St. Gemma Galgani

Patron Saint of Students, Pharmacists, Paratroopers and Parachutists, Loss of Parents, Those Suffering Back Injury or Back Pain, Those Suffering with Headaches & Migraines, Those Struggling with Temptations to Impurity and Those Seeking Purity of Heart

Gemma Galgani is one of the Church’s mystics.

She was born in Camigliano, Italy on March 12, 1878 of devout parents. The fifth child and eldest daughter in a family of eight, she was given the name “Gemma” meaning “gem”. The family later moved to Lucca where Enrico Galgani practiced as a pharmacist.

Gemma’s beloved mother was the first to show her the way of Christian piety. “It was Mamma,” Gemma was to say, “who made me desire to go to heaven”. But tuberculosis took Aurelia Galgani when Gemma was only seven. This great grief was softened by Gemma’s first mystical communication which assured the little girl that her mother was in Heaven.

She began to attend school with the Sisters of St. Zita and was considered bright. She longed to receive Holy Communion and so begged and pleaded that she was granted the favor at age nine, then an early age for first communicants. “I feel a fire burning here” was her comment as she pointed to her heart.

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