Camille Gross: Saint Gemma Galgani 24 April

        I am Catholic and saints are a big part of our religion. Most people do not understand why but I’m not here to explain. I’ll talk about my favorite saint to read about; Saint Gemma Galgani. She was an incredible figure. 4 of her 7 siblings died due to tuberculosis and had to raise the remainder of her siblings at the age of 18.
Gemma began displaying signs of the stigmata at the age of 21. She claimed to speak to Jesus, Mary, and Gabriel and received messages from them about future events. She prayed for the stigmata to disappear and it did. She would be found levitating as well. Some believe she suffered from mental illness but others, like her spiritual director, defended her and the director went on to write about her.
When I was confirmed, I used her name to become Camille Labate Gemma Galgani Gross. The reason why I felt mesmerized by her story is because it was so different from other stories about the saints. Seeing visions and messages of Jesus, Mary, and other religious figures seems typical among the saints but the fact that she had the stigmata and levitated was absolutely fascinating and unique. Sometimes she is called “Daughter of Passion” because she went through events similar to “Passion of Christ.”

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