CHAPTER XI

1899–1903

Gemma’s Mode of Life in her New Home

LET US look at Gemma more closely in her new home. On account of want of space in the house she had sometimes to sleep in the room of one of the girls, or in that of her adopted mother, whom to avoid confusion we shall call “Aunt.”

Gemma with ineffable tenderness used to call her “Mamma Mia.” All the belongings she brought with her were, a little linen, two dresses and a hat. Nor would she ever accept anything more, as we shall be better able to show when we come to speak of her detachment. Jesus was enough for her, and Jesus engaged the greater and better part of her day.

In the morning she rose without delay. She slept very little, if at all, and when she noticed that her Aunt was awake she got up at once. In less than five minutes she managed to dress, wash, do her hair, and with her hat on was ready to go out to church. At that hour she attended to nothing else, no matter what other important matters might be going on about her. She did not even speak a word to anyone. She wished the first fruits of the day to be for Jesus, and accordingly by agreement with Aunt, who was of the same mind, she rose before day when all the others, being asleep, had no need of her. She went to one of the nearest churches and generally heard two masses, one in preparation for her Daily Communion (which she never omitted) and the other in thanksgiving. An hour’s prayer was indeed little for this fervent, soul, who would gladly have remained in church in communion with her God all day. On no occasion however did she show the least objection to being called away too soon; and at the very first sign to leave, even when in ecstasy, as was generally the case, she returned to herself and silently followed her Aunt towards home. On entering the house she immediately set to work to help the grown girls and the servants with the younger children, dressing them, and joining in their prayers. Then to gain time she usually took in hand something she could do while moving about and thus engaged she was to be seen here and there, wherever her presence was needed.

While at school she had learned to embroider and do other kinds of fashionable work to perfection. Yet she always avoided occupying herself in this way as she thought it was little less than vanity and loss of time. She preferred mending, darning, knitting and other less showy work, that needed more patience and was much more useful in such a large family. She never hesitated to take part in the most servile works of the house, although accustomed from her infancy to be served by others. She would draw water from the well, help the maids to clean the rooms, wash up the kitchen things and assist the cook to prepare the meals. She gladly took on herself the entire care of anyone who was sick in the house, and she saw to whatever was needed during the whole time of the sickness.

One of the servants fell ill with pustules of a repulsive nature on her legs. Gemma at once was to the fore, and without making any distinction between servants and others, set about attending to her as if she herself was the last and least among the servants. She did all the cleansing about the sick room, and washed and on her knees bandaged those purulent sores. And although the sick woman, who was of odd and irritable temperament, instead of gratitude, heaped reproaches and abuse on her little nurse, even so far as to say that she disgusted her and must leave her bedside, still the Angelic servant of God did not desist but redoubled her care, seeking always new ways of contenting the sufferer.

If left to herself she would have found occupations all day long in various employments of this kind without ever resting. But her adopted mother would not allow it. Gemma had come into their home, not as a servant, but to be a consolation and a bright example to the whole family. Hence having allowed her to do quite as much as any of the others she wished her to desist, and used to say: “Now let me enjoy my Gemma,” and with these words she would take her away to her work-room or into the open air, allowing her to continue her knitting or needlework.

Their conversation generally turned on the affairs of the soul and on Jesus. They talked of the Communion of the morning; of the mystery or feast of the day; of the longing for heaven. On such occasions this observant friend used to lay innocent snares in order to draw out Gemma’s spiritual secrets. Having first set her soul on fire by fervent words, she followed up with numerous questions dexterously put so as to extract from her the lights received and resolutions made at Holy Communion, as well as what had happened during her ecstasy and so on.

I had instructed her to act thus; and in this way it pleased Our Lord to make known to us many extraordinary things that without this device would never have been revealed. The conversation was always new, although from early morning till late at night it occupied all the intervals of their free time, and never caused them the least tedium or weariness.

When however it happened that the good lady had to absent herself for some time, or that others came to take her place, Gemma seized the first opportunity and quietly withdrew. She then betook herself to the solitude of her room, or to the domestic chapel, there to continue her work and at the same time more easily to commune with God in prayer. Thus these two souls passed their days, and this, seems to me almost a miracle when I consider the vast amount of work that her household cares entailed on this lady. She was kept on foot and occupied nearly all day without time to rest; yet while omitting none of her duties she was able to spend long intervals with her beloved adopted child.

