21 Facts About Gemma Galgani

Gemma Umberta Maria Galgani, known as Gemma of Lucca, was an Italian mystic, canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church in 1940.

Gemma Galgani has been called the "daughter of the Passion" because of her profound imitation of the Passion of Christ.

Gemma Galgani is especially venerated in the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus.

Gemma Umberta Maria Galgani was born on 12 March 1878, in the hamlet of Camigliano in the province of Capannori.

Gemma Galgani's parents moved the family to Lucca to increase educational opportunities available to their children.

Gemma's mother, Aurelia Galgani, contracted tuberculosis when Gemma was two and a half years old.

Several members of the Gemma Galgani family died during this period.

On 17 September 1885, Aurelia Galgani died from tuberculosis, which she had suffered from for five years, and Gemma's beloved brother Gino died from the same disease while studying for the priesthood.

Gemma Galgani was sent to a Catholic half-boarding school in Lucca run by the Oblates of the Holy Spirit.

At the age of nine, Gemma Galgani was allowed to receive her First Communion.

Gemma Galgani attributed her extraordinary cure to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the intercession of Saints Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows and Marguerite Marie Alacoque.

Shortly after turning 19, Gemma Galgani was orphaned, and thereafter was responsible for raising her younger siblings, which she did with her aunt Carolina.

Gemma Galgani declined two marriage proposals and became a housekeeper with the Giannini family.

Gemma Galgani stated that she had spoken with her guardian angel, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and other saints especially Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Gemma Galgani said that she resisted the devil's attacks often.

Gemma Galgani has been reputed to levitate: she claimed that on one occasion, when her arms were around the crucifix in her dining room and was kissing the side wound of Jesus, she found herself raised from the floor.

Gemma Galgani is said to have experienced stigmata on 8 June 1899, the eve of the feast of the Sacred Heart.

Pfanner examined Gemma Galgani and noted spots of blood on the palms of her hands, but when he ordered the blood be wiped off with a wet towel, there was no wound.

Gemma Galgani was well-known in the vicinity of Lucca before her death, especially to those in poverty.

In early 1903, Gemma Galgani was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and went into a long and often painful decline accompanied by several mystical phenomena.

Galgani's relics are housed at the Sanctuary of Santa Gemma associated with the Passionist monastery in Lucca, Italy.