A fierce female dragon slayer! St. Gemma Galgani died at the young age of 25 on April 11, 1903 (Feast Day), but she lived an extraordinary life. She wanted to be a Passionist religious nun but was not accepted due to her health so she joined the lay Passionist association and took private vows as a consecrated virgin. She could see her guardian angel and received the stigmata on June 8, 1899.
She is the patron saint of those struggling with temptations to impurity and those seeking purity of heart as well as students, pharmacists, paratroopers, parachutists, loss of parents, those suffering back injury, back pain, headaches, and migraines.
Her Guardian Angel consoled, taught, played games with her to see who could say the name of Jesus more reverently, and
“He taught me many times how to act in the presence of God; that is, to adore Him in His infinite goodness, His infinite majesty, His mercy and in all His attributes.” [Gemma]
She had such a great devotion to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament that she would say,
“What would become of me if I did not dedicate all my affections to the Sacred Host?”
She also had such great trust and fervor in the Sacred Heart of Jesus that she brought Him many sinners for conversion,
“I wish, oh Jesus, that my voice could reach to the ends of the world, to call all sinners and tell them to enter into Thy Heart….Oh, if only all sinners would come to Thy Heart!… Come! Come sinners, do not be afraid! The sword of Justice cannot reach you Here!”
During her short life Jesus offered her an opportunity to become a victim soul of her own free will by suffering His passion plus the attacks from the enemy for the salvation of souls, but Jesus warns her,
“You will be trampled underfoot by the devils. Prepare yourself, my daughter, the demon at My orders will be the one that will add the last touch to my plan that I will accomplish in you, that is, your sanctification.
Though the Evil One attacks us due to our sins, he can’t do anything without Our Lord’s permission. Yes, here on earth, the devil makes us agonize and suffer, but it makes us gain much glory in Heaven as now St. Gemma is one of the most powerful dragon slayers that exorcists invoke via her relics.
Her spiritual director Venerable Fr. Germanus C.P. writes that when he prayed to St Gemma in exorcisms, the evil one would be so mad that he could adjure him,
“You were defeated by a girl! What did you obtain from that? You increased her sanctity!” And he [devil] replied: “But, I made her suffer”.
In the book, “The Rite-The Making of an Exorcist” the author shares a story of when St. Gemma makes her entrance at an exorcism and the devil complains, “No!” The devil proceeds to cry out in deep, guttural voice, “The one in black [St Gemma] is here, the jinx!” Soon after the other saints arrive and the battle is over.
Padre Alfredo Pallotta C.P., the former Chaplain at the Monastery-Sanctuary of Saint Gemma in Lucca, Italy wrote the book, “Un Esorcista si Confessa” (An Exorcist Confesses), and he shares this story,
“She [Saint Gemma] has often been near me in the exorcisms, above all when I carried them out in her Sanctuary. She was present to help me in fighting the Fiend who had so often appeared in her life. The demon often informed me of her presence, calling her the “stigmatized”.
In the book “La Mia Possessione” (My Possession) by Francesco Vaiasuso, a man is delivered who was possessed at age four after attending a satanic ritual. As soon as St. Gemma, St. Padre Pio, St. Faustina, and St. John Paul II arrive the devil flees.
Finally many an exorcist in America like Fr. Jeffery Grob, use a relic of St. Gemma for exorcism and protection. To read a book about her (Order Here) or to obtain a relic of St. Gemma (Order Here).
Read:
Thank you for this very timely article. I often remember the story of how St. Gemma fainted at the dinner table in her home one day after someone blasphemed the beautiful, infinitely good and powerful name of Jesus. If people only knew, they would not tolerate any movie or television show in which this is done, let alone tolerate it in their own home. May His holy name be praised forever.
Thanks for sharing that beautiful story! Yes, this is a powerful saint for our times! I think the story below of St. Gemma is worth mentioning for when the enemy is attacking us unceasingly.
“The Devil disturbed her imagination with every sort of fantasy, so as to fill her heart with anxiety, sadness, bitterness and fear, in order that he might drive her to despair. He set before her, under its most depressing aspects, the picture of her sorrowful life, the misfortunes of her family, her privations of every sort, the coming of the public officer who, on the death of her father, came with his creditors to seize what remained of their home…Then, making full use of the intense desolation in which the Lord for her greater sanctification allowed her to remain, the Devil strove by every artifice to convince her that she was entirely forsaken by God, and would assuredly be damned for having taken the wrong path.”
“This temptation was by far the most terrible and the most lasting. The poor girl was overwhelmed by it but still hoping to be saved, to remedy her state by a general confession.”
Very well said. If people only knew how serious this is, but the veil is there as long as we are alive, which has a tendency to make us forget the reality of eternity beyond this world. May His holy Name and His Goodness be adored forever.
God bless Saint Gemma! I must add a caution regarding John Paul II. In the above description, he is said to be a saint and a foe of the devil. Of course, I hope for his soul to be saved. However, if you look at what he said in his formal statements, encyclicals and also in the ceremonies he was a part of, you will realize he promoted modernism. Antichristian ideas of ecumenism. A true Pope and saint, Pius the X warned about modernism being the synthesis of all heresies. God bless 🌹