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by Raphael Amrhein, C.P.
  The
Voices of Gemma Galgani, The Life and Afterlife of a Modern Saint, a
recent book by Rudolph M. Bell and Cristina Mazzoni. (University of
Chicago Press, 2003; cover shown at right) offers a fascinating picture
of St.Gemma Galgani (1878-1903), a saint in the Passionist galaxy of
saints. Bell is professor of history at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Mazzoni, a literary critic, is associate professor of Romance languages
at the University of Vermont.
These two
scholars "found" Gemma and each other while researching books
they independently authored; Bell, Holy Anorexia; Mazzoni, Saint Hysteria:
Neurosis, Mysticism and Gender in European Culture. These somewhat ominous
titles belie both these authors' fondness for and belief in Gemma, which
drew them to collaborate on The Voices of Gemma Galgani. Bell authored
Part One of the book, the historical section; Mazzoni, Part Two, the
interpretative section.
The book
is a scholarly work, replete with the requisite substantiating footnotes.
It is also a fascinating "read" for it discloses a fascinating
character.
Some of Gemma's
fascination arises from the fact that she explains herself in her own
words. When her well-known Passionist spiritual director, Fr.Germano
Ruoppolo, came into Gemma's life just three years before her death (they
met in person only three times), he instructed her to write an "autobiographical
confession." This dealt with recollections of her life up to the
autumn, 1899. Subsequently, again under Germano's direction, she kept
a diary from July 19 to September 1900. Besides her recollections, the
historical part of "The Voices" also contains eyewitness accounts
of some of Gemma's ecstasies and a representative section of her prolific
correspondence.
Gemma emerges
from this documentation as an interesting, multi-faceted person: pious,
penitential, pliable, obedient, surrendering...cagey, conniving, coquettish,
manipulative, self-willed. She is both modern and medieval, the first
person who lived into the 20th century to be canonized: she was beatified
in 1933 and canonized in 1940. Yet she resembles saints like Bridget
of Sweden, Catherine of Siena, Catherine di Ricci, Margaret Mary Alacoque
and Mary Magdalene di Pazzi rather than contemporaries like Francis
Xavier Cabrini and Katherine Drexel.
Gemma grew
up in a very religious Italian family in the small Italian city of Lucca.
She was a highly emotional woman, scarred by the tragic circumstances
of a dysfunctional family. Her pious mother died of tuberculosis when
Gemma was eight. Her pharmacist father, having spent most of his resources
caring for his ailing wife, died when she was 19, leaving the family
destitute. Her siblings were a "mixed bag." The most eccentric
of them was her sister, Angelina, three years younger than Gemma. She
delighted in tormenting Gemma, especially by bringing friends to mock
her during her ecstasies. Angelina's testimony during the beatification/canonization
process was judged "dubious and useless," her behavior during
the liturgies of beatification and canonization was "undignified."
She spent some time during those events selling Gemma's effects for
relics and souvenirs.
Like other
mystics --- Teresa of Avila, Margaret Mary Alacoque, and Therese of
Lisieux --- Gemma experienced a miraculous cure. In the spring of 1899,
bedridden and almost paralyzed by a back condition, she was apparently
cured after making a novena in honor of the then Blessed Margaret Mary
Alacoque. During and after this novena, there were dream appearances
of the Passionist seminarian, then Venerable Gabriel Possenti. The two
became fast friends.
Gemma's mystical
familiarity extended to Jesus, Mary and her Guardian Angel. An occasional
playfulness marked these relationships. Occasionally, too, Gemma dueled
with the devil.
Gemma's cure
deepened her devotion to the Sacred Heart, a devotion promoted by Margaret
Mary. On the vigil of the feast of the Sacred Heart, in June 1899, the
stigmata appeared on Gemma's body for the first time. This phenomenon
appeared intermittently, in several variations, for the next several
years, usually between Thursday evening and Friday afternoon.
Gemma's cure
and stigmata were greeted by incredulity in medical circles and by her
long-time confessor, Monsignor Volpi. The physician he brought to observe
Gemma during one of her ecstasies concluded that the stigmata were due
to hysteria. When his evaluation became public knowledge, Gemma was
discredited.
 At
the end of June 1899, the season for parish missions began and Gemma
attended on at the Church of San Martino, in Lucca. She was delighted
to discover that the preachers were dressed like her protector-friend,
Gabriel Possenti. The Passionists and Father Germano (right) entered
into the Gemma saga and remained her greatest advocates.
