church, some boys began to cruelly tease Gemma, but she however was not in the least angry and said: "By being despised by the world I am hoping then to become a saint."

-St Gemma, pray for us!

"Love Me as much as you can, and I will give you all that you desire. Love Me will all your heart, and I shall forgive you of all your sins." -Jesus to St Gemma Galgani