As we know, light combats and defeats darkness, and the saints are human beings who shine with the light of God. That is why the devil does not leave them in peace: the stronger the light, the more furious the darkness, because Satan, the rebellious angel, would like to extinguish that light, which is a reflection of God and bears witness to his love.

The Devil and the Saints

That is why in the lives of the saints we often find episodes that testify to their struggle against Satan; many of them had to confront Satan’s wrath: to mention just a few, Saint Anthony of Padua, according to tradition, disturbed by the presence of the evil one during prayer, drove him away by tracing a sign of the cross that remained engraved on the marble floor. The Saint addressed Satan as a «rabid dog», a shedder of innocent blood.

In more recent times, Saint Pio of Pietrelcina had to struggle fiercely against the devil. The account he gives of an encounter with Satan during a confession is particularly powerful: «One morning, while I was hearing confessions from men, a tall, slender gentleman appeared before me, dressed with a certain refinement and with courteous, gracious manners. This stranger knelt down and began to confess his sins, which were of every kind against God, against his neighbor, and against morality: all outrageous.

Something struck me. Despite all the accusations, even after my admonition, which I made by citing as evidence the word of God, the Church’s magisterium, and the morality of the saints, this enigmatic penitent countered my words by justifying, with extreme skill and the most refined courtesy, every kind of sin, stripping it of any malicious intent and at the same time trying to make all sinful acts seem normal, natural, and humanly indifferent. […] Asking myself inwardly, I said: “Who is this man? What world does he come from? Who can he possibly be?” And I tried to look closely at his face, to see whether I might read something in its features; at the same time, I strained my ears to catch every word he uttered, so that none would escape me and I could weigh them in their full significance. At a certain point, through a vivid and brilliant inner light, I clearly perceived who was standing before me. And in a firm and imperious tone I said to him: “Say, Long live Jesus, long live Mary”. As soon as these sweetest and most powerful names were spoken, Satan vanished instantly in a flash of fire, leaving behind an unbearable, suffocating stench.”

Saint Gemma and her open struggle against Chiappino

The struggle that Saint Gemma, a girl from Lucca who was in love with Jesus, had to endure against the devil was particularly harsh; she called him, mockingly, derisively, and contemptuously, Chiappino.
Gemma's life is full of suffering, but at the same time it is full of light, because she knew how to live united with Christ. Born on March 12, 1878, in the province of Lucca, she is soon left motherless and then experiences a series of bereavements until she is left alone and destitute. Her life is also marked by an illness that confines her to bed, partially paralyzed. During this period, she reads the biography of Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, the Saint of the smile, which deeply affects her. She then invokes Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque and, after a novena, is healed.

The young Gemma feels the desire to consecrate herself to the Lord, but because of her health she cannot lead a cloistered life. Nevertheless, she immerses herself in contemplation of Jesus Crucified. On June 8, 1899, she receives the stigmata. Her mystical life is also powerfully expressed in her conversations with Jesus, Mary, her guardian angel, and Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, recorded in her writings: Diary and Autobiography.

The devil tries every way to wear Gemma down and extinguish her light: he manifests himself to her in various forms, tries to deceive her and take away her inner peace, and even goes so far as to try to burn her writings. The struggle Gemma wages is an open, fearless one, because Gemma knows that in reality it is the devil who is afraid of her and of her light, which comes from Jesus.

Shalom Publishing has just published a book (coming in early May) - entitled Saint Gemma and the Devil - in which Father Tito Paolo Zecca gives us the opportunity to learn about every act in this years-long confrontation between Saint Gemma Galgani and the devil, allowing us to witness firsthand the struggle between light and darkness.

The stories of the saints who struggled against the devil and, in particular, the story of Saint Gemma teach us that the devil can do nothing against us if we remain firmly anchored in Jesus: he defeated Satan once and for all, and his light has overcome every darkness.