St. Gemma was born near Lucca in Tuscany in 1878; orphaned at 18 she entered domestic service. She wanted to be a Passionist Nun but was rejected because of her state of health (she had tuberculosis of the spine). Between 1899 and 1901 she experienced on herself, as did St. Francis of Assisi, the stigmata of Christ and received visions of Christ and the Blessed Virgin. When in a mystical state her voice changed, but her spiritual messages were comprehensible and were recorded by many. She died in 1903. She was canonised in 1941, not as a visionary, but as an example of holy obedience and patience in personal physical suffering. In 1943 her correspondence with her spiritual director, a Passionist father, was published and revealed more fully some of the privileged mysteries of her soul.