“Yesterday, we remembered Saint Gemma Galgani, apostle of Jesus’ Passion. Dear young people, live the Easter Triduum in her school, reflecting on the love of Jesus who immolated Himself for us on the cross.”
At the end of today’s General Audience, April 12, 2017, Pope Francis paid homage to the figure of this Saint of Lucca, whom the Church remembered yesterday. Born on March 12, 1878 at Bogonuovo di Camigliano, she was a mystic, having had visions of her Guardian Angel, of the Venerable Passionist Gabriele dell’Addolorata (now a Saint), and of Jesus Himself. Sick, she was given the grace to share Christ’s suffering.
She became seriously ill with tuberculosis on September 21, 1902. In agony Gemma affirmed she faced a painful ecstasy on the night of Holy Friday. She died at 25 on Holy Saturday, April 11, 1903. Her body was clothed in the Passionist habit, the Order she had hoped to enter. Today her remains rest in the convent of the Passionist Sisters of Lucca.
In the wake of Saint Gemma Galgani’s example, the Pope turned to the sick and newlyweds and said: “Dear sick, may Holy Friday teach you patience even in discomfort; and you, dear newlyweds, live in hope also in the difficult moments of your new family.”
