St. Gianna Molla

Window is RESERVED
St. Gianna Stained Glass Window in the Newman Center

Biography 

Gianna Beretta was born in Magenta on 4 October 1922 as the tenth of thirteen Catholic children. One of her siblings was the Servant of God Enrico Beretta (28 August 1916 – 10 August 2001). Beretta’s uncle was Monsignor Giuseppe Beretta and one ancestor was Father Giovanni Battista Beretta. Two other siblings were Giuseppe (a priest) and Virginia (a religious); another sister was Amelia (1910 – 22 January 1937). Her baptism was celebrated at the Basilica di San Martino on 11 October.

When she was three the Berettas relocated to Bergamo where she grew up. Beretta made her First Communion on 4 April 1928 and received her Confirmation in the Ber­gamo Cathedral on 9 June 1930 from Monsignor Luigi Maria Marelli. The Berettas moved to Genoa following the death of her sister Amalia in 1937 and sought residence in the Quinto al Mare neighborhood where she attended school. She was an active participant in parish life in the parish of Saint Peter and Archbishop Mario Righetti had an active role in her spiritual formation until the Berettas returned to Bergamo in October 1941 to live with her ma­ternal grandparents at San Vigilio. From 16 to 18 March 1938 she made the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius while 1938 to 1939 saw a suspension in her studies due to ill health.

In 1942 she began her studies in medicine in Milan. Out­side of her schooling she was active in the Azione Cattolica movement. Beretta later received a medical diploma on 30 November 1949 from the Pavia college and opened an of­fice in Mesero close to her hometown where she specialized in pediatrics in 1950. Beretta hoped to join her brother – a priest in the Brazilian missions – where she intended to offer gynecological services to poor women. However, her chronic ill health made this an impractical dream but was content with continuing her practice. From 7 July 1952, she began to specialize in pediatrics at the Milanese college.

In December 1954 she met Pietro Molla (1912 – 3 April 2010) – an engineer – and the two became engaged the following 11 April. The pair later married on 24 September 1955 at the Basilica di San Martino in Magenta. The pair – on 25 September – were in Saint Peter’s Square as part of their honeymoon. Molla gave birth to three children:
• Pierluigi (b. 19 November 1956)
• Mariolina (11 December 1957 – 12 February 1964)
• Laura (15 July 1959)
Her sisters-in-law were Luigia (who was a nun) and Tere­sina (d. 1950).
In 1961 – during the second month of her fourth and final pregnancy – Molla developed a fibroma on her uterus. The doctors gave her three choices following an examination: an abortion or a complete hysterectomy or the removal of the fibroma alone. The Church forbade all direct abortion but teachings on the principle of double effect would have allowed her to undergo the hysterectomy which would have caused her unborn child’s death as an unintended consequence.

Molla opted for the removal of the fibroma since she wanted to preserve her child’s life; she told the doctors that her child’s life was more important than her own. On the morning of 21 April, 1962 – Holy Saturday – Molla was sent to the hospital where her fourth child – Gianna Emanuela – was delivered via a Caesarean section. But Molla continued to have severe pain and died of septic peritonitis one week after giving birth in the morning of 28 April at 8:00 am. Her daughter Gianna Emanuela still lives and is a doctor of geriatrics. Her husband wrote a bio­graphical account of her life in April 1971 and dedicated it to his children. He often told Gianna Emanuela that her mother’s choice was one of conscience as both a loving mother and a doctor.