Flora Cantábrica

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SAINT GEMA GALGANI
She suffered the Passion for love of Jesus and sinners.

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She was born in 1878. She suffered greatly from her precarious health and the contempt of those who rejected her practices of devotion, ecstasy and other phenomena. She lived for Jesus, his Blessed Mother and to rescue sinners.
She periodically had the stigmata of the Passion and the sores of the scourging all over her body.
She suffered physical attacks from the devil and tuberculosis of the spine. Her trials could not separate her from her communion with Our Lord but rather strengthened her.
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Gemma is 20 years old, and at this moment Jesus allows a serious illness so that Gemma will return to Him with all her heart and never again be distracted by the things of the world.

«Suddenly I began to walk with a hunchback and to feel pain in my kidneys. I resisted for some time, but as things got worse, I asked my aunt’s permission to return to Lucca».

It happened like that. Out of modesty, she wanted to resist a little longer without notifying the doctor, but the aunts sent for him and suddenly she showed up and examined her. Her diagnosis was osteitis in the lumbar vertebrae with successive cold abscess in the groin. She was paralyzed in both legs. On January 28, 1899, she experienced unbearable pain in her head, the result of an acute purulent otitis media involving the mastoid. The doctors, seeing that the remedies did not produce any improvement and that the disease was advancing, gave her up; just to comply with it they come from time to time to see it.

On December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Santa Gemma reacts with disgust… «I told Jesus that I would not pray anymore if he did not heal me. And I asked him what he meant by having me like this. The guardian angel answered me: -If Jesus afflicts you in the body it is to purify you more and more in the spirit».

Her former teacher, Sister Julia Sestini, told her the biography of a young Passionist named Gabriel de la Dolorosa. A pious lady, Cecilia Giannini, came to perform a work of mercy on Gemma; one day she visited her, and for her to distract herself she lent her the biography of Gabriel de la Dolorosa, written by an unknown Fr. Germán de San Estanislao, C.P. How are the things of the Lord! These two people would be for Saint Gemma, in the last years of her life, two great gifts from God. Doña Cecilia would be the one who would take care of her, and would be aware of her ecstasy and mystical experiences, and Fr. Germán would be the spiritual director that the Lord Himself would send to guide her soul and later confirm the authenticity of The life of her.

Saint Gemma says: «I took the book with contempt and put it under the pillow… One day she was alone. It would be like twelve. A strong temptation came over me, and she told me that she was bored with everything. The demon used this to tempt me, telling me that if I listened to him, she would heal me. I was about to succumb. But suddenly an idea came to me; I turned to the Venerable Gabriel and told him: First the soul, then the body».

Overcome this temptation, she began to read the book of the life of the Venerable Gabriel and she is amazed. She never tires of admiring his virtues. When Dona Cecilia came back to pick up her book, Gemma had a hard time returning it to her. That same night, «he appeared to me (Gabriel) dressed in white. I didn’t recognize him… He took off his white tunic and appeared dressed as a Passionist.

He said to me: “You see how pleasant your sacrifice has been. I have come to see you myself. Try to be good and I’ll come back.»

On another occasion, Ven. Gabriel and this time she told him to make a vow to become a religious, but that she add nothing more.

«He smiled at me and looked at me. He put the Passionist shield on me and repeated: `My sister…`, and he disappeared. »

Her health was getting worse, and they suggested that she ask Blessed Margaret Mary for the miracle of healing her. She started the novena to the Sacred Heart several times but her weakness did not allow her to continue it. On February 23, 1899, the novena begins again in earnest, and on the night of March 1 to 2, this happens: A few minutes before midnight, Gemma heard the scraping of a rosary and felt a hand landed on his forehead, the voice he heard praying asked him:

-Do you want to heal yourself?
«I don’t care about everything,» I replied.
-You’ll heal. Fervently pray to the Sacred Heart…
– «And to the Beata Margarita?», I asked.
– «Add in her honor three times the ‘Glory’». (Blessed Margaret is today Saint Margaret Mary)

«On the penultimate day of the Novena I wanted to receive Communion, since it ended on the First Friday of the month of March. I received communion very early. What delicious moments I spent with Jesus! He repeated to me:-‘Do you want to be cured?’ I couldn’t answer because of the emotion. Poor Jesus! Grace had been granted. I was healed!»

At dawn on March 2 she got up with her own feet and her whole family cried with joy when they saw her.