Finally,
Gemma was recognized. During the processes of her beatification and
canonization, other professional medical personnel vindicated Gemma;
her mystical experiences were carefully discussed and her authentic
holiness upheld.
We 21st Century
Christians can be grateful to Rudolph Bell and Cristina Mazzoni for
this modern study of St.Gemma. She is a fascinating, complex figure,
whom they situate within the secular and religious culture of her day.
What Lessons Does Gemma Teach?
Someone insightfully
described spirituality as "faith, lived within a given culture."
What was the spiritual culture of Gemma's time? For one thing, women
were increasingly pursuing an apostolic spirituality emerging from the
creative practicality of Vincent De Paul/Louise de Marillac and the
theological reflection of Francis de Sales/Jane Frances de Chantal.
That spirituality produced busy "doers" like Elizabeth Ann
Seton and Catherine McCauley in the early 1800's and Frances Xavier
Cabrini and Katherine Drexel who were contemporaries of Gemma. Her time,
as our own, favored a strong active spirituality.
Yet Gemma
yearned for the cloister, first with the Visitation nuns and then with
the Passionist Nuns. She resembles saints like Bridget of Sweden, Catherine
of Siena, Catherine di Ricci, Margaret Mary Alacoque and Mary Magdalene
di Pazzi who advocated separation from the world, hiddenness, prayer
and penance more than the apostolic activity of her sainted contemporaries.
In fact, Gemma never attained her dream of entering a cloistered religious
community; instead she spent her days in the household of the Giannini's,
a family who took her in.
Spirituality: a Union of Love
To put Gemma's
life in perspective, we have to keep in mind something more important
than what spiritual path one takes. The core of spirituality is the
union in love initiated, sustained and manifested as God chooses. It
is the grace to be in accord with Jesus' teaching and destiny: "No
one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends."
(John 15,13)
How that
love is concretely expressed depends on one's time and circumstances,
but the model of Christian love always remains the same. The modes of
Christian love change, but following Jesus always must express his Passion
and death.
I think this
explains why phenomenon like the stigmata and other manifestations of
the physical sufferings of Jesus are present in every era, at least
since the time of St. Francis of Assisi. Perceivable signs of Jesus'
suffering are the starkest, attention-getting, mind-focusing demonstrations
of his love and self-giving. One implication may be this: stigmata,
ecstasy, and similar phenomena may not be as "medieval" as
we think!
Yet should
all those devoted to Jesus manifest or strive after these extraordinary
signs? No. God chooses how our relationship with Jesus is actualized.
In the last year of her life, Gemma Galgani asked God to remove the
physical signs of stigmata; apparently, her request was granted.
Sharing in the Passion of Christ
At the same
time, all Christians can receive mystical graces associated with the
Passion of Jesus in different forms. Contemporary spirituality, which
offers us a "psychological model," recognizes that graces
connected with the Passion of Christ touch people and their relationships.
For example, how many today in various circumstances are "crucified,"
bearing the invisible wounds of the psychological sufferings of Jesus?
Every Christian
has his or her unique way of being configured to Jesus and partaking
of his Passion. For some, it may be a way largely cerebral, ideational,
cognitive, intellectual, volitional; for others, it may be largely affective,
emotional, experiential, corporeal, and sensate. For the latter especially,
Gemma Galgani may be a welcome companion on the journey.
Within the
past decade, I have met several people who resemble Gemma Galgani. One
is a woman so seized with the meaning of the shed blood of Jesus that
she thirsts for the Eucharistic blood of Christ. The option of the cup
is not offered in her parish, so several times weekly she drives 28
miles to the nearest parish that offers that option.
She is drawn
to the five wounds of the crucified and risen Christ, and seeks refuge
in them in times of stress. In the Passionist tradition we recognize
this as one of the spiritual strategies of St. Paul of the Cross.
Some time
ago, I read of a man who spends an hour and a half making the Way of
the Cross. He has been giving guided meditations long before that term
was popular. At each station he presents a vivid re-enactment of that
episode. Some of his prayerful reflections of profound; all are poignant.
Gemma Galgani would find him a kindred spirit.
Gemma Galgani
reminds us that holiness is perennial and that it comes in many sizes,
shapes, and colors, in many times and places, in many modes and models.
The Communion of Saints, celestial and terrestrial, is a galaxy of stars
and superstars. Or perhaps, more appropriately, an array of sparkling
gems.
also in this issue:
When the towers fell | Gemma Galgani
Calling on the Laity
| The Cross at the U.N.
Passionist Television Mass
Act
with Compassion
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2004 - all rights reserved - Passionist Missionaries of Union City,
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