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CONTENTSN.2 - LUCCA, MARCH-APRIL 2019

On the cover: The Risen Christ

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MONASTERY-SANCTUARY OF

«SAINT GEMMA»

Subscriptions:Minimum contribution to support

the magazine “St Gemma”: 20.00 euros.

Benefactor contribution:from 50.00 euros.

EDITORIAL 3by Giovanni PanelliTHE SCIENCE OF LOVE... 7by Giuseppe MilaniAPRIL 11th, 1903 12by Father Giovanni Zubiani c.p.PATIENT, COME FORTH! 18by Fabiola Maria BertinottiPAOLO STARTS... FROM GEMMA 22by Editorial OfficeGEMMA’S 141st BIRTHDAY 24by Editorial OfficeEASTER TIME... 26by Giuseppe MilaniDEAR SAINT GEMMA 28by Father Marco Catorcioni c.p.DATES AND EVENTS 29by Father Marco Catorcioni c.pIN YOUR HEART! 30by Rosario MelloneA MESSAGE FROM M. CATHERINE 32

Editor: Giovanni Panelli.

Managing Director: Mother Catherine Schuhmann c.p.

Contributors:Dr Paoluzi Angelo - Di Giovanni Fratel Gabriele - Giuseppe Milani -Giovanni Zubiani c.p. - Marco Catorcini c.p. - Fabiola M. Bertinotti -Passionist Nuns

Adminsitration:Monastery-Sanctuary of Saint Gemma - Passionist Nuns - Outside PortaElisa - 55100 Lucca - Tel. /Fax (+39) 0583 48815Authorised by Lucca’s Court of Justice: n. 1February 14th, 1948.Printed by: Tipografia Menegazzo - Lucca.

Illustrations: Passionist Monastery Archive,Lucca - Fratelli Fabbri Editori, Milan - Casa San Paolo, Ovada (Alessandria)- Rizzali editore, Milan - Editore: Periodici San Paolo, Alba (Cuneo) - DeAgostini Editore, Novara - Edizioni Vaticane, Rome.

Translations by: Maria Giulia Salvioni

Pictures: Gino Bertini

Coordination and graphic design: Stefano Montagna

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Contacts: monastero@santagemma.eu - (+39) 0583 48815Lucca, March/April 2019 - Year LXXXVII - Postal Subscriptions.

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EDITORIAL

ST GEMMA, AND THE VICISSITUDESOF HER SANCTUARY

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n the common cemetery of Saint Anne, inLucca, where the corpse of Saint Gemma

had been interred, about thirteen days afterher death exhumation was carried out inorder to examine the body of the Saint forthe first time. When Father Germano, whowas not present at Gemma’s death nor at herfuneral, went to Lucca, he obtained permis-sion from the authorities to conduct an au-topsy to see if her heart, which had burntwith Jesus’ love during her life, carried someextraordinary signs, as the one of other Saintsdid. During the post-mortem examination,“…Gemma’s heart looked fresh, vigorous,flexible, rubicund and filled with blood, as

I if it were alive… and thirteen days had alrea-dy passed. Her heart looked larger than lon-ger, and her ribs looked elevated and ratherbended”.After the corpse was put back together andburied again, in 1909 there was anotherinvestigation on Saint Gemma’s body, on theoccasion of its relocation to another burialniche inside the cemetery, where FatherGermano, some months before his demise,had a gravestone placed, the latter beingnowadays found in the Sanctuary of SaintGemma, where her mortal remains lie, too.During the first half of the 1920s, Gemma’sbody was moved to the Community of the

By GIOVANNI PANELLI, journalist

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Passionists, outside Porta Elisa, on the easternpart of Lucca, were a third investigation tookplace. Here, the remains of her heart, togetherwith other relics, were placed in a crystalheart reliquary, they were granted to thePassionist Fathers and preserved at the Ge-neral Postulation of the Passionists, in Rome.As time went by, there was a considerableincrease in the number of believers devotedto Saint Gemma coming toLucca from many countries,both to pay homage to herand to invoke her inter-cession. The need foranother church and anothermonastery was soon ma-nifest. In fact, the chapel ofthe Passionists had beenobtained by the conversionof an old building datingback from the second halfof the 18th century. Themortal rests of the thenBlessed Gemma were pla-ced in a crystal urn in oneof the altars of an internalchapel, where the priest andthe altar boy were the onlyones allowed. In order toreceive the new Saint, theconstruction of a worthychurch and a sanctuarywere mandatory.Gemma herself, during oneof her ecstasies, had the vision of Christtalking to her about the new Monastery ofthe Passionists to be founded in Lucca.There was nothing left to do but to proceedto the realization of the work, yet the opinionsof the nuns on how to proceed diverged andthis created divisions among them, as theVenerable Mother Maddalena Marcucci tellsus in her writings.“Some thought a Saint could not get theveneration she deserved in a cloistered

convent… others thought the already existingparish would give the Saint moreveneration… and then some said the parishin which she had died should be privileged.The same applied to the place that wouldwork as their definitive see. Some of thenuns believed that it would be better to lookfor a place inside the city centre…Others believed they should buy an ancient

urban boarding school, SanPonziano: it would besufficient to expand it inorder to have it ready…Others, on the other hand,disliked the idea of leavingthe place in which theywere living at the time,which had a huge piece ofland, more than enough toconstruct buildings”.The Archbishop, who wasaware of this divergence ofviews among the nuns,asked the Passionist MotherHouse to choose a nun.When the nuns of Lucca’smonastery found out aboutthis, they asked for MotherMaddalena Marcucci, adaughter of the House andthe right person to guidethis Community.Mother Maddalena waspart of the first group of the

Passionist Nuns of the Community in Lucca,the one Gemma Galgani had seen in vision.She had left for Mexico with five sisters toopen a monastery; after about three years,she had to go back to Europe due to therevolution, but she had stopped at Deusto,Bilbao, where she had founded the firstmonastery of Passionist Nuns in Spain.Mother Maddalena, whose cause of beatifi-cation is now in progress, has met duringher spiritual journey Monsignor Giovanni

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Volpi, Father Gemano, Lady Cecilia, whointroduced Gemma to the Giannini family,and Eufemia Giannini, one of the three dau-ghters of Dr Giannini,druggist; Eufemiatook the veil under thename Gemma andfounded the Nuns ofSaint Gemma.Mother Maddalenawas called back bythe Congregationwhen she was, inde-ed, in Spain, and thispiece of news left herwith great astonish-ment, as she herselfgives testimony in herwritings: “I wasastonished that acloistered community,an already establishedone, with worthypeople, decided to aska Mother Superior,although daughter ofthe very same community, who is in anothercountry.Were there no other nuns capable of such atask? I sensed the reasons why they calledme since I was in Spain, when I received theinvitation, and then I perfectly understoodwhen they started to discussthe matter.The Archbishop, in fact, hadbuilt the plan of the Sanctuaryand monastery in the veryplace they were living, ha-stening to start the projectbefore the nuns were eveninformed about it, or of how the work wouldproceed…”.With the arrival of the Mother in 1935, worksbegan, and for five years they were constantlysupervised by her, who directly talked to

both the architect and the builder. As shewrites, for many times she had to climb thehigh scaffolds in order to check the measures

for windows and do-ors. They were busydays for her, filledwith engagements;one need only thinkt h a t M o t h e rMaddalena had two orthree assistants whoknew French, Germanand Spanish, and whowould help her to an-swer the voluminouscorrespondence thatarrived to the mona-stery from the manybelievers all over theworld.The construction, al-though with manydifficulties, especiallyeconomic ones, got toa point when it wasnecessary to demolish

the old building. The believers coming toinvoke Gemma came from everywhere, sothat it was impossible to interrupt her cultwithout creating inconveniences to peoplefilled with hope and coming from far away…The various difficulties were eventually over-

come, and the day came whenBlessed Saint Gemma had tocome into possession of herSanctuary, even though par-tially; the anniversary of herdeath, April 11th, 1937, wasthus chosen. “All the civilianand religious authorities of

the city and Province took part in the event”,Mother Gesualda writes in Gemma’s bio-graphy. “On the occasion of that solemnceremony, the entire city had moved for Her”.Everyone was busy trying to make the cele-

