Saint Gianna Beretta Molla
On September 24, 1955 Gianna and Pierto Molla were married in St. Martin’s Basilica in Magenta. Gianna was delighted to be a wife. In November 1956, her first son Pierluigi was born. Mariolina was born in December 1957 and Laura in July 1959. Gianna was a happy mother. Gianna knew how to balance her duties as mother, wife, doctor in Mesero and in Ponte Nuovo (near Magenta) with her great “joie de vivre”.
In September 1961 Gianna had been pregnant for two months when she started facing pain and suffering. She was diagnosed with a large fibroma – a benign tumor, in the uterus. Gianna knew that pregnancy would entail great risks to her life. However she asked the surgeon to operate to remove fibroma in such a way as to save the life of the baby she was carrying. She never stopped praying and trusting in God’s Providence. The baby’s life was saved. Gianna thanked God and spent the following seven months attending to her duties of mother and doctor with great commitment and strength.
When the days of the childbirth were near, always trusting God’s Providence, Gianna was ready to give her life to save the baby’s life, and she said to her husband Pietro: “If you have to choose, there should be no doubt: choose – I demand it – the life of the baby. Save him.”
On April 21, 1962 Gianna Emanuela was born by caesarian section at the hospital in Monza. Immediately after the operation, Gianna’s general condition started to worsen. She had a very fever and terrible abdominal pains caused by septic peritonitis \. Despite all human efforts, her conditions worsened. On April 28, 1962, at dawn, she was taken back to the family home in Ponte Nuovo where she died at 8 a.m. She was 39 years old. She was buried in the cementery of Mesero. She soon became known for the sanctity of her life and her final gesture of great love.
Gianna was proclaimed Blessed by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1994. She was canonized on May 16, 2004. Her feast day is on April 28, the day of her death.
