"Women from Germany and America wrote [letters to us] addressing Gianna as 'mother.' They felt they had a friend in her. They confided that they turned to her in their every need and felt that she was close to them...."
Pietro, her husband
Saint Gianna Beretta Molla:
An attractive woman.
Physician.
Mother of four.
Enthusiastic down hill skier.
Experienced mountain climber.
Open aficionada.
Passionate for her husband.
Single minded toward her children.
Uncompromising for her patients.
In 1962, she made a quiet, heroic choice.
In 1994, the Church proclaimed her Saint.
This is her story.
Gianna was a woman, entirely. She liked fashionable clothes, wanted a good education, loved painting and playing the piano, chose nice furnishings for her home, enjoyed mountain climbing and skiing in the Alps, vacations in the country, and concerts. She truly loved life.
Her concern for the well being of others led her to choose medicine as her life's work and mission. Gianna was over thirty years old when she met Pietro Molla. Their mutual love was intense and their marriage a joyful and fruitful union. With her fourth pregnancy Gianna faced the choice of giving up her life, if necessary, for the life of the human being within her. Gianna left her destiny in the hands of the Father out of love for the life within her. This choice would become her biography. (based on the Foreword by Antoinette Bosco, editor)