I had known the basic facts about St Gianna and the
reason why she is such an inspirational saint for pro-lifers. However, if you’d asked me what her sanctity
consisted in I would have replied, “She sacrificed her life for her unborn
child even though she could legitimately have saved herself” (St Gianna was
diagnosed with a large fibroid tumour in her womb early in her fourth pregnancy,
that could not be left untreated. The
Catholic Church would have allowed a hysterectomy to save her life, as this
would not have been a direct abortion but the child’s death would have been an
unintended secondary effect – the moral principle of “double effect”. The Saint, however, chose to have a much
riskier operation to remove the tumour so that her child might live. She died of
septic peritonitis after a difficult pregnancy and birth).
What I hadn’t realised was that St Gianna’s whole life
was dedicated to sacrificial love (one of her best-known maxims is, “One cannot
love without suffering or suffer without loving”). All through her life this seems to have been
her mission, indeed her raison d’être. Endowed from an early stage with a strong
sense of vocation, she would have liked to follow her brother overseas as a
missionary but was dissuaded because her health was not strong enough. Instead, she devoted herself to the formation
of young girls in the “Catholic Action” movement and to doing good in the St
Vincent de Paul association.
Her vocational sense did not diminish; it is seen very
clearly in her attitude to her work. She
was a doctor, practising both in general medicine and paediatrics, and –
somewhat unusually for women in the 1950’s – continued her job after marrying
and starting a family. She had an
enormous reverence for her patients, in every dimension of their being. Thus her husband, Pietro, could say when
interviewed at around the time of her beatification in 1994, “Gianna had a holy respect for the body and the person of the
patient... She often repeated: ‘Whoever touches the body of a patient, touches
the body of Christ.’ It was a
quasi-sacramental concept, according to which Gianna sought to cure illnesses
but at the same time bring comfort to spirits.
The sick realised they were treated with dignity and were grateful.” St Gianna would surely have been an enthusiastic advocate
of the Theology of the Body!
Her vocational sense did not diminish; it is seen very
clearly in her attitude to her work. She
was a doctor, practising both in general medicine and paediatrics, and –
somewhat unusually for women in the 1950’s – continued her job after marrying
and starting a family. She had an
enormous reverence for her patients, in every dimension of their being. Thus her husband, Pietro, could say when
interviewed at around the time of her beatification in 1994, “Gianna had a holy respect for the body and the person of the
patient... She often repeated: ‘Whoever touches the body of a patient, touches
the body of Christ.’ It was a
quasi-sacramental concept, according to which Gianna sought to cure illnesses
but at the same time bring comfort to spirits.
The sick realised they were treated with dignity and were grateful.” St Gianna would surely have been an enthusiastic advocate
of the Theology of the Body!
Her sense of vocation is also strong in her other great
calling – marriage and motherhood.
During their engagement she wrote to Pietro, “I have so much trust in the Lord, and I am certain that he will help
me be a worthy spouse to you. I like to
meditate often on the first reading for the Mass of Saint Anne: ‘Who shall find
a valiant woman?... The heart of her husband trusteth in her... She will render
him good, and not evil, all the days of her life.’ (Prov 31:10-12.) Pietro, I wish I could be the valiant woman
of the Scripture for you!” Ten days
before their wedding she wrote, “I would like our new family to be a cenacle
gathered around Jesus”.
St Gianna was a virtuous woman. When her cause for beatification was
introduced, Pietro wrote – in the form of a “conversation” with his late wife –
a summary of how she conformed to the theological and cardinal virtues. St Gianna, who had a great reverence for
Church teaching and did her best to pass it on to the young women in her care
in Catholic Action conferences, would have seen life in these terms too. She attended Mass daily if at all possible
and her life, as Pietro tells us, “rested on prayer” – the Rosary, meditation,
and a great devotion to Our Lady of Good Counsel to whom she consecrated each
of her babies after their baptism. At
her suggestion she and Pietro prepared for their wedding day with a triduum of
Mass and prayer.
St Gianna was a virtuous woman. When her cause for beatification was
introduced, Pietro wrote – in the form of a “conversation” with his late wife –
a summary of how she conformed to the theological and cardinal virtues. St Gianna, who had a great reverence for
Church teaching and did her best to pass it on to the young women in her care
in Catholic Action conferences, would have seen life in these terms too. She attended Mass daily if at all possible
and her life, as Pietro tells us, “rested on prayer” – the Rosary, meditation,
and a great devotion to Our Lady of Good Counsel to whom she consecrated each
of her babies after their baptism. At
her suggestion she and Pietro prepared for their wedding day with a triduum of
Mass and prayer.
And yet with all this she was joyful. She lived life to the full. She loved creation; she loved skiing; she
loved attending plays and concerts; she expanded her somewhat workaholic fiancé’s
worldview by encouraging him to play as well as work. Pietro says, “In our workaday life, Gianna
introduced the elements of beauty and festivity”. In fact, amongst her notebooks we find that
she wrote a whole Hymn to the Smile!
So: sacrificial love; vocation; prayer; virtue; joy.
Pietro praises her distinctively “feminine” qualities. Her role as wife and mother was of central
importance to her. All this, it seems to
me, makes her a vital (both in terms
of importance and of alive-ness!) “sign” in our times. Reading the book co-authored by her husband
and writer Elio Guerriero, I was deeply refreshed by her simplicity, her
straightforwardness, her cutting to the heart of what is important in life and
what makes it worth living.
A few days before St Gianna’s beatification, Cardinal
Martini said, “Figures like Gianna Beretta Molla are a sign of hope for us,
even in this confused time that we pass through.” I would say, especially in this confused time.
In an age of specious sophistication, dissent masquerading as
intelligent debate, arrogant intellectualism, individualistic rejection of
authority and a sense that we have “moved beyond” the old-fashioned simple
approaches of virtue and devotion (and that’s just within the Church!), St
Gianna witnesses – in the words of Cardinal Martini – to a “simple charism of
fidelity to the Gospel”. I could almost
feel myself unwind as I read more and more about her. “Thank goodness for that,” my soul seemed to
say.
Thank Goodness for St Gianna Beretta Molla.
Facts and quotations above are drawn from the book "Saint Gianna Molla" by Pietro Molla and Elio Guerriero, trans. James G Colbert, published by Ignatius Press, ISBN 0-89870-887-7
A few days before St Gianna’s beatification, Cardinal
Martini said, “Figures like Gianna Beretta Molla are a sign of hope for us,
even in this confused time that we pass through.” I would say, especially in this confused time.
In an age of specious sophistication, dissent masquerading as
intelligent debate, arrogant intellectualism, individualistic rejection of
authority and a sense that we have “moved beyond” the old-fashioned simple
approaches of virtue and devotion (and that’s just within the Church!), St
Gianna witnesses – in the words of Cardinal Martini – to a “simple charism of
fidelity to the Gospel”. I could almost
feel myself unwind as I read more and more about her. “Thank goodness for that,” my soul seemed to
say. Thank Goodness for St Gianna Beretta Molla.
Facts and quotations above are drawn from the book "Saint Gianna Molla" by Pietro Molla and Elio Guerriero, trans. James G Colbert, published by Ignatius Press, ISBN 0-89870-887-7
No comments:
Post a Comment