Gianna Beretta Molla
Gianna Molla was a gynecologist, mother and a devout Roman Catholic who believed passionately in the tenets of the church- so much so that she gave her life so that her unborn child could live. Born on October 4, 1922, Gianna came from a devout Catholic family. At least one of her brothers became a priest. However, Gianna opted to express her faith in a secular context by becoming a doctor.
In 1942, she began her medical studies in Milan and received her diploma in 1949. By this time, Gianna had already decided to specialize in gynecology. She also hoped to join her brother in his missionary work in Brazil, but her health was too poor. So Gianna stayed in Milan. In 1952, she began to specialize in pediatrics, helping many disadvantaged mothers- always, however, keeping in line with Catholic teachings.
In 1955, she married Pietro Molla, an engineer. The couple had three children without any complications. However, during Gianna’s fourth pregnancy, a fibroma was discovered in her uterus. She had three options: abort her child and have the fibroma removed, have a hysterectomy which would have killed the baby but was allowed under church law as the loss of infant life was a consequence of medical treatment, or have the baby and then have the fibroma removed. Gianna took this last option. On April 21, 1963, doctors delivered her daughter Gianna Emanuela by C-section. But Gianna Molla died of septic peritonitis a week later.
In the 1970s, the Bishop of Milan began to make a case for Molla’s sainthood. She was Beautified in 1994 after the church investigated claims that a Brazilian woman was cured of rectal, vaginal fistula after nurses prayed to Gianna for aid. The church allowed her sainthood in 2003 after a second Brazilian woman, Elizabeth Comparini, tore her placenta when she was sixteen weeks pregnant. She also appealed to Gianna and, despite the damage, delivered a healthy child. Pope John Paul II canonized Gianna’s in 2004. Gianna’s husband and children witnessed the event – the first time a spouse had ever seen his wife elevated to sainthood.