World-Prayer-Congress for Life
in
„Mary, We Entrust You with
the Cause of Life" (H.H., Pope John Paul II., Evangelium
Vitae, #105)
Conference Nr. 7
October 5, 2006,
of Madre
Virginia Beretta f d c c
Gianna Beretta Molla – Mother, Doctor, Saint
First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Pius Stössel
for choosing Gianna to be the patron saint of the Foundation “Yes to Life –
International”, and also for inviting me to be here at the congress today, to
give testimony for her life in
I would like to
greet all those present most cordially, also on behalf of my brother-in-law
Pietro and on behalf of Gianna Emanuela.
I would like to
ask Our Lady of Fatima to bring Gianna’s message to all the mothers in the world,
regardless of their creed.
My sister Gianna
was born at Magenta (
She was baptised
and given the name Gianna Francesca on October 11th. at
She was the
tenth of 13 children, five of which died at an early age. Three of us have
chosen the religious life: my brother Enrico, who as the Capuchin Father
Albert, worked as a doctor in the mission at Grajaù (
Until 1925 our
family lived in
In 1925 three of
our brothers and sisters died of the Spanish flu at a very young age, and after
our sixteen-year-old sister Amalia had a tuberculosis infection, we moved to
Our father
Alberto, who like Gianna, had been born at Magenta, was employed at the
Cantoni cotton factory. He made great sacrifices to make it possible for us
children to study to get our doctorates. He cut all expenses which he
considered unnecessary.
I remember that
he suddenly stopped smoking the cigars he used to relax with in the evening. He
was a person with deep faith and honest, convinced and joyful piety. He was a
model for us all: daily he got up
Our mother,
Maria de Micheli, was also a woman of deep faith, who zealously did works
of charity. She had a humble and at the same time, strong and steadfast
character. She also went to Holy Mass daily with us children, after our father
had taken the train to work in
Mama Maria
treated each child as if it were the only child. She brought us up in such a
way that we should realize ourselves, the mistakes we had made. Sometimes one
look from her was enough. She was always there for us: she even learned Latin
and Greek, so that she would be able to help us with our studies better.
From her earliest childhood, Gianna accepted the faith
and the Christian education of our excellent parents.
The parents
guided her with wisdom and attentiveness in her human and Christian growth and
so they conveyed to her, to accept life as a wonderful gift from God and
to put her trust in God’s immeasurable providence. In that way, they let
her understand the necessity and effectiveness of prayer. The parents
raised her completely in the Franciscan spirit: to realize what is essential,
to love the poor and the missions.
In this family
atmosphere of great faith and love for the Lord, Gianna received her First Holy
Communion at the age of 5 ½ years at Prepositurale di Santa Grata parish in
Bergamo Alta. From that day on, she went to Holy Mass daily with her mother. Receiving
Communion daily became her “food she could not do without”, the
“support and light” of her childhood days, during her teens and her youth. At
the age of eight years, she was confirmed at the Cathedral in
She grew up
joyfully and happily, helped her brothers and sisters, especially me: since I
am 3 years younger than she was, there was a special relationship between us.
She was never idle: she loved all beautiful things: music, art and trips to the
mountains.
During her teens,
she also suffered trials and problems, but because of her deep faith life no
traumas remained, on the contrary, they refined her sensibility and her
virtuousness.
In January 1937
our beloved sister Amalia died at the age of 26 years. Our family moved to Genoa Quinto al Mare, a
During our stay
in
Monsignor
Righetti, the parish priest in Quinto al Mare, who was very
much concerned about the liturgy, also contributed much to Gianna’s spiritual
maturity. He became her spiritual guide and won her as a co-worker for the little
ones in the Catholic Action. He wakened her enthusiasm for the liturgy,
which was a source of spiritual life for her.
