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St. Gianna Beretta Molla is one of the most endearing saints of our time. We are charmed, and even startled, to encounter a saint in family photos and wedding photos so like our own. As a wife, mother, pediatrician, and simply a layperson living in the world, she shared many of our experiences. She feels indescribably close to us. Drawn in by her relatability, we are inspired by her profound faith and selfless courage.
On April 28, 1962, St. Gianna Molla submitted her soul to God, leaving behind her beloved husband Pietro and four children, including her week-old daughter.1 Amidst this cross, coupled with intense physical agony, St. Gianna found her strength in God. The words, “Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you,” became the drumbeat of her final struggle.2
The months prior and during her final pregnancy foreshadowed this heroic courage and ability to look beyond the self. Having been diagnosed with a dangerous fibroma of the uterus, St. Gianna declined both an abortion and a hysterectomy out of respect for the life of her unborn child.3 She and her husband opted for an operation removing the tumor only, hoping to preserve both mother and child.4 Throughout the risk-haunted pregnancy and leading up to the birth, St. Gianna’s priorities were unwavering. She told her beloved husband,
“If you must decide between me and the child, do not hesitate: choose the child – I insist on it.”5
For St. Gianna, the capacity to cooperate with God’s grace in such immense ways— to show love in the face of suffering and selflessness in the face of fear—was the fruit of a lifetime of attentiveness to God’s will. As she herself quipped, St. Gianna quipped, “One earns Paradise with one’s daily task.”6 As a young woman, she dedicated herself to the lay apostolates of Catholic Action and the St. Vincent de Paul Society.7
She served God and her patients as a caring pediatrician, treating them with dignity and genuine compassion.
She flourished in her vocation as wife and mother; with all the little sacrifices it entails.
Her vision for family life is perhaps best summarized in St. Gianna’s own words to her husband: “With God’s help and blessing we will do our best to make our new family a little Cenacle where Jesus reigns over all our affections, desires, and actions… We will become collaborators with God in His creation, and so we will be able to give Him children that love and serve Him…”8
In St. Gianna Molla, we encounter the intersection between our ordinary experiences and extraordinary virtue. She invites us to participate in God’s redemptive work so that we can become, like her, fully alive.
At the St. Gianna Center, we honor our patron’s legacy and strive to emulate her virtues.
In teaching the Creighton Model FertilityCare System, we recall her commitment to the dignity of each person, the holiness of marriage and family life, and the precious ultimate gift of life itself. We ponder the saint whose story was acclaimed by St. John Paul II as “a real song to life.”9
Submitted by Margaret Sadasivan FCP
Bibliography
The Given Institute. “St. Gianna Beretta Molla.” https://giveninstitute.com/saint_stories/st-gianna-beretta-molla/
Kettner, Lindsey. Relevant Radio. “5 Inspirational St. Gianna Molla Quotes.” April 28, 2018, https://relevantradio.com/2018/04/5-inspirational-saint-gianna-molla-quotes/.
Pentin, Edward. National Catholic Register. “The Daughter of a Saint Speaks of her Mother’s Holiness.” September 12, 2011, https://www.ncregister.com/news/the-daughter-of-a-saint-speaks-of-her-mothers-holiness.
One Small Rose. “Saint Spotlight: Gianna Beretta Molla.” April 23, 2020. https://onesmallrose.com/2020/04/23/saint-spotlight-gianna-beretta-molla/#:~:text=She%20loved%20being%20a%20mother%20and%20focused,family’s%20needs%2C%20especially%20the%20children’s%20spiritual%20formation.
Vatican. “St. Gianna Beretta Molla (1922-1962), homily St. John Paul II.” https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20040516_beretta-molla_en.html.
1 “St. Gianna Beretta Molla (1922-1962), homily St. John Paul II,” Vatican, https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20040516_beretta-molla_en.html.
2 Vatican, “St. Gianna Beretta Molla (1922-1962), homily St. John Paul II.”
3 “St. Gianna Beretta Molla,” The Given Institute, https://giveninstitute.com/saint_stories/st-gianna-beretta-molla/
4 The Given Institute, “St. Gianna Beretta Molla.”
5 Vatican, “St. Gianna Beretta Molla (1922-1962), homily St. John Paul II.”
6 “5 Inspirational St. Gianna Molla Quotes,” Lindsey Kettner, Relevant Radio, April 28, 2018, https://relevantradio.com/2018/04/5-inspirational-saint-gianna-molla-quotes/.
7 Vatican, “St. Gianna Beretta Molla (1922-1962), homily St. John Paul II.”
8 “Saint Spotlight: Gianna Beretta Molla,” One Small Rose, April 23, 2020, https://onesmallrose.com/2020/04/23/saint-spotlight-gianna-beretta-molla/#:~:text=She%20loved%20being%20a%20mother%20and%20focused,family’s%20needs%2C%20especially%20the%20children’s%20spiritual%20formation.
9 “The Daughter of a Saint Speaks of her Mother’s Holiness,” Edward Pentin, National Catholic Register, September 12, 2011, https://www.ncregister.com/news/the-daughter-of-a-saint-speaks-of-her-mothers-holiness.
