This chapter presents a feminist hermeneutics of Gemma Galgani’s life and writings, examining her experiences and management of suffering within a cultural philosophy of pain. By expanding beyond categories of sanctity and hysteria, Galgani navigated extreme physical and mental suffering through performative and creative religious sublimation, linking pain with divine love. She uniquely constructed her holiness, seemingly born to it —a process that the Catholic Church later glorified—, revealing the flexible nature of sanctity. However, the essay highlights a tension: the living female body, the person, and the hagiographic character do not fully align. These discrepancies reveal the complexity and richness of the ascetic-mystic feminine self and its strategies for self-affirmation within a patriarchal context.
University of Oviedo, Spain - ORCID: 0000-0001-8764-6549
Chapter Title
Gemma Galgani: performing suffering and love
Authors
Noelia Bueno Gómez
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1072-0.06
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
Pain fragments
Book Subtitle
Practising Catholicism in the 19th and 20th centuries
Editors
Tine Van Osselaer, Leonardo Rossi, Kristof Smeyers, Maria Heidegger
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
184
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1072-0
ISBN Print
979-12-215-1071-3
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-1072-0
eISBN (epub)
979-12-215-1073-7
Series Title
Fragmentaria. Studi di storia culturale e antropologia religiosa
Series ISSN
2975-1217
Series E-ISSN
2975-1225