After finishing
the 5th grade at secondary school, her parents suspended her from
school for a year because of her weak constitution. She willingly submitted to
her parent’s decision and spent one whole year together with them, satisfied
that she was able to get to know them better and also to be able to imitate
their virtues. In October 1939 she went back to school in
In 1941, in the middle of the war, the family
returned to the maternal grandparents' house at
After her
matriculation, Gianna and we all lost both of our parents within
only 4 months. First, Mama died on
We all decided to
return to the house of our paternal grandparents at Magenta,
where Gianna had been born.
In November of
the same year, Gianna registered and studied at the Faculty for Medicine and
Surgery in
I still have some
very lively memories of our time at university, where we studied together.
She was a dear
young girl, strong-willed and reserved. Her spiritual life was very intensive:
she went to Holy Mass and Communion daily, she went for adoration of the
Blessed Sacrament and meditation and also prayed the rosary.
During our
student years, Gianna, my sister Zita and I worked in the Parish and for
the education of young people at the Oratorio of the Madri Canossiane,
which was in Magenta. This place for youth work became like a second home to
us.
Gianna studied
diligently and lived her faith among the young people of the Catholic Action.
Realizing that “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9,7), she also applied her
faith through generous service in charitable work among the elderly people and
needy as a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. She loved God and
wanted to lead many people to also accept this attitude.
A friend gave the
following testimony: “Gianna gave her open smile, she was full of joy and
inner peace, which reflected the peace in her soul.”
In July 1950 Gianna opened a medical surgery
in Mesero and when necessary, she helped
her brother Ferdinando, who was a doctor in Magenta.
In 1952 she specialized in pediatrics in
She loved her medical
profession as her mission and continued to study. She tried to help
people physically and spiritually. In the Catholic Action she increasingly
helped very young girls. She found relaxation in music, painting, skiing and
hiking, an expression of her great joy in life and in creation.
She tried to find
her vocation, which she considered to be God’s gift, by praying
for it and asking others to pray for her. She was convinced that earthly and
eternal happiness depend on our faithfulness to our vocation.
My brother
Alberto, who was capuchin, doctor and missionary in
On
The official
engagement was celebrated on
Gianna and Pietro
lived their love fully in the faith. “Dearest Pietro,…Gianna
wrote in her first letter, I already love you now and I would like to build
a true Christian family with you.”
“I love you so
much, Pietro, -- she wrote on June 10th 1955 – and
you are always with me, beginning in the morning with Holy Mass until the
offertory, during which I offer my work and yours, your joys and sufferings to
the Lord, and then all day long until evening.”
Gianna had a very
joyful and happy engagement time. She thanked the Lord and prayed. She
had a very clear idea about the formation of the new family and at the same
time her great joy of life was contagious for Pietro; she asked how she could
make him happy and what she should do to achieve this.
She invited him
to prepare for the sacrament of marriage with a Triduum. They both were
thankful for the gift of life and for all beautiful things. Pietro attended the
Mass-Triduum at the Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Ponte Nuovo; she
attended at the Sanctuary of the Assumption in Magenta. Pietro was
thankful for Gianna’s suggestion and went along with it enthusiastically.
They married
on
They lived in Ponte Nuovo of Magenta at the pretty house which
the S.A.F.F.A. Factory placed at the diposal of the director's family and which
was situated a few meters from Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, where Gianna
now went for Holy Mass.
She was happy
as a wife and the Lord soon answered her great wish to become a happy
mother: on November 19th 1956
Pierluigi was born, on
Gianna lived her
great joy of life simply and in equilibrium. She was capable of combining
her duties as a mother, wife and doctor harmoniously.
In this state of
mind she consequently and joyfully lived her great faith, which molded and
formed all her decisions and actions.
She felt very
much satisfied with the family fellowship of life and love, which brought with
it even more duties with the birth of the children. The wish for a big family
like ours was always alive in her. Unfortunately, to her great distress she was
not able to carry two pregnancies to the end.