“With Gemma at my side,” she used to say, “I rest, I find myself refreshed, and no longer feel the weight of my work, nor the bitterness of disagreeables. And then she was wont to add: “What account shall not I have to give to God, if I don’t value the treasure He has given me, in this Angelic creature, and profit thereby for my soul’s good!”

And as this lady thought, so likewise thought all the other members of the family, as well on the first day they came to possess Gemma as on the last when heaven took her from them. The mother of that family bears testimony by letter as follows:

“Of our Gemma I have only to say, that the most extraordinary and wonderful things continue more and more to happen to her; and when I look at her I seem to behold in her something that is not of this world. What a happiness to have lived thus with such an angel! A world of things would not be enough to give you an idea of what goes on in her. She is an angel in human form, and that expresses all.”

That venerable Priest D. Laurence Agrimonti spoke in his turn thus:

“To know and to admire this dear child, so adorned with virtue and rich in the gifts of God, was one and the same thing. I was charmed by her extraordinary ingenuousness, which seemed almost to challenge her more than ordinary intelligence. Full of admiration I observed her continually, and during the whole time that she was in our house I had constant opportunities of remarking not only her scrupulous exactness in every duty, but also her denial of her own will and her exercise of every virtue.

“Her virtues were practiced with such promptness, diligence and calmness, that they seemed to have become part of her nature. I admired in particular her spirit of recollection and union with God. Even in the midst of domestic occupations of the most distracting kind she was always seen as if absorbed in God, and in continual meditation. This did not hinder her from attending with great care to whatever she was doing. The fervor of her piety seemed to radiate from her person, especially from her eyes which she was wont to keep modestly downcast. Indeed I must confess that on her glancing at me I felt so impressed that I could not look her in the face.”

Those were his words, and after having added many other things in his long deposition he concluded as follows:

“Oh! what a great grace it has been for me to have known this privileged soul. God only knows the comfort it brought to my heart! I feel now and must ever continue to feel the influence of those angelic ways, that more than ever became evident during the time of my sickness. I was astonished at her vigilance, her promptitude, and her precautions; they had in them a something truly maternal.”

Another most worthy Priest made similar declarations. He was a friend of the family and often visited them. The reader will be pleased to see part of his evidence also:

“The modesty, the luminous simplicity, that one reads in her countenance,” so he goes on, “made a most grateful impression on me. And although I often came in contact with her, yet I could not find in her the smallest imperfection. If she had to treat with others she did not seem in the least put out, but full of a natural affability that revealed the beauty of her innocent soul.

“Her words were few and in answer only to the questions that were asked her. I never heard her speak of herself or of her doings. And while knowing well that she had a most delicate conscience and a beautiful soul, all intent on loving God, I should never have thought that she was so far advanced in sanctity.”

Gemma came to the family table, morning and evening. But you would have said that she did so rather for form’s sake than for any other reason. Her food was scarcely a few ounces in weight. When she had taken a spoonful or two of broth, she rose on some good pretext and went into the kitchen, but returned in a short time to taste in the same way of some other food. Thus she left the table almost fasting. She then withdrew to her room, leaving the others to chat among themselves as was their custom.

She never sought or accepted restoratives of any kind in the course of the day, although they were frequently offered her. Nothing ever induced her to go for a walk, and the others, knowing how she disliked it, never pressed her to join them. But she used to go in the evening to the church for Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, a devotion largely practiced in the devout city of Lucca.

At home it seemed as if Gemma was not in the house. Her voice or her laugh was never heard. She never was seen to run or fuss about, although by reason of her ardent temperament it would be natural for her to move with vivacity. When strangers made their appearance she disappeared, as much to leave the family free, as to avoid distractions in listening to conversations that were of no interest to her. In this particular, she was so exact and scrupulous that at the end of four years, it may be said, that she hardly knew one of the many visitors who frequented the house; nor even anything of what was going on. When she heard people talking, she paid no attention to what they said.