“On the occasionof that solemn ceremony,

the entire cityhad moved for Her”

Lucca, fuori Porta Elisa: Chiesina delle Passionistee urna di Santa Gemma

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the humble, the poor, thosewho suffer and attempt toimitate those virtues of whichGemma was, in those mo-ments, a remarkable example.Some of the nuns who werepresent thirty years before stillremembered when Gemmawas in the common cemeterywith the other dead people,when the community was justliving its first years, floodedwith poverty and far fromimagining what would hap-pen; these nuns thought aboutFather Germano’s prophecy.By ripping off the mysterious

veil of the future, he, almost transformedand out of his mind, said: “This communityfaces a great future; very great, indeed…”,and he pronounced these words with such aheavy emphasis. This future was then visible,before everyone’s eyes, in its outstandingachievement.

bration of their fellow citizenmore solemn; she was nomore the poor Gemma, as sheused to sign in her letters, butthe Blessed Gemma.Archbishop wanted the urnwith the mortal remains to becarried into Lucca’s Cathe-dral, the Cathedral of SaintMartin, three days in advance,in order to prepare peoplewith a triduum and to have aprocession start from there totake Gemma back to theSanctuary. As she went past,streets were decorated witharches of flowers that themunicipal administration had ordered to erectin her honour. Everyone, the sick and thehealthy, was close round the borders of thestreets where the procession took place,chants and bell rings echoed and awakenedin every heart feelings of hope, compassion,praising of God, the one who thus elevates

“This communityfaces a great future;very great, indeed...”

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SPIRITUALITY PAGES

THE SCIENCE OF LOVE

t is an overwhelming lovethe one that binds our dear

Saint Gemma to the myriad ofpilgrims who, in a way oranother, have had somethingto do with her.This is because she is a parti-cularly active Saint, and thisis well known by the faithfulscattered all over the world. Inmaking this statement, and sup-porting it, Maykel comes tomy mind, an Ecuadorian from

Esmeraldas, a city of 154,000souls close to the border withColombia, and overlooking thePacific Ocean. The city ofEsmeraldas gives its name tothe province of the same name,which is also called "green pro-vince", because it enjoys abun-dant vegetation all year round.

I met Maykel on a day of oursunny August, in the Sanctuaryof Saint Gemma, together with

I

By GIUSEPPE MILANI

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seven other people all comingfrom Ecuador.Father Marco and Father Gio-vanni had called me to volun-teer to hold visits in the housewhere Gemma received herstigmata. A quick introductionin Spanish, patched togetheras best as I could, some wordsin English, and presentationswere done.We could set off for our target,inside the city centre.While on our way, I tried toanswer their questions on thecity, which appeared in itsusual majesty inside the 16thcentury walls, on Gemma andon her wonderful story. I triedto search those black, blackeyes which looked curious intomine, searching for something

to release me from my tormen-ts, racked as I was by the manyquestions and uncertainties.I wondered how it was possible

for our dear Saint Gemma tobe known even in such a di-stant world; in a country thatthe Equator cuts in half len-gthwise, carrying warmth andcolours of uncommon beauty.Who on Earth took the lumi-nous offspring of such an in-credible and yet simple, au-thent ic , unrea l i s t ica l ly

spontaneous Saint in such aplace?My searching look was clearlynot the only one to navigatethe dangerous waves of que-stions and doubt.Then, a woman in the group,called Ashley, told me I shouldnot be so surprized, since Gem-ma was very popular in theircountry.And she was right in givinganswers to my wandering atti-tude; in any case, I had alreadyhad similar experiences, withNew Zealanders, for example,not to mention Australians.With them, I remember discus-sing the fact that they came toLucca from the remotest placeon Earth: I maintained that ifwe dug a hole in our city and

“I wondered how it waspossible for our dear Sa-int Gemma to be knowneven in such a distant

world…”

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exited from the other side ofthe globe, we would arrive toNew Zealand and Australia.However, the experience withthe Ecuadorians affected medeeply, maybe because it wasunexpected; but I repeated tomyself I had to be used toGemma’s surprises, whosemessage of love has no limits.I remember spending twohours of my time talking aboutGemma’s story, and it was awell-spent time, especially forme, since I was happy to seetheir interest and, once in theroom of the stigmata, their ex-tremely intense praying.I prayed with them in Spanish,following Ashley, who kept therhythm with her hands joined.When we said goodbye we feltas if we had always been frien-ds, and while they took the

road to the city centre and itsoutstanding beauties, I choseto walk on the city walls, andsat on an iron bench to medi-tate.I distinctly remember what J.F. Villepelée used to say on

what concerns the features ofa Saint: he said that, as CharlesPéguy –illustrious French wri-ter, poet and essayist– wouldput it, the features of a Saintalways escape the “carnal” loo-ks, but it shows up to the oneswho look with the eyes of theheart. We live, nowadays, in a

world torn apart by the mostvaried sins, sins of misunder-standing, egoism, violence; yet,God, in His magnificence,spreads along our journey Sa-ints who bloom here and there,lightened by the only sun ca-pable to warm: Grace.However, if we think about it,Saints hide in the prayers oftime and in those of history,bordering the dark alleys andplaces that life gives us. Hi-story books talk about heroiccharacters who tread the boardsof life, often by stepping onwhat they found in their way.But this is not the Saint’s case:he or she knows other ways,brightened by transparency andlight.Saints, and Gemma, in speci-fic, do not lose the baptismalinnocence; they rather fortify

“… the features of aSaint always escape the“carnal” looks, but it

shows up to the ones wholook with the eyes of the

heart.”

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it, by drinking from the lightof Christ.There are no storms that canwreck their ships, even duringthe most dangerous tempests;they –and Gemma is theirmaster is this– cling to Christ’scross, the wood of which rede-ems and sets us free, and isunsinkable.Our life is made of encounters,and we know it well: howmany people cross our way?Some do it daily, while we dealwith ordinary business, so weshake hands, we say hi, wesmile.However, some other encoun-ters happen in a different way,in different senses, with nopresentations or greetings, butin a supernatural way –someti-mes we do not even realizeabout them.Obviously, we cannot forgetthat, through the Baptism, we

become members of an im-mense family and Jesus is ourolder brother.The love of God is not subjectto our temporal and spatial li-mits; its arrows can hit us nomatter where we are; they can

cross the mountains, go beyondthe oceans and, of course, theydo not take into considerationhuman frontiers; they can hitus during the apotheosis of anindescribable joy, as well aswhen we withdraw into oursel-ves, maybe when, at nightfall,the colours are fading, our heartbecomes smaller and smallerbefore regrets and memories.

Jesus also uses Saints for theirsuperb example of creaturesbearing the one and only Cha-rity; he uses them to upset ourlives, so that he can draw uscloser to him and never leaveus again. Let us face it: howmany times, just by looking ata simple picture, or at the shortlines or moving prayer writtenon it, we feel rapt and fascina-ted by a presence we cannotperceive, but which traps usforever?Besides, with Gemma, ourwishes of purity, sweetness andpeace can be really accom-plished.One cannot be indifferent to alook like hers, which searchesour souls and exposes us toour faults.The Letter to the Hebrews (12,1), as Villepelée reminds us,presents Saints like a goldencloud, the drops of which re-

“There are no stormsthat can wreck their

ships, even during themost dangerous

tempests; they cling toChrist’s cross…”

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flect the sunlight, which is theLord, while the Revelation(7,9) reminds us that Saintswere a great multitude, whichno man could number, of allnations, and kindreds, andpeople, and tongues, stood be-fore the throne, and before theLamb, clothed with white ro-bes, and palms in their hands.The Saint, and Gemma can be-ar witness of this, might bedressed in a humble way, buthis/her chest shines with thebrightness of Grace whichknows no darns, nor fashiona-ble clothes, but which directsall its attention to the heart.Yet, if we think about it, arthas not been faithful in therepresentation of the differencebetween appearance and reali-ty. It has often enclosed Saintsin their halos, reduced them to

icons, and idealized them inlegends.Truth is much simpler than itmight look: their clothes aremade of everyday life –melan-cholic, often–, but they hideunder that fabric a fire that

warms, a fascination that intri-gues, because that is where ourLord is.Gemma’s message, dear rea-der, is the message of limitlesslove, a love that knows no roadthat does not converge in Jesus.I was lost in these thoughts, on

the iron bench on Lucca’s citywalls, and I did not even realisethe Ecuadorian group was pas-sing by.

