Dr. Gianna Emanuela Molla began her first visit to the United States with a visit to the Staten Island headquarters of Priests for Life July 11 to enshrine a photo and relic of her mother, St. Gianna Molla.
“God loved my mother very much,” said Dr. Molla, while addressing the staff of the pro-life ministry. She added, “God chose her among many saint mothers. There must be many saint mothers in paradise.”
St. Gianna Beretta Molla, a physician who grew up near Milan, Italy, learned that she had a uterine tumor while expecting her fourth child. She decided against a hysterectomy that could have saved her life but would have killed her unborn child. Gianna Emanuela was born April 21, 1962. Her mother died one week later, April 28.
“I would not be here with you if I had not been loved so much,” said Dr. Molla, who lives near Milan.
St. Gianna was the 10th of 13 children, five of whom died in childhood. Her younger sister became a nun and two brothers became priests. One of them, Father Alberto Maria Beretta, has been declared a “Servant of God” in the cause for canonization.
Accompanied by Thomas McKenna, founder of the St. Gianna Physicians Guild, and Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, Dr. Molla hung a photo of her mother holding her sister, Mariolina, in the lobby of Priests for Life headquarters. Below the photo is a relic of St. Gianna—a piece of cloth from a garment worn by the saint.