Gianna Beretta Molla

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 relative was Father Giovanni Battista Beretta.

Gianna Beretta Molla (4 October 1922 – 28 April 1962) was an Italian Roman Catholic pediatrician.

Although aware of the fatal consequences, Molla refused both a termination of pregnancy and a hysterectomy during her pregnancy with her fourth child.

Molla's medical career followed the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church; she believed in following her conscience while coming to the aid of others who required assistance.

Molla also dedicated herself to charitable work amongst the elderly and was involved in Catholic Action; she also aided the Saint Vincent de Paul group in their outreach to the poor and less fortunate.

Gianna Beretta was born in Magenta on 4 October 1922, a Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, as the tenth of 13 children (only eight survived into adulthood) to Maria de Micheli (c. 1887 - 1 May 1942) and Alberto Beretta (d. 1 September 1942), both members of the Third Order of Saint Francis.

She made her First Communion on 4 April 1928 and her Confirmation in the Bergamo Cathedral on 9 June 1930 from Monsignor Luigi Maria Marelli.

Her other siblings were Giuseppe (a priest), Virginia, and Amalia (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.

The Berettas moved to Genoa following her sister Amalia's death in 1937 and sought residence in the Quinto al Mare neighborhood, where she attended school.

From 16 to 18 March 1938, she made the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, but 1938 to 1939 saw a suspension in her studies when she was ill health.

She was an active participant 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.

In 1942, she began her studies in medicine in Milan.

Outside of her schooling, she was active in the Azione Cattolica (Catholic Action) movement.

Beretta received a medical diploma on 30 November 1949 from the Pavia college and in 1950, she opened an office in Mesero, close to her hometown, where she specialized in pediatrics.

Beretta hoped to join her brother Giuseppe, a priest in the Brazilian missions, where she intended to offer gynecological services to poor women, but her chronic ill health made this impractical.

Instead, she continued her practice.

Her sisters-in-law were Luigia (a nun) and Teresina (d. 1950).

Beginning 7 July 1952, she specialized in pediatrics at the University of Milan.

The pair later married on 24 September 1955 at the Basilica di San Martino, in Magenta.

The pair visited Saint Peter's Square as part of their honeymoon.

Molla gave birth to four children:

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, a complete hysterectomy, or the removal of the fibroma alone.

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 Holy Saturday, 21 April 1962, 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, on the morning of Easter Saturday, 28 April.

, her daughter Gianna Emanuela 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.

The Cardinal Archbishop of Milan Giovanni Colombo promoted the opening of a canonization cause on 6 November 1972 and it took a step forward on 11 April 1978 when Colombo and sixteen other bishops filed a petition to Pope Paul VI asking for him to initiate the cause of canonization.

The beatification process was opened under Pope John Paul II on 15 March 1980 and Molla became titled as a Servant of God.

Carlo Maria Martini presided over the cognitional process of investigation from 30 June 1980 until 21 March 1986, at which stage all documents were sent to Rome for inspection.

The Congregation for the Causes of Saints were convinced the process completed to an appropriate degree and issued a decree of validation for the cognitional process on 14 November 1986.

The postulation submitted the Positio dossier to the CCS later in 1989, after which a team of theologians assessed and approved it on 14 December 1990.

Molla's beatification was celebrated in 1994 and she was canonized as a saint a decade later in mid-2004 in Saint Peter's Square.

In December 1954 she met Pietro Molla (1912 – 3 April 2010), an engineer, and the two became engaged the following 11 April.