Saint20th century · Feast April 28
Also known as Gianna Molla
Physician, wife and mother whose everyday holiness culminated in a decision to give her life for her unborn child.
Gianna practised medicine in northern Italy while raising a family with her husband Pietro. During her fourth pregnancy she was diagnosed with a serious tumour and asked her doctors to preserve the life of her child. She died a week after her daughter's birth.
Post-war Italy was rebuilding. Gianna's life was ordinary in its outline and quietly extraordinary in its love.
Holiness lived in profession, marriage and motherhood.
Gianna is a companion for married couples, working parents and anyone seeking sanctity in an ordinary week.
People turn to St Gianna Beretta Molla in matters of:
God of life, by the example of St Gianna help us to love our vocations faithfully and to trust you with what we cannot control. Amen.
1922
Born in Magenta
1955
Marries Pietro Molla
1962
Dies shortly after her daughter's birth
2004
Canonised
April 28 · Other
St Gianna Beretta Molla
Source-quality status: unverified prototype
Thematic
A short pathway with saints whose lives passed through anxious seasons — and the small practices that steadied them.
Thematic
Married saints, parents and family companions for the honest work of everyday family life.
Saint4th century · Feast August 27
A mother whose patient prayer accompanied her son Augustine through a long and searching journey to faith.
Saint1st century · Feast March 19
The quiet foster father of Jesus, a working man whose faith is measured in action rather than words.