Saint Gianna Beretta Molla

Gianna Beretta Molla was born in Magenta in 1922, the tenth of the thirteen children of Alberto and Maria. She was a child of average ability, but she achieved much through daily diligence. She completed her medical studies. Though focused on her studies, she never neglected daily Holy Mass and prayer. Her surviving notes from this period reveal a great maturity of faith and a sense of responsibility for every word.

In 1951 she met the engineer Pietro Molla for the first time, by chance; four years later she married him.

She loved with her whole being, unconditionally. In one of her letters she wrote: “Pietro, I want to be for you the strong woman of the Gospel.” She knew how important it is for spouses to pray together and to take part in Holy Mass. She and her husband were hardworking people, yet cheerful and happy. They were marked by reliability and honesty. They tried to spend as much time together as possible. They went hiking in the mountains and skiing, and they enjoyed concerts and theater performances.

Saint Gianna followed the latest fashion trends. She was an elegant woman and took care with her clothes. During her last pregnancy she asked her husband, who had gone to Paris on business: “Bring me fashion magazines. When I’ve had Giannina, I want to look nice.” She loved music and painted pictures. For all her feminine gentleness, she had a strong character. She could climb with an ice ax in hand, and she reached the summit of Mont Blanc several times. She was an excellent physician. She could drive a car, which was not common among women in those days.

A year after the wedding, Pierluigi was born. Maria Zita came into the world in 1957, and Laura two years later. In September 1961, toward the end of the second month of a pregnancy, it was found that a fibroma had developed in Gianna’s uterus, threatening the child and the mother’s life. Despite medical indications for terminating the pregnancy, Gianna decided to carry it to term. She was aware of the danger. From the outset she firmly insisted that the child’s life be saved at all costs. The operation to remove the fibroma succeeded and the child could grow without hindrance, but the mother’s health deteriorated. On April 20, 1962, Good Friday, Gianna arrived at the hospital. The next morning she gave birth to a healthy baby girl, but she herself entered her final agony. A week later, on April 28, 1962, she died.

After her death, her husband said: “To understand her decision, one must remember her deep conviction, as a mother and as a physician, that the child she was carrying was a being with the same rights as her other children, even though only two months had passed since it was conceived.”

John Paul II beatified Gianna on April 24, 1994, during the International Year of the Family, and canonized her on May 16, 2004. Among those present at the solemn Mass were Gianna’s husband and her youngest daughter, Gianna Emanuela, who is now a physician in Milan.