"After an exemplary existence as a student, as a girl fully engaged in the ecclesiastical community, as a wife and a happy mother, She offered and sacrified her life in order that the creature she was carrying could live. Today she is here with us! As a doctor and moreover as a surgeon, she was conscious about what she had to face but she did not fell back in front of any sacrifice".
With these words John Paul II has synthesized all the existence of Gianna Beretta Molla, during the solemn Beatification rite on April 24th 1994, the year consacrated to the Family.
Showing her as a model of perfection "we want to homage - the Pope said - all the courageous mothers devoting themselves to their families without reserve, those who suffer in giving birth to their children and afterwards facing any sacrifice, to transmit all the best they guard in themselves to them."
As it often happens, an heroic deed can just be accomplished if it is the result of a long inner maturation, above all if it is a fully consciuos and deliberate action.
The profoundly christian Gianna's Family had been for all the numerous children, a suitable background for a progressive deeprooted faith values in the every day actions. And from this "good tree" many excellent fruits arose.
She was born in Magenta, province of Milan (north Italy), on October 4th, 1922. After high school she enrolled in the Medicine surgery faculty at Pavia University. Graduated in November 1949 she specialized in Paediatrics at the Milano University and - while practising medecine - she continued studying gynaecology specia-lisation. She got ahead with all her tasks with the will and enthousiasm necessary for being in conformity to the grace of God, with the everyday Holy Communion and God's word support, by becoming an active part in the Catholic Action Group, by the concrete parti-cipation in all the "Saint Vincent" activities.
The study of medicine was not a novelty in her family, but in her case it gave her the opportunity of a particular apostolate: the Latin America Missions, collaborating with her brother who was a priest there.
For a long time, she cultivated the missionary ideal, but very slowly she understood that God's will was different.
When she clearly understood that God called her to the marital status she did not hesitate and the fields of her "missionary action" were the "fellow creatures" coming every day at her consulting room. She opened a surgery in Mesero, a little village near Magenta and in a short time she earned the respect of all the people as they appreciated her spirit of self-sacrifice and disinterestedness.
Virginia, her sister, testifies: "Her great need to do everything for the poor people unabled her to accept her fiance's proposal to renounce medical practice: she firmly refused it without hesitation and also after her marriage she always went to her surgery in Mesero every afternoon. Many other evidencies give us the impression of "how" Gianna practised her profession. Luigia Galli, a nurse, working in Gianna's surgery said: "Visiting sick people, she also teached them."During the last month of pregnancy, even if she was called in the night she promptly attended everyone. She carried on every medi-cal care untill the last day before giving birth to her last daughter. If the patient was poor, Gianna not only would give him free medical examination, but also free medicines or some money.
She would leave the surgery just after her last medical examination: sometimes it was after 9:30 pm."
Mariuccia Parmigiani - a friend of hers - says that by her good and jovial smile she won everybody's confidence... and Maria Barni, living in Mesero, confirms that her generous engage-ments were not only addressed to phisical treatments: "When a patient could not go on in doing the same kind of work for healt-hy reasons, she tried to find for him a more suitable job and very often she succeded in doing it for a lot of people."
This attitude is not taken for granted: we know very well that sick person in a ward are considered as "a number", or quite an enrichement source. "Do your duty well. Study your science well. Today there is a seeking after money", Gianna writes at the beginning of her practise as a doctor. "Today, unfortunately, there is much superficiality even in our work. We cure the body and this, many times, inadequately." Gianna pointed out this concept in the fifties, but even today these deficiencies in medical profession are extremely topical.
In 1923, Saint Joseph Moscati writing to a doctor friend said: "Remember that you have to deal not only with the bodies, but also the moaning souls coming to you. How many suffering people you will more easily soothe by advising and going straight to their souls, instead of giving cool prescriptions to be given to the chemist! Be joyful, because great will be your reward; but you will have to set a good example of your elevation to God."
It is the same aspect advice that Gianna Beretta expressed speaking about the characteristics of a christian doctor: "Never forget the patient's soul." "We have many opportunities which priests do not have. Our mission does not end when medicines fail us; there is the soul which we must bring to God. [...] Every doctor must consign the sick person to the priest. How necessary these Catholic doctors are!" And... besides: "Jesus makes Himself seen in our midst. Many doctors offer themselves for Him."
Our life is always the result of a lot of successive "choices", from the most "important" to the simple ones. Gianna "trained" herself to choose always the best and she also wanted consciously that her married life be devoted to God.
"I want really a christian family - she wrote to her husband - where God is like one of the family; a little cenaculum where He can reign in our hearts, enlighten our decisions and guide our programmes."
Here we find the "secret" of her existence, the key to understand the reason of all her choices and even the conclusive choice in consequence of which she has been now beatified: to see every situation in our life under God's look; to be disposed to understand His will as far as we are concerned, so that it is really God "Who enlightens our decisions."