This angelic girl also found great satisfaction in exercising charity to the poor, of which we have seen her give proof in her father’s prosperous days. She was continually asking Aunt for leave to put by whatever was left in the kitchen, in order to give it to the poor. Whenever she heard the door-bell ring, she thought it might be some poor person, and if the door was not quickly opened, she would ask to be allowed to answer the call. She would hasten to the door, and almost invariably on such occasions some poor needy one was there. Then as if she had found some treasure, she made the poor soul come in and sit down, while she all contentment went to select the best from her little store. This she brought and presented with great grace, and sitting down beside this member of Christ Our Lord, she began at once to catechize and talk of holy things:

“Have you heard Mass this morning? How long is it since you went to the Sacraments? Do you always say your prayers morning and night? Do you ever think of all that Jesus has suffered for us?” By such questions as these, she sought with great tact to insinuate salutary thoughts of faith, devotion and resignation into the hearts of the sufferers, who thus restored in body and spirit went away contented. Her Aunt, who was well aware of those pious tactics, often watched her secretly and, to her great satisfaction, beheld her saintly child full of animation and her countenance all aglow.

It happened that coming on Gemma unawares she heard her say: “And am not I also poor? Jesus has taker everything from me, and yet He lets me want for nothing. Indeed I am too well provided for; then why should the other poor ones want what is necessary?” Returning to the same idea she once said to her Aunt: “What you do for me, remember that you ought to do it as for a beggar that you would meet in the street; otherwise there would be no merit in it.”

Here I ought to call attention to Gemma’s great gratitude towards her benefactors. It was simple, uniform, and devoid of compliment; nevertheless what was in her heart was clearly read in her countenance.

“My God,” she used to exclaim when alone, “how shall I be able to correspond to all they do for me? I don’t. even know how to thank them; I am so uncultivated and ignorant. See to it You, O my God. Make them prosper, and repay them a hundredfold for all they do for me. If any misfortune is about to befall them, let it fall on me instead.”

At other times turning to this or that one of the family, with a voice full of affection she used to say: “Don’t regret having to exercise your patience with me a little longer. I won’t forget you with Jesus; when I am with Him, I will always pray for you.” From these words it is easy to see that this favored child although she knew how much she was loved, and realized the exquisite care with which she was treated, yet felt keenly the humiliation of her position, and in a manner was ashamed of it.

So resigned was she notwithstanding to the will of God, that she calmly awaited His. dispositions regarding herself and all that concerned her. She knew so well how to hide her feelings, that no one ever became aware of the pain she felt at her family reverses. “I turn to my heart,” she wrote to her director. “Jesus is owner of my heart and, being in possession of Jesus, I find that I can smile, even in the midst of so many tears. I feel, yes, I feel that I am happy even in the midst of so many discomforts.”

The prayers of this faultless child for her benefactors deeply touched the Heart of God, and moved Him to be most. bounteous in rewarding them. Hence she was able to exclaim when writing to me: “O Jesus, if you only knew how He helps them; He blesses them every moment; He withdraws them from danger.”

Once the mother of the family fell seriously ill with internal, spasmodic pains that made the doctors speak, unfavorably of her chances of recovery. Gemma was deeply grieved, and asked her Jesus that she instead might suffer those pains. Here are the words she used in telling me of it: “I have taken on myself those pains you know of, that the Mother of these children was suffering. They are indeed fierce pains, and I really don’t know what is going to happen to me.”

The lady in fact got well in an instant, and poor Gemma, for many months, suffered a long martyrdom that brought her to death’s door. Meanwhile God was bringing about His own divine ends in this chosen soul. He willed to make her pass by most wonderful ways, and to be singularly glorified in her, not only in secret, but by manifest signs and wonders. In fact during the course of the four years, that she dwelt in the house of her loving benefactors, all the marvelous phenomena that we shall have to relate came to light. Now, if she had been in her own house, how difficult it would have been to deal with such phenomena.

There was no one there able to attend to her, guide her, and hide her from the curiosity of the profane. Gemma herself was so persuaded of this that she trembled at the bare idea of returning to her own home, even for a day. On the other hand, she found herself better off in the house in which God willed her to be received than if she were in a convent. All members of the family from the first to the last were most religious Catholics. The lady who adopted Gemma, herself far advanced in the ways of the soul, could easily understand the secrets of her child’s inner life, and be of the greatest help to her. Prudent likewise beyond measure, she knew well how to ward off every inconvenience and those occasions of gossip that are never wanting when there is question of extraordinary events, more especially if of the supernatural order.

And, as a matter of fact she succeeded. In the midst of a numerous family, largely engaged in commerce, Gemma lived comparatively unnoticed, and the special gifts with which heaven enriched her remained known only to her confessors and spiritual directors. How good Our Lord is in the exercise of His providence!

And here I turn to you most well-deserving family, refuge of this Gem of Heaven, and with an overflowing heart thank you on the part of that same God, Whom you intended to honor by benefiting His faithful servant.