St. Gemma Galgani, 1878-1903, Lucca, Italy
For ten years, "Valerie" was deep into the occult. She visited houses of witchcraft, pagan temples, and attached herself to gurus and pagan deities. By the grace of God, she had a powerful experience of Christ and realized how evil it all was. But the path back has been tortuous...
These witches, gurus and demons are not letting her go without a fight. Demons of divination typically are dug in deep and hard to expunge. They are attacking and tormenting Valerie daily. But after weekly deliverance sessions for a year, she is much better. She is starting to emerge from the mental darkness and spiritual lethargy that increasingly engulfed her in the occult. She now has more moments of light and peace.
Valerie recently had a "dream." She told me she saw a huge Catholic shrine. On one side of the building was the word: "Pray." On the other side was the word: "Rosary." She took this as a clear sign that she should pray the rosary daily, which she is now doing.
She was also given the sure knowledge that this shrine was in an Italian town called Lucca. Valerie told me she never heard of Lucca and knew "zero" about it. So, she went online and found that it was the home of St. Gemma Galgani. St. Gemma herself regularly suffered "furious assaults of the devil on her body and her soul, so fiendish and continuous that she imagined herself possessed and begged to be exorcized."* The body of St. Gemma is currently interred in the Passionist monastery-sanctuary of St. Gemma in Lucca.
St. Gemma has been a huge help to Valerie on her road to spiritual recovery. Valerie even claims that St. Gemma woke her up on Easter Sunday to attend Mass when she was in danger of over-sleeping. She said, "When I woke up, I was filled with an enormous love for Jesus in my heart. I knew this was a special grace." Likewise, St. Gemma was noted for being filled with a pure, child-like love for Jesus.
Valerie also said that whenever she sees a picture of beautiful Gemma and prays for her help, the demons react strongly. She said they "hate" her and have a "pure disgust" for her. The demons tormenting Valerie make her feel like "vomiting" whenever St. Gemma is invoked. They shout, "Keep that woman away from me!"
Demons hate Gemma. We love her!
*The Saint Gemma Galgani Collection [4 books], Catholic Way Publishing, 2013, p. 28.