I Will Be Your Mother (II)

Although Gemma, now in perfect health, desired to be a consecrated nun, God had other plans for her. On June 8, 1899, after receiving communion, Our Lord let His servant know that on the same evening He would give her a very great grace. Gemma went home and prayed. She fell into ecstasy and experienced a great remorse for sin. Our Lady, to whom Gemma was strongly devoted, appeared to her and said, "My son Jesus loves you beyond measure and wishes to give you a grace. I will be your mother. Will you be my true child?" Then Mary opened her mantle and covered Gemma with it. During the remainder of Gemma's life, several people, including eminent members of the Church, noticed that Gemma was stigmatized and that blood came from her hands in great abundance. Like Saint Francis of Assisi and more recently Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, Saint Gemma too can say: "Let no man harm me, for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body." Gemma Galgani was canonized on May 2, 1940, by Pope Pius XII, only thirty-seven years after her death.