SAINT: St Gianna Molla – 28 April
By Catherine Sheehan
In the midst of our modern secular culture where abortion is upheld and promoted as a right, there is one saint whose intercession we should be invoking on a regular basis. St Gianna Beretta Molla (1922-1962), a Catholic wife and mother, made the heroic choice to save the life of her fourth child by refusing an abortion after discovering a tumor in her uterus. She saved the life of her child, however, soon after the birth, Gianna lost her own life.
“When one does one’s own duty, one must not be concerned, because God’s help will not be lacking,” Gianna had heroically said during her life.
Born into a pious Catholic family in Magenta in northern Italy, Gianna was the 10th of 13 children. As a young woman she studied medicine in Milan and in 1949 received her diploma from Pavia college. In 1950 she opened her own medical office as a paediatrician, and eventually worked at the University of Milan where she specialised in paediatrics.
Two of her brothers became priests, one of them is now known as Venerable Enrico Beretta, a Franciscan who was also a physician and surgeon. Her other priest-brother Giuseppe served as a missionary in Brazil.
Gianna wanted to join him there and undertake missionary work as a doctor but was prevented due to ill health. She undertook other charitable works however, including with the Society of St Vincent de Paul.
In 1954 Gianna met her husband-to-be, Pietro Molla, and they married in September of 1955. Just before their wedding, Gianna had written in a letter to her fiancé: “Love is the most beautiful sentiment the Lord has put into the soul of men and women”.
Together they had four children—Pierluigi, Mariolina, Laura, and Gianna. When she was pregnant with her fourth child it was discovered in the second month of pregnancy that there was a tumor on her uterus. The doctors presented her with a confronting choice, either she could have an abortion, or undergo a hysterectomy, or remove the tumor only, allowing the child the best chance to live. Gianna didn’t hesitate, she insisted that only the tumor be removed and that everything be done to save the life of her child.
“If you must choose between me and the baby, no hesitation,” Gianna told them. “Choose – and I demand it – the baby. Save the baby!”
As a result of this choice, her daughter Gianna Emanuela was born by caesarean section on 21 April 1962. Sadly, Gianna passed away just a week following the birth after suffering septic peritonitis. She died on Easter Saturday morning, 28 April 1962.
Her daughter Gianna Emanuela also went on to become a medical doctor.
When he canonised Gianna in 2004, St John Paul II said, “This holy mother of a family remained heroically faithful to the commitment she made on the day of her marriage. The extreme sacrifice she sealed with her life testifies that only those who have the courage to give of themselves totally to God and to others are able to fulfil themselves”.
May St Gianna lead us, through her intercession, to greater heroism in seeking to build up a culture of love and life.