Selected and screened in the 20th International Signis Poland Film Festival

The official documentary on the life of S. Gianna Beretta Molla with excerpts of the Canonization ceremony on May 16, 2004. Includes interviews with her husband Pietro Molla and their children.

Wife, Mother, Doctor, Lover of Life – “Love is a Choice’ invite you to meet St. Gianna Beretta Molla (1922- 1962), a heroic woman who chose to sacrifice her life out of love for her unborn child. In an age when marriage, family life, virtue and holiness are under assault from many sides, the life of Gianna is a striking witness of hope and beauty. Available in English, Italian, Spanish and French.

Length: 52 min.

Official Prayers to St. Gianna Beretta Molla and Novena

English | Español | Italiano | Français

Brief Biography | St Gianna Beretta Molla

Wife, Mother, Doctor, Lover of Life

Gianna Beretta Molla was born in Magenta (Milan), Italy, on October 4, 1922, the tenth of 13 children. From her earliest youth, Gianna accepted the gift of faith and received an excellent Christian education from her parents. After earning degrees in medicine and surgery from the University of Pavia in 1949, she opened a medical clinic in Mesero, near Magenta, in 1950. She specialized in pediatrics at the University of Milan in 1952 and thereafter gave special attention to mothers, babies, the elderly and the poor.

On September 24, 1955, Gianna married Pietro Molla in St. Martin’s Basilica in Magenta. Together, they would have four children: Pierluigi, Mariolina, Laura and Gianna manuela. Gianna met the demands of mother, wife, doctor with simplicity and balance. Gianna loved culture, fashion and beauty. She played piano, painted, enjoyed tennis, mountain climbing and skiing. She attended the symphony, theatre and opera in Milan. She also loved to travel.

In September 1961, toward the end of the second month of pregnancy with her fourth child, Gianna had to make a heroic decision. Physicians diagnosed a serious fibroma in the uterus that required surgery. The surgeon suggested that Gianna undergo an abortion in order to save her life. A few days before the child was due, 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 April 21, 1962, her daughter Gianna Emanuela was born. Despite efforts to save them both, on the morning of April 28, amid unspeakable pain and after repeated exclamations of "Jesus, I love you," Gianna died. She was 39 years old.

Her husband, Pietro, has described Gianna's life as "an act and a perennial action of faith and charity; it was a non-stop search for the will of God for every decision and for every work, with prayer and meditation, Holy Mass and the Eucharist."

The story of this remarkable woman spread quickly throughout the world. On April 24, 1994, during the International Year of the Family, Pope John Paul II beatified Gianna Beretta Molla. The Holy Father said her witness was a hymn to life.

Ten years later, on May 16, 2004, the same Holy Father canonized Gianna Beretta Molla, offering this new lay saint to the Church as a model of virtue, holiness, motherhood, professionalism and devotion. In an age when marriage, family life, virtue and holiness are under assault, the life of Gianna Beretta Molla is a striking witness of hope and beauty. St. Gianna Molla's life and final decision were heroic. She reminds the Church and the world of the necessity of a consistent ethic of life from the earliest moments to the final moments of human life.

In the words of St. Gianna’s friend, Piera Fontana: "Fifty years ago, before Gianna, how was it possible that only nuns, priests and friars were raised to the altar? Why were we never raised to the altar? Gianna was raised to the altar. She represents all mothers... A mother has finally arrived".

Salt + Light Television in Canada is honored to present to you the life of a truly great saint and model for the whole Church. My personal friendship with the Molla family has been a great grace and blessing in my life, and I feel that I have come to know Gianna Beretta Molla in a special way over the past six years. As we worked so closely with the Molla and Beretta families to tell you her story, we discovered goodness, holiness, simplicity, joy and virtue that have so deeply marked these families, and the extraordinary woman, wife, doctor and mother who now intercedes for us and continues to heal us from heaven in the company of the angels and the saints.

Fr. Thomas M. Rosica, C.S.B., C.E.O.
Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation