08/17/2026
Yesterday at the 10:00 Mass at Christ the King we had our annual back to school Backpack Blessing. This year, we chose St. Gemma Galgani as our patron for the academic year. St. Gemma loved God with all of her being. Her heart was on fire with the love of Jesus, and Jesus was everything to her. She can teach us a lot about loving God with all that we have, even if it doesn’t seem like much.
St. Gemma was a mystic who was born on March 12, 1878 to a rich family. However, her family faced hardship when her mother died of tuberculosis when Gemma was only 7 years old. After her mother’s death, her father lost everything. When her mother died, Gemma first heard the inner voice that was with her for the rest of her life: the quiet whisper of the Lord. That voice urged her to let her mother go and trust in the Lord’s providence. Gemma’s life changed dramatically: She, along with her father and siblings, moved into a modest home and lived on very little. She was still able to go to school, and she grew close to the Oblate Sisters of the Holy Spirit who helped cultivate her closeness to God. Given all she had experienced at such a young age, her mentors encouraged her to meditate on the sufferings endured by Jesus during His Passion.
Gemma would lose her brother and her father before she turned 20 years old. She decided to devote her life to Jesus and rejected the advances of several men who wanted to marry her. She was drawn to the Passionists, a community founded by St. Paul of the Cross. Though her poor health prevented her from being able to enter a convent, she embraced the community’s vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Her devotion to Christ’s passion deepened as her health worsened: She had intense kidney pain and suffered progressive paralysis of her legs related to spinal meningitis. Still, she had many mystical experiences, including hearing an inner voice asking if she wished to be healed. Though she was near death, she experienced healing after praying a novena to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. The healing happened on the first Friday of the month which is liturgically devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Shortly after this healing, St. Gemma received the stigmata, the wounds of Christ, on her hands, feet, and side. The first occurrence began on June 8, 1899, the eve of the Feast of the Sacred Heart. St. Gemma attempted to hide the bleeding wounds and sought no personal glory from it. It continued weekly until her death, starting on Thursday night and concluding around the hour of mercy, 3:00 p.m. on Friday.
She tried entering another religious community in Lucca but was still rejected. Gemma did not let this deter her spiritual journey: she reported daily conversations with her guardian angel and had visions of Jesus and saints. She lived with a wealthy family for many years until she contracted tuberculosis and the family feared for their own health. She died on Holy Saturday, April 11, 1903 at 25 years old. She is venerated as patron saint of students, pharmacists, those having lost parents, those seeking purity of heart, and those suffering back pain and headaches.
A monastery of Passionist nuns was founded in Lucca, Italy after her death, based on a request she received from Christ Himself before she died. St. Gemma was dressed in the Passionist habit, and her remains are still preserved in the monastery that was built there. We hope that St. Gemma’s example can help us to live virtuous lives marked by charity and deep faith while reminding us to offer up any difficulties we face in union with Christ’s sufferings for the greater glory of God.
