Saint Gianna Beretta Molla is the first canonized woman physician and professional who was also a “working mom” at the time when she made the heroic decision that led to her eventual canonization. Born into a large family, Gianna attended Catholic schools, was active in her parish, and increasingly came to question and learn about her Catholic faith, which would guide all of her life and decisions. August 4, 2019 She began the study of medicine in Milan during World War II. Medicine was more than a profession to her: It was a calling, a vocation from God, and a means of sharing God’s love and compassion with those in need. It was to persons in need that the young Doctor Gianna Beretta was drawn in beginning her practice of medicine. She hoped to join her brother, a missionary priest in Brazil, where she intended to offer gynecological surgery to the poor. Ill health kept her from fulfilling that dream, and instead she opened her practice in northern Italy in 1950. There she met Pietro Molla, an engineer, whom she considered a gift from God. (continued inside)
Transcript
Saint Gianna Beretta Molla is the first canonized woman p h y s i c i a n a n d professional who was also a “working mom” at the time when she made the heroic decision that led to her eventual canonization.
Born into a large f a m i l y , G i a n n a attended Catholic schools, was active in her parish, and increasingly came to question and learn about her Catholic faith, which would guide all of her life and decisions.
August 4, 2019
She began the study of medicine in Milan during World War II. Medicine was more than a profession to her: It was a calling, a vocation from God, and a means of sharing God’s love and compassion with those in need. It was to persons in need that the young
D o c t o r G i a n n a Beretta was drawn in beginning her practice of medicine.
She hoped to join her brother, a missionary priest in Brazil, where she intended to offer gynecological surgery to the poor. Ill health kept her from fulfilling that dream, and instead she opened her practice in northern Italy in 1950.
There she met Pietro Molla, an engineer, whom she considered a gift from God.
(continued inside)
AFTER PRAYING AND DISCERNING God’s
will, she and Pietro married. In a letter
during their courtship, Gianna wrote to her
fiancé, “Love is the most beautiful sentiment
that God has put into the soul of men and
women.” Gianna truly saw marriage as a
vocation from God, a means of following the
Lord in daily life. She constantly thanked
and praised the Lord for His gift of bringing
them together.
By 1959 they had three children—two girls
and a boy. The fourth was on the way in
1961 when severe pain struck Gianna. A
uterine fibroma was diagnosed. Doctor
Beretta Molla became the patient and was
given three options by the experts—an
abortion, a total hysterectomy, or removal
of the tumor.
She knew that Catholic medical ethics would
permit a hysterectomy. A longstanding
principle of moral theology, called the
“principle of double effect,” would allow the
removal of the diseased uterus, even though
she was pregnant. Gianna—a young mother
of three, a loving wife, a busy physician—
chose to have the fibroma removed rather
than either of the other choices to give best
chance of survival to her unborn child. After
the surgery, she successfully continued her
pregnancy through the remaining seven
months.
Her fourth child, Gianna Emanuela, was born
by caesarean delivery on Holy Saturday in
1962. Doctor Beretta Molla survived
childbirth, but a post-surgical infection took
her life just a week later. Today that child,
whose life she chose to save at her own risk,
practices as a physician specializing in
geriatrics, continuing a vocation to save
lives. While she was growing up, her father,
Pietro, often told her that her mother’s
choice was one made as a faithful Catholic,
a loving mother, and a compassionate
doctor.
During the canonization Mass in which he
recognized Gianna Beretta Molla as a saint
in heaven, Pope John Paul II referred to her
as “a simple, but more than anything,
significant messenger of Divine love…
heroically faithful to the commitment she
made on the day of her marriage.”
The saintly pope added: “Through the
example of Gianna Beretta Molla, may our
age rediscover the pure, chaste and fruitful
beauty of conjugal love, lived as a response
to the divine call!”
In September 2015 Gianna Emanuela read a
letter before Pope Francis during the 2015
World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.
The letter—which her mother wrote to her
father not long before their marriage—
highlighted the Christian virtues of marriage
and called him and herself as a couple to
serve God in a "saintly way" through what
she called "the sacrament of love."
The Journey of Love
(The Journey of Our Love is the title of the book of collected letters between Gianna and Pietro Molla)
HOW DO WE show others that
we love them? Most often it is
with small acts of kindness or
service, with perhaps some
inconvenience that we wouldn’t
say is suffering. Yet sometimes
our love for others is shown with
deliberate choices and made with
painful decisions resulting in
greater degrees of suffering. In
April of 1962, a hardworking,
intelligent, and culturally-savvy
young woman made such a
choice. It was made totally out
of love, specifically, the tender
love of a mother. Gianna Beretta
Molla chose to risk her own life
to save the life of her fourth
child. And, it was only with great
faith and courage that she was
able to make this decision—love
born of suffering, suffering borne
with love.