“Hi, Saint Gemma”, Michaelwhispered in my ear in a per-fect Italian, and hugged metightly. And when his mouthdrew closer to my right ear, headded: “Gemma is here inLucca with you, but she is alsohere, you know?”, and whilesaying this, he touched his he-art, and I nodded with satisfac-tion.He said goodbye, together withhis friends, and I followedthem with my eyes until theydisappeared from my sight, justlike a dot on the horizon.“Horizon?”, I wondered,“Distances have never been soclose with Gemma…”.

“A great multitude (…)stood before the throne,and before the Lamb,

clothed with white robes,and palms in their

hands”

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ome months ago, my friendAlessandro from Lucca

gave me as a gift, together withother texts, the 1903 biographyof Blessed Gemma Galgani,written by Sister GesualdaMaddalena Eletta dello SpiritoSanto (1879-1930). I was ama-zed by that gift, since I wasalready acquainted with theclassical biographies by FatherGermano, Zoffoli and the moremodern ones. That biographyhad been written by one of themost remarkable daughters ofLucca.

Gesualda was born as AdelaideSardi in Lucca, on the 16th ofJuly 1879, from Count CesareSardi and Clementina Martelli,of the Martelli family fromFlorence. Lively and resource-ful, Adelaide was admitted to

APRIL 11th 1903, THE DEATHOF SAINT GEMMA

one of the most exclusive bo-arding schools in Florence, cal-led “La Quiete”, which wasunder the Montalve Sisters.Once she came back home, inline with the style in vogueamong wealthy families, sheimproved her knowledge oflanguages, music and painting.While in her paternal house,she received several proposalsof marriage, which, one afterthe other, she refused, thus de-claring her intentions towardsa consecrated life.After a careful reflexion, sheentered the Carmelit Conventof Saint Mary of the Angels in1902, where she was then na-med Sister Gesualda Eletta del-lo Spirito Santo. There, shewas in charge of the archive ofSaint Maddalena de’ Pazzi, to-gether with other traditional

monastic duties, and she starteda real period of spiritualeducation through her personalstudy and writings.She kept in contact, both per-sonally and by letter, with aconsiderable amount of promi-nent secular and religious per-sonalities of her time. Amongothers, besides her relativesand her school friends, Cardi-nal Mercier, Sister Agnes ofLisieux, Saint Mary (Alessan-dra di Rudinì) of Paray-le-Monial, Blessed James Albe-rione and St Pio of Pietrelcina.Moreover, her knowledge ofthe languages allowed her tobe acquainted before anyoneelse with the best texts on spi-rituality published in France atthe time. This is how she cameto the decision of translatinginto Italian Story of a Soul, by

S

THE REAL WITNESSES

By FATHER GIOVANNI ZUBIANI c.p.

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Thérèse de Lisieux, which wasthen followed by the Memoriesby Mother Germana of Jesus,on Elizabeth of the Trinity, andby several other biographies;among which, that of GemmaGalgani.

Sister Gesualda knew Gemmaby sight -she writes-, since shehad ended up next to her seve-ral times, during the long waitsbefore Monsgnor Volpi’s con-fessional. People told her thatGemma was a “little coldchicken”, and she did not exci-te her liking. Once, though, shewas impressed by Gemma’ssmile.When, years later, people askedher to write Gemma’s bio-graphy, she was reluctant, be-cause “everything about herdisgusted me”.For twenty-five years, SisterGesualda objected: “Howcould I write about someone Ido not love and someone I donot believe in?”.However, one day she addres-sed Gemma, and said: ““If youwant this homage from me, letme love you”. As if by magic,my dislike for her vanished, itturned into an overwhelminglove, and this happened beforeI read her biography. I read it,eventually, and since the veryfirst pages, the sweet and he-roic figure of Gemma jumpedout of it, beautiful, bright, saint[…]. I contented myself withwriting these few pages, inwhich I wanted to put all mylove, to make amends for mypast incredulity; read from me,

reader, and communicate to theothers.”

*******We offer herby the very sametext by Sister Gesualda, rea-dapted; we are sure that, bysharing the feelings revealedby the text, the reader will beable to live over again the sameintensity of the three days thatprepared Gemma for the em-brace with her crucified spousein the eternal Easter of Hiskingdom.

*******On the evening of January24th, 1903, for fear that the

younger children of the Gian-nini family could be infectedby her disease, Gemma aban-doned the house and was mo-ved in the small flat her auntwas renting. Her pains wereby now excruciating. Her sto-mach could bear no more food,not even some liquid drops;vomit achingly shook her poorbody. Cough destroyed herchest, taking her breath away.Not even one part of her bodywas exempt from pain. Lateron, sight failed her, and hervoice got weak, she struggledto utter a word. Still, never didshe ask for relief; never didshe look tired or grieved; neverdid she ask to be moved or

lifted a little, although she re-sted in an uncomfortable posi-tion. She never asked foranything (spontaneously, onher own initiative) throughoutthe entire illness, not even amouthful of water –MotherGemma Giannini says .Due to mistakes or misunder-standings, it happened that shewas sometimes left alone atnight, the moment she wouldhave mostly needed help; butshe did not say a word, she didnot get upset, nor did she groan.In order to prevent this, theSisters of St Camillo De Lelliswere called to look after her,a community which Gemmahad once thought of joining.One of them tells that, at thebeginning, she heard Gemmacrying out, in the midst of thetorment: “My dear Jesus, I canbear this no more”; but, afterbeing told that with Lord’s gra-ce everything is possible, shestopped repeating this. On thecontrary, to those commenting:“Poor soul, she can bear it nomore”, she answered: “I can”.During those long nights, heronly comfort was praying: “Letus pray, sister, let us pray. Letus not think of anything butJesus!”. And when she couldnot pray with her lips, sheprayed with her heart, as shehad been taught to byMonsignor Volpi. “I do exactlywhat he told me to do”.Besides the physical sufferings,Gemma had to bear the moralsufferings, too, which wereeven worse.The devil tried to drive her to

“Let us pray, sister,let us pray.

Let us not thinkof anything but Jesus!”

