Santa gemma galgani biography of william

This website is devoted to Saint Gemma Galgani with over 70 articles and many of her writings, along with official photographs and numerous examples of her heroic life, in hopes that it will inspire in others a greater love and devotion for Jesus and Mary. The author endeavors always to be in full communion with the Catholic Church and its teachings.

Hi Michael, It is a pleasure to meet you. Thanks so much for your comments. Yes, Gemma was perhaps about 14 years old when she was given the extraordinary gift to see and be guided by her Angel. This grace continued to her death. As we read in her Autobiography and Diary, her Angel guided and instructed her in virtue, along with protecting her from numerous evils and traps of the devil.

Her Angel also corrected many times when it she would fail to do something, or if she was doing something that was displeasing to God. As a side note however, I will say that while the Saints and great Catholic spiritual directors have always encouraged devotion to our guardian Angels along with our Blessed Mother and the Saints, they frequently remind us that familiarity with them is a extraordinary grace given by God to chosen souls for their "mission" in life, and such familiarity is not to be sought after by those of the majority of us who are upon the common spiritual paths.

Saint Gemma Galgani, Italian mystic

The danger for the ordinary soul in seeking such graces is the devil who can easily disguise himself as an angel or anyone else in an effort to decieve, as he did on SEVERAL occasions to St Gemma. On one occasion he the devil appeared to her as her Confessor, Father Giovanni Volpi, and tried to decieve her. Eventually God and her spirtual director told her how to distinguish between heavenly visitors, and the evil ones.

As soon as they appeared to her she would say "Blessed be God" or "Blessed be Jesus" and the heavenly visitors would always reply back in the same way, but those of the demonic or evil kind would not reply or at most only reply "Blessed be". In this way she was able to distinguish the heavenly visitors from the evil ones. May God bless you and yours, Glenn Dallaire.

I'm so happy to hear more of St.