† St Gemma I The Gem of Christ

We can learn so much from Gemma, but perhaps the most important thing is the desire to love God with all our hearts. Gemma was not a person of half measures; she loved God with all of her being. Her heart was all on fire with the love of Jesus, and Jesus was everything to her. To know Saint Gemma is to love her. It is impossible to read her writings and not be touched by the fire of her extraordinary love for God, which she expresses so well in her diary, autobiography and letters. Just one example of her remarkable love for God would be the numerous times that the name of Jesus occurs in her writings. In fact, as one devoted biographer has pointed out, we find that the blessed name of Jesus occurs 1,982 times in Gemma's ecstasies and 1475 times in her letters and 181 times in her autobiography.

So, let us learn from Gemma to "love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength." (Mark 12:30)

"She bore in her flesh the wounds of Christ" -Pope Pius XI

On devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary:
"Oh, how I love my Mother! She knows it; and then Jesus Himself gave Her to me, and told me to love Her very much. And what great kindness this Heavenly Mother has always shown me! What would have become of me, if I have not had Her? She has always helped me in my spiritual wants; She has preserved me from countless dangers; She has freed me from the hands of the devil who was ceaselessly com­ing to attack me; She pleaded my cause with Jesus when I sinned, and She soothed Him when I moved Him to anger by my wicked life; She has taught me to know Him and to love Him, to be good and to please Him. Ah, my dear Mother, I will love Thee always and forever!"

Attacks by the devil:
"....Today I thought I was to be entirely free from that nauseous animal, and instead he has knocked me about greatly. I had gone to bed with the full intention of sleeping, but it turned out otherwise. He began to beat me with such blows that I feared I would die. He was in the shape of a big black dog, and he put his "paws" on my shoulders, hurting me greatly. I felt it so much in all my bones that I thought that they were broken. Also, when I was taking holy water he wrenched my arm so violently that I fell to the floor from the pain. The bone was dislocated, but went back into place because Jesus touched it for me, and all was remedied."