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despair, by filling her mindwith ghosts, so as to raiseanxiety, bitterness and fear inher heart. Her sorrowful life,the misfortunes of her family,the agonizing hours, the priva-tions of every sort, all of thiswas set before her, and a voicefilled wih irony and sarcasmseemed to repeat in her mind:“This is what you have recei-ved from your hard work forthe Lord”. The very same voicesuggested to her the idea thatGod had abandoned her becau-se she had taken the wrongpath, and only showed her de-ception and hypocrisy in hermost heroic virtues, in the greatfavours she had received. Thistemptation was the most terri-ble and the most lasting. Gem-ma almost found herself op-pressed by it, so she thoughtshe could try to contrast it witha general confession. She tooka pen and, in the middle of thatpainful state of spiritual agita-

tion and confusion, she wrotethe story of her life, declaringherself guilty of a thousandhells, for having deceived, withevil intent, her confessors, di-rectors and herself. Coming tothe details, she went throughthe Decalogue, the precepts ofthe Church, the deadly sins,the obligations of her state, andshe declared herself terriblyguilty for everything.This letter, before being sealed,was read by someone and sent,at Gemma’s request, to a sain-tly priest well known to her,and whom she begged to comeand give her absolution for hersins. He came and reassuredher. The Devil tried to tempther impatience, but in vain. Hetried to tarnish her virginal pu-rity, but in vain. This last temp-tation was so painful that shewrote these words to her spiri-tual director: “Father, this tor-ment is more than I can bear.Ask Jesus to change it for me

into something else…".Then it was the time of fearfulapparitions, of deafening noi-ses. People in the house sprink-led holy water in the room;then, for a moment, the distur-bances ceased, but only to be-gin again later on, even worsethan before.When they offered her somefood, she saw it, under the de-vil’s spell, strewn with filthyinsects, so that they were for-ced to take it out of her sight,leaving her hungry.She felt like horrible animalsof hideous shapes came intoher bed and crept over her bo-dy, she felt trapped in a ser-pent’s coil choking her. Sheasked to be exorcised, but shewas not allowed to, so she didit by herself. Sometimes theLord and his good Angel ru-shed at her aid, cheering herup with words aiming not atfear, but at increasing her hope:“Resist, do not be defeated, if

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temptation persists, then shallresistance persist as well, andthe fight will lead you tovictory”. But these momentsof light were rare, and afterthem, the fight got fiercer.“Where are you, Jesus?”, shesaid after every fit, “Where areyou? You know it, Jesus, yousee my heart…”.And days, weeks, months wentby like this.“Learn, Eufemia, howJesus wants to be loved”,Gemma told EufemiaGiannini one day, thelatter being holding abasin for her, whowas prey to a severecough. “Jesus, I amyours, body andsoul. I accept everysuffering, but I wantto be entirely yours”.Being with Jesuswas the only aim ofher life.But Jesus did notabandon her belo-ved. The specialgraces with whichshe got strength forthe last fight acted asa counterpoint forher sufferings.On Good Wedne-s d a y G o d h a dalready been so kindas to lift an edge ofthe veil which hid heaven fromher. When in ecstasy, a Sisterasked her if the Lord hadcomforted her, and she answe-red: "Oh, Sister, if only youcould see the smallest particleof what Jesus has shown me,

how you would rejoice!". Thenshe received the Viaticum, andon the following day, she desi-red to receive the Viaticumagain, fasting throughout thenight, the priest finding it dif-ficult to give it to her for twoconsecu t ive morn ings .“She looked like a Saint”, awit-

ness said, “seated on the bedwith her hands joined, her eyeslowered, her face radiant andher lips smiling, in spite of theextreme pain she felt”. Duringthe ecstatic meditation of theHoly Communion, on that

Thursday morning, Gemmathought to have seen a crownof thorns, and said: “I shall gothrough all sorts of pains, be-fore you are completed!”. Andturning to the Sister she added,"What a day tomorrow willbe!". It was almost the end ofthe tragedy. In fact, when onFriday morning around ten,Signora Cecilia, feeling exhau-

sted with fatigue and wantof sleep, expressed her

will to go home andtake a little rest,Gemma said to her:"Do not leave meuntil I am nailed tothe cross. I must becruci f ied wi thJesus! Jesus toldme that His chil-dren must be cru-cified."S h o r t l y a f t e r,Gemma enteredinto a sheer ecstasy,and she graduallyextended her armsso that her body gotthe shape of across, and she re-mained like thatunt i l half-pasttwelve, on thatFriday. Her ex-pression reflectedsorrow and love,desolation and

calmness. She did not utter aword, but her attitude sugge-sted she was in agony with hersweet Lord. Everyone in theroom gazed upon the scene,thinking they were about towitness her last breath. But her

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agony went on for the rest ofthe day, for the entire night andeven on Saturday morning.She had said it: her crown ofthorns had to be completedwith cruel sufferings. On thatSaturday, she found some littlestrength to answer in a low andweak voice to the prayers ofthe Anointing of the sick cere-mony.The priest who had anointedher went away at once, and hedid not come back until hervery last moments, to pray forher soul.The one who had given her theViaticum did not show upagain, nor did the exceptionalconfessor who she had called,and who confessed her quickly.Gemma wished MonsignorVolpi to come and perform theexorcisms of the last sacra-ment, because she saw the De-vil in the form of a ferociousblack dog close to her; but,since the services took a longtime, he was not able to gountil around midday. “I left”,said Signora Cecilia, “Gemmasaid she wanted the exorcismsand Monsignor, after havinggiven her blessings, asked her:“Are you satisfied, now?”.Gemma answered she was not,and that she wished for the realexorcisms. "I must go to wishthe Archbishop a happy Ea-ster," replied Monsignor. "Iwill come back and see youlater on." But he was not to seeher again, as Gemma passedaway shortly”.“I must confess”, says SignoraCecilia “That on that morning

Monsignor had been told thatGemma was expecting him,and he had answered: “Tell herif it is for confession I willcome, but if it is to assist herin her agony, it is impossible.There are the curates”. Thosedays were, for an auxiliaryBishop like him, exceptionallybusy. When I told GemmaMonsignor’s words –SignoraGiannini says– Gemma tookthe Crucified in her hands,holding it opposite her eyesand, while looking at it, shesaid: “You see, Jesus, I reallycannot bear this anymore; if

this is your will, then take me”.Then she glanced up towardsthe painting of Mary, hangingon a wall, and added: “MyMother, I entrust you with mysoul, tell Jesus to be merciful”.She kissed the Crucified, sheplaced it on her heart and, whi-le keeping her hands on it, sheclosed her eyes, and remainedstill. When Monsignor arrived,she opened her eyes told himwhat we said before. When heleft, she went back in the sameposition.Signora Cecilia ran to call theparish priest, Abbot Angeli ofthe Canons Regular of the La-teran, and then rushed to theGiannini’s, where the family

was at dinner. "Gemma isdying!" she exclaimed. Thewhole family, all except theyoung, rose and hastened tosee the dying girl. Signora Giu-stina lifted her, and put one ofher arms behind the pillows,so that Gemma’s head couldrest on her shoulder. Eufemia,kneeleing before the bed, holdGemma’s right hand into hers,pressing her head against it.Next to her, Signora Ceciliaand the other members of thehouse filled the room.Abbot Angeli, who prayed forher soul, looked at the presentpeople and asked: “Has shedied?”. She really had died,but nobody had realized it.“I attended to many sickpeople”, he said, “But neverhave I witnessed a death likethis, with no foreboding signs,no tear, no panting. She diedwith a smile, and she remainedwith that smile on her lips, andI could not persuade myselfthat she was dead”.

Father Germano also missedGemma’s agony. When the endappeared imminent, SignoraCecilia told Gemma: “We mustsend a telegram to FatherGermano”, but Gemma,knowing by an interior lightthat God wanted this sacrifice,too, did not mention it anymo-re, and to those who askedabout him, she answered, witha sweet smile that expressedher love: "I seek nothing more.I sacrificed everything and eve-ryone to God. Father Germanowill come after Easter."

“She kissed the Crucified,she placed it on her heart

and, while keeping herhands on it, she closed hereyes, and remained still.”

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Jesus had been celebrated inLucca’s churches during theHoly Week: he had by nowbeen taken off the cross, andthe Eucharist had been placedin the so called sepulchre. Itwas the Holy Saturday, and acomplete silence reigned. Andon that very day of peace, theLord chose to take off the crosshis loyal lover, too, and to in-dissolubly bind her to him inthe glory of resurrection.Therefore, on the Holy Satur-day, her soul opened to receivethe Love that, in a moment,would become eternal insideher, a nameless glory.

