Although Gemma was not a Passionist in the canonical sense, she desired to be and God raised her up as a true paradigm for those who desire to follow St Paul of the Cross. She is one of the most popular saints of the Passionist Congregation. Devotion to Gemma is particularly strong both in Italy and Latin America.

St. Maria Goretti was born of a poor peasant family in Corinaldi, Italy, in 1890.  She was well known to her neighbors for her cheerfulness and piety. When she was twelve, a vicious stranger burst upon her, bent on raping her and destroying her childlike purity.  With splendid courage she surrendered herself to God and preferred to die rather than to lose her virginity.

Led away as if they were criminals, the Passionist religious left the church. No one thought about running from death.  All remained faithful to the Lord. After praying and receiving the Eucharist, the Passionists of Daimiel, felt that they were strengthened and prepared to confront their passion and to completely drink the chalice that the heavenly Father had prepared for them.

When he was twenty-one, Dominic received the first direct inkling of what the Lord's plans for his future might be. He writes: "One of these days (I think it was one of the last of the year 1813) as I was saying my prayers, the idea came to me that God wanted me to be a priest, and that I was to go and bring the light of the Gospel to a foreign nation."

As a Passionist, Vincent was a man of prayer and community observance. He was also a zealous and effective missionary preacher. He helped to develop the methodology for Passionist missionary preaching and also exercised roles of authority and leadership in the congregation. As biographer of the founder he did much to preserve St. Paul’s spirit for future generations.

In 1934 the Christian Brothers at the school in Turon asked him to come and hear the confessions of the children of the school. At dawn on Friday October 5th 1934 militiamen forced their way into the Brothers' school. Alongside the Brothers, Father Inocencio was imprisoned, condemned to death, and executed by a firing squad, their bodies buried in a common grave.

“The world lives unmindful of the sufferings of Jesus which are the miracle of miracles of the love of God. We must arouse the world from its slumber.” And so Paul did through thousands of letters he wrote and sermons he preached. Traveling even to marshlands infested with malaria, Paul taught people how to pray and meditate upon the suffering and death of Jesus.

God raised up Fr. Charles just at the time when Ireland was coming out of the catacombs of 300 years of Protestant persecution.  Fr. Charles was a humble man of God who came into the midst  of the discouraged, poor and down-trodden Irish people.  He performed signs and wonders, giving them new hope that God did care about their afflictions and was still in their midst. 

While seeing the highly honored miraculous picture of our Lady in Spoleto borne about in solemn procession, Francis felt the fire of divine love rising in his heart and almost at once made the resolve to join the Passionists, a religious congregation dedicated to the veneration of and meditation on the passion of Jesus Christ.

Although Gemma was not a Passionist in the canonical sense, she desired to be and God raised her up as a true paradigm for those who desire to follow St Paul of the Cross. She is one of the most popular saints of the Passionist Congregation. Devotion to Gemma is particularly strong both in Italy and Latin America.