Gemma Galgani

Saint Gemma Galgani (born March 12, 1878 in Camigliano, Italy, died April 11, 1903) is a Catholic saint who was canonized by Pope Pius XII on May 2, 1940.

She was the daughter of a poor pharmacist and suffered throughout her life with ill health. She was unable to finish her schooling and therefore was not accepted to become a Passionist nun. At age 20, she fell developed meningitis and attributed her recovery from the disease to prayers to Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Gemma was orphaned shortly after she turned 18, making her financially responsible for the upbringing of her younger siblings, which she did with her aunt. She denied marriage proposals and became, instead, a housekeeper with the Giannini family. According to her legend, she began to display signs of the stigmata in 1899, when she was twenty-one. She stated that she had spoken to her guardian angel. She was well-known in the Catholic community of Lucca even before her death, and was nicknamed "The Virgin of Lucca".

In early 1903, Gemma was diagnosed with tuberculosis and died not long after, in a small room next to the Giannini house. She was beatified in 1933 and canonized in 1940. Today, her relics are housed at the Passionist monastery in the city of Lucca, in Italy.

As one of the most popular saints of the Passionist order, the devotion to Gemma Galgani is particularly strong in Italy and Latin America. She is a patron saint of students (she was said to be atop of her class before having to retire) and of pharmacists.