"I want to create a family with you, with many children like the one in which I was raised", she said to her husband Peter. They had three children: Pier Luigi, Mariolina and Laura - and then another maternity, accepted with joy.
At this point the tragedy occurred: the discovery at the second month of pregnancy, of a fibroma growing near her uterus threatening both her health and her child's life. She sudden realized, as a doctor, of the dramatic alternative: to save herself or the creature she is carrying.
According to the unanimous deposition of both her family and doctors, her first reaction was to privilege the child she was carrying.
The doctor to whom she asked advice said clearly to her: "If we want to save your life we have to interrupt your pregnancy." There it was her prompt answer: "Professor, I'll never permit this! It is a sin to kill babies in the womb."
The doctors pointed out three different types of operation, as her husband testifies: a total laparatomy with the removal of both the fibroma and the uterus, it would certainly have saved her life; therapeutic abortion and the removal of the fibroma, and this would have made possible other pregnancies. Otherwise the removal of the fibroma, trying not interrupting her pregnancy.
Gianna chose the last solution, the most dangerous for her. In fact in those times a childbirth was to be expected very dangerous for the mother, after such an operation. Gianna, as a doctor, knew this very well...
The surgical operation, of just removing her fibroma, took place on September 6th 1961.
Therefore the pregnancy went on and Gianna began working again as long as a doctor up to her childbirth approached. She went into a nursing home on April 20th in 1962 and the following day - the Holy Saturday - she gave birth to a child: a little girl named Gianna Emanuela.
In September 1961, towards the end of the second month of pregnancy, she was touched by suffering and the mystery of pain; she had developed a fibroma in her uterus. Before the required surgical operation, and conscious of the risk that her continued pregnancy brought, she pleaded with the surgeon to save the life of the child she was carrying, and entrusted herself to prayer and Providence. The life was saved, for which she thanked the Lord. She spent the seven months remaining until the birth of the child in incomparable strength of spirit and unrelenting dedication to her tasks as mother and doctor. She worried that the baby in her womb might be born in pain, and she asked God to prevent that.
A few days before the child was due, although trusting as always in Providence, she was ready to give her life in order to save that of her child: "if you must decide between me and the child, do not hesitate: choose the child - I insist on it. Save the baby". On the morning of 21 April 1962 Gianna Emanuela was born. As it was to be expected, a few hours after her childbirth, complications arose and it was a week of horrible sufferings in consequence of septic peritonitis.
Despite all efforts and treatments to save both of them, on the morning of 28 April, amid unspeakable pain and after repeated exclamations of "Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you", the mother died. She was 39 years old. Her funeral was an occasion of profound grief, faith and prayer. The body of the newly blessed lies in the cemetery of Mesero (4 km. from Magenta).
It was a Calvary during which her faith was fully shining. She died at home the following Saturday at 8,00 a.m. on April 28th 1962.
On April 24th 1994, her last daughter, Gianna Emanuela, was present in Saint Peter square at her mother's Beatification ceremony.
The heroic life of Gianna Beretta Molla makes us reflect on a theme that nowadays is topical. The discussion on abortion about the value to be given to the developing creature conceived in the womb. As every believer does, Gianna was deeply convinced that the developing creature in her womb was a complete human person, therefore worthy of the highest respect. It was a gift from God, to be accepted as all the other children.That is indeed love, Gianna forgot herself and generously offered herself to let her creature live, knowing very well that the cost of her offer would require the sacrifice of her life. A priest known by Gianna, Father Marius Cazzaniga, wrote: "I had such a great impression that in my professional moral teaching at the professional nurse school, during the abortion lessons, I always mention Gianna Beretta Molla's case, as a generous and exemplary maternity. I think that nowadays when the maternity is depreciated, this woman doctor's generous act is to be let known by everybody. Society does'nt need to be submerged by a lot of crime news, it needs to know such generous actions."
We conclude with Gianna's words addressed to a young people Catholic Action Group of Magenta in 1946: "God wants to see us near Him, to transmit us in the secret of our prayer the conversion of all the souls approaching us. [...] In every day of our life we should have a moment's time to collect our thoughts in prayer before God. [...] Sowing our little seed incessantly. Let us not stop too much considering what will happen. Even if after having done our best we have a failure, let us generously accept it. A well accepted failure gives more benefit for the salvation of the soul than a triumph".
Words that for those who know Joseph Moscati's works, make them think about his famous thought expressed on October 17 in 1922. Thought that is a summary of his life as a doctor, as a man of science and faith: "Love truth: show yourself as you are, without pretence, wlthout fears and cares. And if the truth means your persecution, accept it; if it means your torment, bear it. And if for the truth's sake you should sacrifice yourself and your life, be strong in your sacrifice".
http://cpforlife.org/id89.htm