Gemma had asked Jesus to diewith no human support, justlike Him: “A priest and a Chri-stian will be enough”, she hadsaid.The last verses of that poemfilled with love and pain endedin a great suffering and surren-dering. She silently bended herhead and, with nobody reali-

zing it, she passed away.They dressed her in black, putthe necklace around her neck,the Passionist emblem on herbreast, a garland of flowers onher head; they joined her han-ds, in the position she tookwhen she was in ecstasy; shedid not look dead, just peace-fully asleep, or in the middleof a love ecstasy.

A vast crowd gathered aroundthe body of that creature whohad lived in darkness, ignoredalmost by everyone. The oldand the young, priests andlaypeople, everyone came tokneel before her remains, invo-king her holiness, asking forher relics, kissing her hands,pressing crowns and medalsagainst them.Among the others, there wasthe priest to whom Gemma,when possessed by the devil,had written the general confes-sion of what she considered tobe her sins; he, falling on his

knees to respect her body,exclaimed: “Gemma! Here liesa miserable sinner! Pray Jesusfor me!”.On the Holy Saturday -a daythat is regularly part of Easter’ssolemn vigil-at dawn, thebrothers of the company called“The Rose”, with their typicalyellow sack, went out of thehouse where Gemma had pas-sed away. The coffin was car-ried by two of them and by twomembers of the Giannini fami-ly, who considered this lasthomage as an honour to theirangel Gemma.

The city bells rang a joyouspeal for Easter, while the An-gels of Passion ad Resurrectionfloated around the coffin, sin-ging hosanna and hallelujah tothe woman who, having fol-lowed our Lord to the Gathse-mane and to the Calvary, hadalso deserved to join Him inthe triumph of His resurrection.

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LIFE EXPERIENCES

PATIENT, COME FORTH!

he crossroads and theimpulse towards change

What can reassure the heart ofan ill person and her/his fami-ly? Where does the impulsethat throws your heart beyondthe wall of illness and makesyou feel better, no matter thedifficulties, come from? I leftyou with the story of my familyand how the three of us –myson, my husband and I– reactedwhen our son, only two yearsafter his adoption –so at theage of five– was diagnosedwith a rare disease, a form ofdystrophy. After an initial mo-

ment of trauma and discoura-gement, a strange reaction be-came manifest in our first-time-parent minds, actually, a totallyunexpected one. At the time,now 13 years ago, for everybad news –and they poured inone after the other– my heartfelt pierced, no way out. At thefirst occasion, I cried all mytears; then, after a while, some-times in a day’s time or evenless, I felt my strengths retur-ning, and I started anew, insearch for answers, solutions,ways out.I felt like, finding myself at acrossroads, I had to decide

whether to live and be activeor to die and throw in thetowel. However, before eachproblem, before each stone onmy way, the answer came na-turally, like water gushing outof a spring, out of a stonebehind which nobody sus-pected a source could hide.

Coming into action

As a perfect ignorant aboutrare diseases and about thatspecific disease, the faciosca-pulohumeral muscular dy-strophy, I found myself, againstmy will, coming into action to

Christian reading of the “Patient advocacy”, the great revolution in the world of science andpeople who live with a rare disease.

T

Fabiola among the group of expert patients certified at Winter Course EURORDIS

By FABIOLA MARIA BERTINOTTI

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get to know the experts perso-nally: doctors, scientists, insti-tutions, associations, speciali-zed centres, etc.; in short, theworld which could positivelyaffect my son’s health. I reallycould not sit and wait,I had to know and un-derstand. In 2006, oneyear after the diagnosis,I had set my mind oninvestigating, on ente-ring in contact withpeople that counted inthe field of my son’sdisease, on getting to beknown by them, and Igave myself one year.An ambitious goal,maybe, considering Iwas start ing fromscratch. “On our way”,as we say in Brianza,the place in which I wasborn, so I set out. Or,better, we set out, since,although the first effectof the diagnosis was theshock, the second one

was a process of getting closer,becoming accomplices andmore unite, a process whichallowed a resilient force, whichwe had never felt in our lives,to flow out of my husband, my

son and myself. A path madeof many slopes, many fallings,and many tears.We needed so much patience!So much perseverance! Somany prayers!

The art of trusting

From that moment on,we have never stopped.The journey is stillgoing on. There still areslopes, fallings, tears,and there still areprayers, but also manygood differences, incomparison with thatpioneering time which,nowadays, feels so faraway. First, and I amnow talking exclusivelyabout myself, since I amentering a spiritual di-mension, I have becomefully aware of the factthat I am not alone.Nobody ever is. Provi-dence has its own paths

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and logics, which men and wo-men cannot understand, so ithurts when we have to admitwe do not have the situationunder control.Here comes the best of it, butalso the most difficult part. Wemust learn to move like theblind. Senses that we had neverexperienced awaken, sensitivi-ty becomes manifestbeside the ordinaryrationality. The ap-proach to life changes,both towards oursel-ves and towards ourneighbours. It is aprocess. Everythinghappens by progres-sive hues, not fromone day to the next.Then we realize weare “accompanied”.The Lord is with us,He precedes us, Hefollows us, He chal-lenges us. Sometimeshe shows up with si-gns, sometimes wemust trust that he isthere even though wecannot see him, evenif we despair. That ishow we learn the artof trusting. This is thebiggest challenge. To acceptwe do not have the situationunder control and place ourtrust in Him.

The biggest pain in the neck

Nobody ever wants to drinkfrom the bitter cup of sickness,or impotence before the diffi-culties of a dear one for whom

you would give your own life.There are moments when, nomatter how much you struggle,you never see the end of thetunnel, not even a feeble light.In those moments, prayers be-come more intense, and weknock, repeatedly, louder andlouder. I have learnt that evenwhen you feel alone, He is the-

re, he forges you, he modelsyou like an artisan with hiswork. Stepping out of thecomfort zone to explore theunexpected, disease, uncertain-ty, and dependence is neversomething we wish to do. Yet,in doing it, we find paths thatwe had never imagined, weland in harbours of our beingthat are totally new and unex-

pected. I once confessed thesepains to the then Mother Supe-rior of the Sanctuary of SaintGemma and this woman, phy-sically weak but spirituallypowerful, answered: “Fabiola,keep on working and keep onknocking on Jesus’ doors: youmust be the biggest pain in theneck to him!”.

We all are the maincharacters of acartoon

I have been telling allthis with the aim ofmaking you under-stand that each andevery of us is the mainc h a r a c t e r o f adrawing , l ike acartoon, or a docu-mentary. The Authorof Life sketched us,and we do not knowwhat story he has instore for us; what weknow, if we decide toaccept His will, is thatwe have a Father andthat this Father lovesus and looks after us,gently asking to makechoices, to decide if

we do want to cooperate onHis drawing. Every answer islegitimate. All of us are piecesof work. My story can resem-ble other stories, but it willnever be the same story. Thereare no right or wrong choices.Everyone has its own. So letme conclude by telling youwhat my choice has been whenfacing the mystery that Provi-

Fabiola and Melanie Bordes pose in front ofthe Center for Genetic Diseases in Paris

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dence set before me by meansof my son’s disease.

Patient Advocacy: active pa-tients for everyone’s sake

I am writing to you today, inMarch 2019. I have just fi-nished the second qualifyingcourse EURORDIS that theEuropean Community fundsin order to educate patients andmake them experts in the soc a l l e d P a t i e n tAdvocacy. The firstcourse -which I fi-nished in June2018- aimed at thepreparation of pa-tients (or of theirclose relatives) wholive with rare dise-ases, focusing onthe subject of howscientific experi-menta t ion tha tbrings to the deve-lopment of newdrugs work, andwhat are the natio-nal and the Euro-pean central bodiesin charge of con-trolling this process in the in-terest of public health. The se-cond course, on the other hand,allowed me to obtain a certifi-cation of expert patient in thefield of genetics and that of thenew technologies that nowa-days underpin the developmentof new therapies. An exampleis the gene therapy, which usesviruses to diffuse compoundsthat modify the expression ofa defective gene; another one

is the CRISPR/Cas9, theinnovative technology throughwhich we can “cut” the geneticcode exactly where it needs tobe modified, and which promo-tes a correct genetic expression,which means, it eliminates theflaws.Science is making great pro-gress. The result is not a cer-tainty, yet, but the way is pa-ved.You will be wandering why

patients, being ill people who,by definition, have a passiverole and “have patience” arenow to become expert patientsand to help their own selves,the other patients and, conse-quently, their families. In aword: their neighbours.Patient Advocacy is a term thatmeans protection, defence,support, which is, actions thatus patients can carry out forourselves and for other people.

