Saint Gianna Beretta Molla
Also known as
- Gianna Beretta
- Gianna Molla
Profile
Tenth of thirteen children born to Alberto and Maria Beretta, she was a pious girl raised in a pious family; one sister became a Canossian missionary nun, and two brothers, including Venerable Enrico Beretta became priests. While in college, she worked with the poor and elderly, and joined the Saint Vincent de Paul Society. Physician and surgeon, graduating from the University of Pavia in 1949, she started a clinic in Mero, Italy in 1950. She returned to school and studied pediatrics, and after finishing in 1952 she worked especially with mothers, babies, the elderly, and the poor. Active in Catholic Action, and a avid skier. She considered a call to religious life, but was married to Pietro Molla on 24 September 1955 at Magenta. Mother of three, she continued her medical career, treating it as a mission and gift from God. During her pregnancy with her fourth child, she was diagnosed with a large ovarian cyst. Her surgeon recommended an abortion in order to save Gianna’s life; she refused and died a week after childbirth, caring more for doing right by her unborn child than for her own life. Today that child is a physician herself, and involved in the pro-life movement.
Born
- 16 May 2004 by Pope John Paul II
- the canonization miracle involved the birth of a baby who gestated with no amniotic fluid but a constant stream of prayers for the intercession of Saint Gianna
Readings
If you must choose between me and the baby, no hesitation; choose – and I demand it – the baby. Save the baby! – Saint Gianna
O Jesus, I promise You to submit myself to all that You permit to befall me, make me only know Your Will. My most sweet Jesus, infinitely merciful God, most tender Father of souls, and in a particular way of the most weak, most miserable, most infirm which You carry with special tenderness between Your divine arms, I come to You to ask You, through the love and merits of Your Sacred Heart, the grace to comprehend and to do always Your holy Will, the grace to confide in You, the grace to rest securely through time and eternity in Your loving divine arms. – Saint Gianna
When one does one’s own duty, one must not be concerned, because God’s help will not be lacking. – Saint Gianna Beretta Molla
MLA Citation
- “Saint Gianna Beretta Molla“. CatholicSaints.Info. 27 April 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <>