On the occasion of the 46th edition of the Day for Life, celebrated today, the Italian bishops remind the faithful that promoting life is «an indispensable commitment of faith and love». They also emphasize that «the power of life surprises us» and that «no life should ever be discriminated against, violated, or eliminated for any reason whatsoever».
It is fitting, then, on this day to remember the example of a mother who gave her life to save that of her child. Let us retrace the earthly life of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla.
Engaged, then a happy wife and mother
In his first meetings with Gianna, engineer Pietro Molla has the impression that he is face-to-face with a sincere and gracious person. For her part, in a letter to her fiancé dated March 11, 1955, Gianna would write: «The Lord truly has loved me. You are the man I wanted to meet, but I cannot deny that I often ask myself: “Will I be worthy of him?”. Yes, of you, Pietro, because I feel like nothing at all, so incapable of anything that, although I greatly wish to make you happy, I fear I will not succeed. And so I pray to the Lord: “Lord, you who see my feelings and my good intentions, make up for me and help me become the wife and mother you want me to be, and I think Pietro desires that too”».
They marry in Magenta on September 24, 1955. Gianna is a surgeon, then specializes in pediatrics, but treats everyone, especially elderly people and those who are alone. Their children are born: Pierluigi, Maria Rita, and Laura.
The offering of life
In September 1961, while expecting her fourth child, toward the end of the second month of pregnancy, she discovered that she had a fibroid in her uterus. Before the necessary surgery, although aware of the risk that continuing the pregnancy would entail, she implored the surgeon to save the life she was carrying and entrusted herself to prayer and Providence. The life was saved, Gianna thanked the Lord and endured the seven months separating her from childbirth with tremendous strength of spirit. She feared that the child might be born suffering and asked God that this would not happen. A few days before the birth, she explicitly told her husband: «If you must choose between me and the baby, do not hesitate: choose - and I insist on it - the baby. Save him». On the morning of April 21, 1962, she gave birth to Gianna Emanuela. On April 28, despite every effort and treatment to save both lives, amid excruciating pain, after repeating the prayer «Jesus, I love you, Jesus, I love you», she died. She was 39 years old.
The life of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla is a hymn to life. May her example enlighten us. And may the words of the bishops also guide us in our choices; this is their appeal: «On the Day for Life, therefore, let a strong appeal arise from all women and men to the moral and rational impossibility of denying the value of life, every life. We are not its masters, nor can we ever become so; it is neither reasonable nor just, on any occasion and for any reason».
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