The reason why the EuropeanCommunity realized patientshad to be advanced to the statusof co-stars of a medical-scientific process, especiallyfor what concerns research fornew drugs, is that “no expertis more expert than the patientherself/himself”.During the years, excludingthe patient, or diminishingher/his importance, has led theEuropean Community and its

organisation in thisfield -the EMA,European Medici-nes Agency- to ob-serve that conside-rable fortunes wereinvested in scientificresearch in condi-tions that were notoptimal, and thatwas because thepatient was an out-sider, a player whobenched and… wasjust patient!Whereas nowadays,people like me orlike many othermates coming frommany European

countries, have the ability toacquire knowledge, to study,to be selected and certified and,eventually, to say: “Here I am!I am here to find a new drugor to improve an existing one,to improve a new technologyfor the community of peoplewho share my problem”.

Monza, Saturday, March 23rd,2019

Fabiola and her husband Maurizio with Jaya in Lourdes

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OUR DIOCESE

PAOLO STARTS...FROM GEMMA

t is a date that we must keepin mind: May 12th, 2019,

Good Shepherd's Sunday.On this day the pastoral serviceof the new archbishop ofLucca, Paolo Giulietti, begins.

The press has already outlinedhis essential features. He co-mes from Perugia, where he isauxiliary bishop and collabo-

rator of Cardinal GualtieroBassetti, president of the CEI(Conferenza Episcopale Italia-na – Italian Episcopal Confe-rence) and guide of the regionalcapital of Umbria. The fact thatHis Excellency Monsignor Pa-olo Giulietti chose Good She-pherd’s Sunday as the startingday of his pastoral service intothe Diocese, is certainly no

accident.The image of the good she-pherd is a symbol that the Biblebears in many of its Scriptures.The application of this symbolto the Lord is evident, and inthe Letter to the Hebrews, it isexpressed very clearly.Hebrews 13, 21-2220 Now the God of peace, thatbrought again from the dead

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By the Editorial Staff

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our Lord Jesus, that great she-pherd of the sheep, through theblood of the everlasting cove-nant, 21 Make you perfect inevery good work to do his will,working in you that which iswellpleasing in his sight, throu-gh Jesus Christ; to whom beglory for ever and ever. Amen.I perfectly remember this pa-storal image being my favou-rite psalm, the 23rd, out of whi-ch a famous religious songwas then made; the songsays: “The Lord is myshepherd; I shall notwant… he leadeth me inthe paths o f r ight -eousness… thy rod and thystaff they comfort me…Yea, though I walk throughthe valley of the shadow ofdeath…”.This, in a way, is the"command " interpretationof the shepherd, but it isalways associated to theone of the "travel compa-nion" who "does not makeme fear no evil becauseyou are with me". Theshepherd is not the onewho first refreshes himselfbut, together with his flock,he uses the fruits of the oasisand, on the contrary, wiselymakes provisions and gathersflasks for the long periods oftranshumance and poverty.The good shepherd is the onewho lives for his flock, unlikethe mercenary who, when dan-ger arises, only tries to savehimself. No. Not the Shepherd.As the character Cardinal Fe-derigo Borromeo reminds us

in a memorable page of TheBetrothed, referring to thenewly converted Unnamed:“We will leave the ninety andnine sheep… they are in safetyon the mountain. I must nowremain with the one which waslost”. Surely Archbishop PaoloGiulietti will be equal to bethat good shepherd of whomthe Bible speaks.The first pieces of information

describe the new young arch-bishop (he just turned 55 yearsold) as a bishop "wearing hisshorts", considering his passionfor pilgrimages on foot: this ishow he had presented himselfto a General Audience by PopeFrancis, completely dressed asa scout, with the inevitableshorts, blue shirt and handker-chief. On this point, our Sanc-tuary has reason to rejoice be-

cause, on the very 12 May,before entering Lucca, the ar-chbishop will stop in the houseof Saint Gemma; that’s becau-se the new bishop will arrivein Lucca on pilgrimage withyoung people, passing by theVia Francigena, a road long 7kilometres by foot, startingfrom Capannori, the meetingplace for the departure at 2:00p.m., up to Lucca, with a stop

at Saint Gemma’s Sanc-tuary for a brief momentof prayer; from here hewill resume the path to theCathedral of Saint Martin.

We are very grateful to thenew Archbishop PaoloGiulietti for having chosenour Sanctuary, where theremains of an incredibleSaint like Gemma Galganirest. She wanted to be thebride of the CrucifiedJesus, for the conversionof all sinners, and she hada direct relationship withhim.We are sure that, beforeresuming his journey toLucca, Archbishop Giu-lietti will stop to pray,

kneeling before the body ofthe Saint. Dear Saint Gemma,we earnestly ask you to inspirePaolo to be that "good she-pherd" who John, in Chapter10, describes as one whoknows and loves his flock.If you have called him to you,before the beginning of hisservice, perfuse him with thelove you have given and rece-ived from our wonderful Jesus.

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ast March, on the 12th, the141st anniversary from

Saint Gemma Galgani’s birthwas celebrated.

As you might know, dear andaffectionate reader, on the verysame day we also celebratechildren. This year, too, there

Dates and events at the Sanctuary

GEMMA’S 141st BIRTHDAY

was a broad participation ofchildren, mothers, fathers andgrandparents, who did not missthis event, which, by now, isconsidered as important and ismarked on the calendar.While Father Giovanni, asusual, opened the doors of hisconfessional to those who

would take advantage of theoccasion to reconcile with theLord, Father Marco was busyfor the organization and thecelebration of over 250 chil-dren and about 500 adults.He was very skilled in catchingtheir attention by distributing

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By the Editorial Staff

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little hearts and by explainingto them that the most importantthing in the world comes fromthose very hearts, and that islove.As he always does, he took asimple but precise, syntheticpath to get to explain, eventhrough Gemma’s words, that

God is love, to quote the apo-stle John.Then it was the turn of amother, then that of a father,then that of a grandmother anda teacher: in turns, they wentto the ambo to read passagesfrom the Scriptures.A very pleasant celebration,

indeed, by now a tradition, theend of which took place in the“Sala del Pellegrino” (Roomof the Pilgrim), with a tastybuffet. It is a right thing thatimages, more than words, shallspeak, and we hope, dear rea-der, to see you next year amongthose present.

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SPIRITUALITY PAGES

t is a memory that I stillpreserve in the casket of my

heart, that of the two mostimportant celebrations of Chri-stianity: Christmas and Easter.As a very young kid, I likedChristmas the most, with itsmagical time: snow, maybe,and the fairy-tale landscape;the night falling allof a sudden in themiddle of the after-noon, leaving a coatof mystery; the in-termittent flashlightsof Christmas trees,projecting incredibleviews. And the na-tivity scene, with theasymmetrical butincredibly meanin-gful faces of the littleshepherds, the flockof sheep, the cave,nestled in the rock and moss;in the distance, Herod’sgloomy castle, which gave yougooseflesh…These are slides from a pasttime, a time that is nowadaysbeing lived by other children,who are loaded with an atmo-sphere –even climatic– whichmakes them dream.It takes time to understand that

EASTER TIME...