Gianna Beretta was the 10th of
13 children, born on October 4,
1922—the Feast of Saint Francis.
Her parents were Secular
Franciscans, and Gianna carried
that spirituality into her own life.
She was devoted to Christ and
the Church from her earliest
days. She chose to study
medicine, eventually specializing
in pediatrics, because she felt it
was the best way she could help
people in both body and spirit.
She was an active woman with
many interests, among them
painting, music, and trips to the
mountains. Not unlike Pope Saint
John Paul II, many photos
capture her hiking in the
beautiful northern Italian
landscape. Yet Gianna always
connected these activities to her
vocation as a mother. Her young
children can be seen in many of
these mountain photos, bundled
up alongside her.
Although the tumor which
threatened the life of her unborn
child had been successfully
removed, for the remainder of
her pregnancy there was still the
lingering concern that the
sutures inside her uterus could
become infected, especially
during childbirth. After that
surgery, Gianna resumed life as
usual—the life of a busy
physician, wife and most
importantly mother. However,
knowing full well that either she
or her unborn child might die,
Gianna not only prayed daily that
her child would be born safely,
but also that her life would be
spared so she might continue to
be present to her family.
On Good Friday—April 20,
1962—she entered the hospital,
preparing for her fourth child’s
birth. Her daughter, Gianna
Emanuela, was delivered the
next day. Only hours later, the
septic infection that had caused
concern developed. Eventually,
though in considerable pain from
the septic peritonitis, Gianna
requested to be sent home
where she could be at peace with
her family by her side. Almost
immediately upon her death a
devotion to Gianna arose among
those whose lives she had so
deeply touched and who knew
her heroic devotion to her faith
and her family.
Gianna Beretta Molla is the first
married woman to be declared a
saint—one who knew well the
challenges and small victories of
being a busy working mom.
Through her life witness as a
faithful Catholic, successful
working woman, devoted wife,
and loving mother of four, she is
a saint with much to teach us
today. Saint Gianna believed
deeply in the holiness of the
family and in the sanctity of
human life. It was this deep
belief that gave her the courage
to entrust herself and her family
to God’s loving hands.
Questions for Reflection
• What might be God’s purpose for all of the responsibilities you juggle? Ask Him
to show you.
• Moms, might you find a moment to whisper a prayer to Saint Gianna when life
gets overwhelming?
• How might God use the simple patterns of your ordinary, day-to day-life to make
something extraordinary?
• Can you trust God enough to bear your own suffering with love?
Love and sacrifice are closely linked, like the sun and the
light. We cannot love without suffering and we cannot suffer
without love.—Saint Gianna Molla
THROUGH THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM,
our parish community joyfully welcomes:
James Robert Kelly
SATURDAY AUGUST 3
VIGIL, 18TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
5:00 pm George and JoAnn Sabotchick
SUNDAY AUGUST 4
18TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
7:30 am Carmella Cribari
9:00 am People of the Parish
11:00 am Intentions of Jerry Price
MONDAY AUGUST 5
MONDAY OF THE 18TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
No Mass
TUESDAY AUGUST 6
FEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD
6:45 am Morning Prayer
7:00 am Tony Romagnoli
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 7
WEDNESDAY OF THE 18TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
8:30 am Rosary
9:00 am Rose Piccini
10:00 am John Walsh (Mass celebrated at Messiah Lifeways)
THURSDAY AUGUST 8
MEMORIAL OF SAINT DOMINIC, PRIEST
6:45 am Morning Prayer
7:00 am Richard Feldmiller
FRIDAY AUGUST 9
FRIDAY OF THE 18TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
8:30 am Rosary
9:00 am Philip Brenner
SATURDAY AUGUST 10
3:00 pm Confessions
VIGIL, 19TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
5:00 pm Pamela J. Dinner
SUNDAY AUGUST 11
19TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
7:30 am People of the Parish
9:00 am Wanda Heath
11:00 am George Rexford
MON
5
TUE
6
WED
7
THU
8
FRI
9
SAT
10
SUN
11
6:00 pm 6:30 pm
StEAS Moms Group Cursillo 4th Day Meeting
7:30 am 2:00 pm 6:00 pm 7:00 pm 7:00 pm
Men’s Gospel Reflection Group Gospel Reflection in the Afternoon Zumba® Fitness Spiritual Book Group Knights of Columbus (rosary 6:20)
10:00 am 8:30 pm
Messiah Lifeways Mass Adult Open Gym
6:00 pm 7:00 pm
Zumba® Toning Life in the Spirit (rosary 6:30)
You are the God who works wonders; among the peoples you have made known your power. R. I remember the deeds of the Lord.
9:00 am Day of Prayer & Care Committee
6:00 pm 6:00 pm 8:00 pm
Baptisms during 11am Mass Kids Open Gym & Lego™ Club Let’s Play Cards! 14 & up Floor Hockey
