Saint Gemma Galgani

Gemma Maria Galgani (born March 12, 1878 in Camigliano, Italy, died April 11, 1903 in Lucca, Italy) was a mystic and is a Roman Catholic Saint, who was canonized by Pope Pius XII on May 2, 1940.

Gemma was not accepted by the Passionists to become a nun also because of her poor health. At age 20, Gemma developed meningitis but healed of it and attributed her recovery to Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.

She had a great love for her family, the poor and the Earth.

According to legend, Gemma began to display signs of the stigmata in 1899, at the age of twenty-one. She stated that she had spoken with her guardian angel, Jesus, the Virgin Mary and other saints, specially the aforementioned Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows (then, a Venerable); according to her testimonies, she sometimes received special messages from them about the coming wars and the corruption of church officials.

Gemma was well-known in the vacinity of Lucca before her death, especially to the poor. Opinions were divided: some people admired her virtue and referred to her as "The Virgin of Lucca" out of awe; others mocked her and others thought she had a mental illness with her stigmata originating from a nervous breakdown.

In early 1903, Gemma was diagnosed with tuberculosis and died shortly thereafter, in a small room next to the Giannini house. She was beatified in 1933 and canonized in 1940. Her relics are housed at the Passionist Monastery in Lucca, Italy.