Easter, the Resurrection Sun-day of our Lord Jesus Christ,is the most important betweenthe two events. The realapotheosis, our hope, our faith,lies in there, as it is made clearin a most wonderful work, Ro-mans. But if the Spirit of himthat raised up Jesus from the

dead dwell in you, he that rai-sed up Christ from the deadshall also quicken your mortalbodies by his Spirit that dwel-leth in you. For as many as areled by the Spirit of God, theyare the sons of God. For yehave not received the spirit ofbondage again to fear; but yehave received the Spirit ofadoption, whereby we cry, Ab-

ba, Father. The Spirit itselfbeareth witness with our spirit,that we are the children of God.And if children, then heirs;heirs of God, and joint-heirswith Christ. (Romans 8, 11.14-17)Each and every of us remem-ber, from the first Sunday

school classes, theangel who, in theempty sepulchre,waited about, amongthe bendages thatwere once t iedaround Christ, thebendages of the wo-men who, early in themorning, the dayafter Saturday, hadcome to the sepul-chre with the spices.Carved in stones, buteven more in our

minds, those words still echo:

HE IS NOT HERE, FOR HEIS RISEN.A sentence which will be repe-ated century after century, andwhich will be the emblem ofthe whole evangelical message,of theology, of art. Jesus Christ,real God and real man, whoassimilated human condition

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By GIUSEPPE MILANI

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until the last terrible proof,death, but who, son of God, isrisen, bearing witness of hiscondition, that of our Lord,who came come to redeem usall. The Italian term for Easter,Pasqua, comes from the He-brew pesah, a term referred toa Jewish fesivity. It reminds usof the ritual of the veal, roastedwithout having its bones bro-ken; the bloodover the nomadcamping tents; theunleavened brea-ds; all famous ri-tuals in the cere-m o n i e s o ft r a n s h u m a n c eshepherds . InIsrael, Easter isthe celebration ofthe l iberat ionfrom oppression.In the New Te-stament, Easterand resurrectionare made explicitthrough the use oftwo verbs, whichis better to knowand adopt. Thefirst is eghéirein,which means “to awaken”. De-ath is seen as a sort of sleep,while life is seen as a state ofwakefulness. In the Greek tra-dition, the word used by theangel with the astonished wo-men is meaningful: eghérte=he is risen. The other Greekverb still gives us, figuratively,the precise idea of “rising toone’s feet”, and it is anistemi.It is a verb which reveals thepower of our Lord who, from

the shadow of death and fromthe ice-cold sepulchre, rises tohis feet, rises to heaven.Jesus’ story is paved withpeople who described him firstas a hero, then as a greatprophet or whatever. Nothingmore wrong: he is not a herowho dies, in the end, but, as afamous religious song says, heis

THE LIVING GODThat’s right, because, after hisdeath, he is still present in hi-story and, in the guise of amangled body, he allows theincredulous apostles to touchhim, in particular Thomas thesceptic; he meets his followerson a magic night, on the Roadto Emmaus. Before the naturalastonishment and fear of hisdisciples, Jesus is at pains totell them.

HANDLE ME, AND SEE;FOR A SPIRIT HATH NOTFLESH AND BONES, ASYE SEE ME HAVE.Thus, dear reader, Easter is afestivity; or better still, the fe-stivity of festivities. It is anevent that goes beyond history,although it took place in hi-story; an event that goesbeyond the limits of space and

time.Jesus rose to setus free from evil:we must lookupon him if wewant eternal life,too. Actual ly,talking about re-surrection, in ad-dition to the twoverbs we talkedabout before ,eghéirein andanistemi, there isa third one, rathermeaningful, to beproperly learnedas well. This verbis hypsoùn, whichmeans “to lift up”.Do you remem-ber? Jesus said

that: “When I am lifted up fromthe earth, I will draw everyoneto myself”.This is basically what we alsohave to do, to lift up, to riseabove human miseries, aboveour pure selfishness, above ourmostly wretched deficiencies,in order to fill ourselves withhim. Still, today is a great ce-lebration, as we were saying;life, this life, does not stophere…

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Dear Saint Gemma

Gemma, my friend, how manytimes have you comforted me,relieved me, cheered me up? Ifeel your love… I did not knowyou, yet you called me and Ifound that I was loved, youknow everything about me. Ithink about you every day, andI thank you for your protection.Talk with Jesus about me andprotect my children. Thankyou, Gemma. I love you.Antonietta

The Passionist Nuns introducedme to Saint Gemma… I wasgiven her diary, the book of hershort but intense life. The moreI read it, the more I understoodthat I had never been a goodChristian, that I had never doneanything for Jesus… and onecan only think that, in her holi-ness, Gemma felt as the worstof sinner, even though she didnot allow sin to come close toher… she was always carefuland always praying. She had adirect contact with the Lord,who also gave her thestigmata… That is why she wasmuch hated by the devil! DearSaint Gemma, I wish all theChristians were like you!Pina

TESTIMONIES AND PRAYERS FROM THEPILGRIMS VISITING THE SANCYUARY

Saint Gemma, my dear sister,for a long time I have not beenable to listen to your words,but one day you appeared inmy dreams. I was surroundedby flames and you, bright andbeautiful, prayed with me, andafter five Ave Marias, you tookme away from the darkness.From that day on, my life haschanged… I have changed. Ihave learned to pray with youand every day I pray the goodLord to protect my family, thesick and all the people who donot believe, so that they willbe able to find in yourself andin the Lord the path to salva-tion.Salvo, Agata e Valentina

I would like to give my testi-mony: I have been devoted toSaint Gemma since my chil-dhood because my maternalgrandfather, who was born inChile, was also devoted to her.My mother was named Gem-ma. I have lived in Italy forfive years, and I was born inVenezuela. I had two pregnan-cies in Italy and, when my chi-ldren were born, I went toLucca to give thanks to SaintGemma. I am now living inEngland and three years ago Igave birth to a girl who, at thetime of her birth, suffered frommeningitis. I fervently prayedSaint Gemma. She spent threedays in intensive care; we bap-tized her because we did notknow what would happen.The priest who baptized hersaw the image of Saint Gemmathat I had placed on her incu-bator, recognized her and toldme that Saint Gemma was theSaint of hospitalized children(I did not know this). The fol-lowing day my daughter wasdischarged from therapy. To-day, Martina Gemma is threeyears old. Two years ago, wewent to Lucca with her and wetook her to the Sanctuary.Anonymous

By FATHER MARCO CATORCIONI c.p.

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Dates and events at the Sanctuary

Passionist cenacle with SaintGemma GalganiOn the first Thursday of everymonth, at 9:00 p.m., we meetat the Sanctuary before theCorpus Christi, and we takeour requests and pleas to thealtar. We alternate silence,chants, simple symbolic gestu-res; that is how we adore ourLord, praise him, and invokethe Holy Spirit on those pre-sent.

Memory of the gift of the stig-mataOn the 8th of every month (oron the following Monday, ifthe 8th corresponds to a Satur-day or Sunday), we rememberin a special way Saint Gem-ma’s gift of the stigmata, whichshe received on the 8th of June1899: the house of the stigmatawill be open for visiting andpraying. At 6.30 p.m., the“Memory of the gift of thestigmata” will take place in the

Sanctuary, and it will includerosary and Mass.

Praying with and for familiesMoments of prayer and medi-tation open to everyone, witha special treatment for familieswith children, for which aservice of babysitting is avai-lable during the meetings.At the end of each encounter,we dine together with a “bringand share” meal.The theme of these encountersis “Master, teach us how topray”. You can find the timeta-ble of the encounters below:3rd encounter: Saturday, Mar-ch 30th, 2019, 7:00 p.m.4th encounter: Saturday, May18th, 2019, 7:00 p.m.5th encounter: Saturday, June15th, 2019, 7:00 p.m.

Padre Pio prayer group “VoltoSanto”

On the 3rd Wednesday of everymonth, the Padre Pio prayergroup “Volto Santo” fromLucca meets at the Sanctuaryat 4:00 p.m., to pray the holyrosary and for the EucharisticCelebration.

