St. Gianna Beretta Molla: Feast Day, Patronage & Prayers
Updated: Oct 3
Feast day: April 28 (kept in some places; not on the General Roman Calendar)
Patron of: Mothers, physicians, and unborn children.
About St. Gianna Beretta Molla
St. Gianna Beretta was born in 1922 near Milan, Italy, the tenth of thirteen children in a devout family. She studied medicine and surgery, opened a clinic near Magenta, and specialized in pediatrics, caring with special love for mothers, babies, the elderly, and the poor. She was active in Catholic Action and loved skiing, mountain climbing, music, and the theater. In 1955 she married Pietro Molla, an engineer, and they had three children.
In 1961, two months into her fourth pregnancy, doctors found a large tumor on her uterus. Gianna chose the surgery that would remove the tumor while protecting the baby's life, fully aware of the risk to herself, and she told her family that if a choice had to be made, the child's life must come first. Her daughter, Gianna Emanuela, was born on April 21, 1962. A week later, on April 28, Gianna died of complications at thirty-nine. Pope St. John Paul II canonized her in 2004, with her husband and children present. She shows that a joyful, ordinary modern life can be heroic.
Prayers to St. Gianna Beretta Molla on Daily Catholic Prayers
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