SAINT GEMMA GALGANI Feast Day: 11th April

BORN: 12th March 1878 Camigliano, Italy

DIED: Holy Saturday, 11th April 1903 Aged 25 years old

CANONISED: 2nd May 1940, Pope Pius XII

Often called the “Daughter of the Passion”, St Gemma was a humble mystic and stigmatist whose brief but radiant life burned with extraordinary love for Christ. She was orphaned young and plagued by many illnesses. She dedicated her entire life to quiet surrender and mystical visions. At just 21, she received the stigmata. Wounds appeared on her hands, feet and side every Thursday night causing excruciating pain, miraculously disappearing on Friday afternoons.

She experienced frequent ecstasies, visions of the Virgin Mary and intense suffering, as well as extraordinary graces; her frail health prevented her from fulfilling her dream of becoming a Passionist nun.