Useless Servants groupThey meet on the last Mondayof every month, at 9:00 p.m.,for Eucharistic Adoration.

Day of Saint Gemma’s deathOn April 11th, we rememberSaint Gemma’s birth in heavenduring the Eucharistic Celebra-tions at 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

Novena and Saint Gemma’s ce-lebrationFrom May 7th May 16th, wecelebrate the novena in ourSanctuary, in preparation forSaint Gemma’s celebration:every evening there is a rosarypraying at 4.45 p.m. and a HolyMass at 5:30 p.m., livened upby Lucca’s parishes.

The Saint’s Celebration is onMay 17th. Masses at 8:00 a.m.,10:30 a.m., 5:30 p.m.

By FATHER MARCO CATORCIONI c.p.

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Dates and events at the Sanctuary

IN YOUR HEART!Gemma’s words turn into music

mind for days… The childrenwere watching TV in the livingroom and I closed the kitchen’sdoor. In 10 minutes, the musicand the melody of the song Neltuo cuore (In your heart), whi-ch would also give the title tothe CD that our Lord gave us,were born. On that very night,I recorded the newborn songwith my mobile phone and sentit to David, a close friend ofmine, who I had met (and nowI can tell it was not by chance)thanks to Saint Gemma. A mu-tual musical understanding was

ucca, city centre. SantaMaria della Rosa Church.

A painting of the MercifulJesus that I stared at for severalminutes, because of a writingnext to it: “Jesus, I would likemy voice to get to the limits ofthe world, I would call all thesinners and I would tell themto enter your heart!”. I did notknow that this sentence wouldbecome like a worm in myhead and in my heart, until theday it became a song.If Gemma had wished her voi-ce to get to the limits of the

world, maybe there was so-mething I could do to help her.I am not a musician, nor do Iknow a lot of music, but Godgave me the ability to turn intomusic thoughts and feelingsthat rise from experiences andrelationships with the Lord andthose who live next to me…That is how the first song in-spired by the writings and lifeof Gemma Galgani was born.I still remember that night: Iwas at home with my kids; Itook my guitar because thosewords had been echoing in my

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By ROSARIO MELLONE

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born straight away betweenDavid and I… maybe becausehe is a real musician, a violinistof distinction.I sent him a message, askinghis opinion on the song, andasking if he could “frame” itwith the music of his violin. Ialso wanted to know his wife’sopinion, Floriana, an excellentsoprano, who could lend hervoice to Gemma. The result?The chant was ready in a fewdays and it was sang in theSanctuary during the Euchari-stic Celebration. What an emo-tion!!!This was only the beginningof our journey.New inspirations came littleby little, which turned Gem-ma’s words and life into songs.With time, more and morepeople showed their taste for“Gemma’s chants”. Manypeople told us they could prayin more intimate terms, thanksto them, someone even askedif they could record them…Why not do it ourselves? Whynot record our chants and putthem at the disposal of the

whole community of SaintGemma’s followers, not onlythose from Lucca? After all,this was Gemma’s wish: thather voice got to the limits ofthe world!Enthusiasm was, from the verybeginning, the major engine ofthis adventure. There weremany things to do, and we hadno experience in the field: wehad to deal with the SIAE (So-cietà Italiana Autori ed Editori- Italian Authors and PublishersAssociation), we had to find asound studio, improve thetracks, record them and releasethe CD.We did it, eventually. We pre-sented the CD at the Sanctuaryon a Saturday evening, and told

people the story of each track.It was a powerful emotion.Our prayer was, since the verybeginning, that of being justhumble tools in the hands ofGod, tools that could allowSaint Gemma to fulfil her dre-am; her voice will undoubtedlyget to the limits of the worldin the form of music and wor-ds, and the Monastery will beable to benefit from the earnin-gs of the CDs’ sales (for our-selves, we only ask prayers tothe nuns).With this service, we wish tobe a tool in God’s hands to helpGemma fulfil her dream. Withour music and our voices, wewish to help people pray andpraise, enjoying Saint GemmaGalgani’s spirituality and herlimitless love for the Lord.With our hearts filled with thehope that Gemma’s voice willget to the limits of the world,we thank God for having gran-ted us the privilege of playingand singing for Him, and wewish everyone a journey ofholiness with Jesus, Mary andGemma.

Un Messaggio daMadre Catherine Marie

Dear Friends of St. Gemma,

Greetings for a blessed Holy Week and Easter-tide! You and your loved ones will be held inour hearts and prayers during this holiest seasonof the Church year. We hope that you can attendas many of the Holy Week services as possible,to show Our Lord your gratitude for all He hasdone and suffered for love of us.Holy Week and Easter are a wonderful time togive public testimony to our faith, and to deepenour commitment to speak and act as the Father’sbeloved children in the midst of a world oftenhostile to Christianity.This may be the last time I will be writing toyou, for I have been elected Mother Presidentof our new Monastic Congregation of PassionistNuns’ monasteries throughout the world.We are now eagerly awaiting the arrival of Sr.Monica Graffinara, C.P. who will take up theleadership of the Lucca monastery after Easter.Sr. Monica has served as a formation directorboth in Loreto and in Malang, Indonesia.I know that you will make her feel as welcomein Lucca as you have made me feel.The friends of St. Gemma in Lucca and throu-ghout the word are certainly wonderful, faith-filled people.You will always remain in my prayers.I also want to thank you for your generousresponse to our appeals for financial assistance. We still have an urgent need to repair severalmeters of plaster facing just below the roof ofthe Santuario. Humidity has pulverized largeportions of plaster, exposing the brickworkunderneath. We need to repair this before moredeterioration occurs. So, I hope you will keepus in mind for your charitable offerings in2019! Every gift counts tremendously!Our prayers and gratitude extend to each andevery one of you, the friends of St. Gemma.

Mother Catherine Marie and the PassionistNuns of Lucca.

A Message fromMother Catherine Marie

Cari amici di Santa Gemma,

Auguri per una Settimana Santa e una Pasquapiena di benedizioni! Voi e i vostri cari saretenei nostri cuori e nelle nostre preghiere durantequesto tempo santo. Speriamo che possiatepartecipare il più possibile alle celebrazionidella Settimana Santa, per mostrare gratidudineal nostro Signore per tutto ciò che Lui ha fattoe sofferto per amore nostro. La Settimana Santae la Pasqua sono un tempo meraviglioso perdare pubblica testimonianza della nostra fede,e per approfondire il nostro impegno nel parlareed agire come figli amati del Padre in mezzoal mondo spesso ostile alla Cristianità. Questapotrebbe essere l’ultima volta che scrivo a voi,perché sono stata eletta Madre Presidente dellanuova Congregazione Monastica dei monasteridelle Suore Passioniste sparsi in tutto il mondo.Stiamo aspettando l’arrivo di Suor MonicaGraffinara, che prenderà la leadership del mo-nastero di Lucca dopo Pasqua. Suor Monicaha svolto il suo servizio come formatrice sia aLoreto che a Malang, Indonesia. So che voi lafarete sentire la benvenuta a Lucca come avetefatto sentire me. Gli amici di Santa Gemma aLucca e in tutto il mondo sono senza dubbiopersone meravigliose piene di fede.Sarete sempre nelle mie preghiere.Vi ringrazio anche per aver risposto generosa-mente al nostro appello di aiuto finanziario.Noi abbiamo ancora bisogno di riparare diversimetri di rivestimento sul tetto del santuario.L’umidità ha polverizzato gran parte di quelloprecedente, lasciando scoperti i mattoni.Abbiamo bisogno di ripararlo prima che subiscaulteriori danni. Così spero che ci ricordiatenelle vostre offerte e gesti di carità nel 2019!Ogni offerta, anche piccola, conta enormemen-te!La nostra preghiera e gratitudine si estende adognuno di voi, amici di Santa Gemma.

Madre Catherine e le suore passioniste di Lucca.

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