Today we celebrate the memorial of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, Patron Saint of Doctors, Unborn Children, and Wives.

She was the tenth of 13 children born to Alberto and Maria Beretta and was born in Magenta, close to Milan. Gianna loved to ski and climb mountains. She was also a prominent member of the Catholic Action Movement and the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Gianna graduated from the University of Pavia with degrees in medicine and surgery and later became a pediatrician. Gianna established a clinic in the village of Mesero in 1952, where she met engineer Pietro Molla.

Gianna and Pietro Molla got married in 1955, and shortly after, Gianna wrote to Pietro that “love is the most beautiful sentiment that the Lord has put into the soul of men and women.” Over the following four years, the Mollas had three children: Pierluigi, Mariolina, and Laura. The subsequent two pregnancies resulted in miscarriages.

Gianna had a tumor in her uterus and a child at the beginning of her last pregnancy. She consented for the surgeons to remove the Tumor but refrained from having the entire hysterectomy they advised because it would have resulted in the child’s death. At the hospital in Monza, Gianna Emanuela Molla was delivered seven months later, in April 1962, but her mother contracted an infection because of post-operative complications. After passing away at her home a week later, Gianna Molla received her funeral in the Mesero cemetery.

Gianna Emanuela later graduated to become a doctor. Gianna Beretta Molla was declared a saint in 1994 and canonized ten years later. April 28 is her liturgical feast day.

Source: franciscanmedia.org