In September 1961
towards the end of the second month of a new pregnancy, suffering and the
mystery of pain touched Gianna: a big fibroma, a non-malignant growth,
was found on the uterus. Before the operation at St. Gerardo di Monza Hospital,
she pleaded with the surgeons to save the child in her womb. As a
doctor, she knew exactly what she was risking in continuing the pregnancy. She
trusted in prayer and divine providence. The child in her womb was able to be
saved. Gianna thanked the Lord and spent the remaining seven months up to the
birth, with incomparable inner strength and unchanged commitment as a mother
and doctor. She was afraid her child might be born somehow impaired; she prayed
to God, that He should prevent that from happening.
A few days before the birth, she was prepared to offer
up her life for the life of her child. She placed her life completely in
God’s hands. Her husband Pietro remembers: “She explicitly told me in
a determined tone, which was also joyful and with a serious look, which I will
never forget: “In case you have to choose between the child and me, do not
hesitate, choose, that is what I want, the child’s life. Save it.”
Pietro, who knew
the generosity of his Gianna very well, her spirit of sacrifice, her mature
deliberation and the validity of her decisions, felt compelled to respect her
decision, although it was extremely painful for him and the children.
For Gianna, the
child she was still carrying in her womb, had the same right to life as
Pierluigi, Mariolina and Laura and she felt she alone was at that moment the
instrument of divine providence for the little human being, that was to be
born. For her other children, their bringing up and their future lives she
trusted in the divine providence through her relatives.
Gianna's choice was determined by her
conscience as mother and doctor and may be well understood on the basis of her
fundamental principles: her deep faith, her firm convictions on the sacred
right of life, the heroism of maternal love and the total trust
in the Divine
On the afternoon
of
On the morning of
April 21st, Holy Saturday,
her daughter Gianna Emanuela was born by Cesarean Section and for Gianna
the passion, which was to be conformed with the passion of Jesus, began.
Only a few hours
after the birth, her condition deteriorated: the fever increased, in the course
of septic peritonitis, most severe abdominal pain set in.
At that time I
was a missionary in
During the last
hours I was with Gianna the whole time; I noticed how she combined her
sufferings with those of Jesus. I will never forget her confidential
disclosures at that time.
In Gianna’s
medical report, it says that she didn’t want to take a sedative, in order to be
able to offer her sufferings to the Lord in complete waking consciousness. So,
once she said: “If you knew how differently one judges the things of the
world on one’s deathbed…” , then she kissed the cross with great love,
I saw how she changed, and she said: “How much consolation I have
received from the Lord; if he hadn’t been here at certain moments!”
She kept calling
to Jesus, in order to receive the strength for her sufferings from Him. Short
prayers of love and surrender crossed her lips: “Jesus, I love you” -
“Jesus, I adore you.”- "Jesus, help me” - “Mama, help me”- “Mary…, -
these were followed by short reflections.
In spite of the
doctors’ efforts, her condition visibly worsened.
She wanted to
receive Jesus in the Eucharist also on Wednesday and Friday, but she had an
irrepressible nausea and vomit, So, in order not to be disrespectful towards
the Lord, she only received a tiny piece of the Host.
Our brother
Ferdinando had been asked by Gianna to prepare her for the moment of her death
with a predefined sentence. He couldn’t find the courage to do so, however. He
passed this difficult duty on to me, and at a suitable moment, I said: “Don’t
lose heart, Gianna, Papa and Mama are in heaven waiting for you: are you
contented to go there?” As her lashes moved, I could see her complete,
loving surrender to the divine will, even though she was grieved at the thought
of having to abandon her beloved children, who were still so little.
In the early
morning of
She had once told
her girls at the Catholic Action: “There are so many problems, but with
God’s help we should always walk without fear and in case we should have to die
in the battle for our vocation, that will be the most beautiful day of our
lives.” Prophetic words!
On May 16th 2004 Pope John Paul II
canonized her in