Saint Gianna Beretta Molla was born on October 4, 1922 — the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi — in Magenta, near Milan, Italy, the tenth of thirteen children. From her earliest years, she embraced her Catholic faith with joy, viewing life as a marvellous gift from God and finding great strength in prayer and the Sacraments.
 

As a young woman, Gianna was actively engaged in Catholic Action and devoted herself to the less fortunate as a member of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, caring for the elderly and the poor. In 1942, she began studying medicine at the University of Pavia, earning her degrees in medicine and surgery in 1949. She opened a medical clinic in Mesero in 1950 and specialized in pediatrics at the University of Milan in 1952, giving particular attention to mothers, babies, the elderly, and the poor.
 

Gianna considered medicine not merely a profession but a holy mission. Her colleagues remarked that she was like a sister to every expectant mother she met. She charged nothing from those who could not pay. Although she longed to join her brother, a Capuchin missionary priest in Brazil, her health made this impossible and she discerned through prayer that God was calling her to the vocation of marriage.
 

In December 1954 she met Pietro Molla, an engineer. The couple married on September 24, 1955 at the Basilica of San Martino in Magenta. Their marriage was joyful and fruitful, and between 1956 and 1959 they welcomed three children: Pierluigi, Mariolina, and Laura. She embraced her role as wife and mother with complete dedication, harmonizing her duties as physician, wife, and mother with remarkable serenity.
 

In September 1961, two months into her fourth pregnancy, doctors discovered a fibroma on her uterus. They presented three options: an abortion, a hysterectomy, or a dangerous surgery to remove only the fibroma. Gianna, fully aware of the risks to her own life, chose the surgery to give her child every chance of life. She told the surgeon plainly: "If you must decide between me and the child, do not hesitate: choose the child. I insist on it. Save the baby."

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On April 21, 1962, Holy Saturday, Gianna gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Gianna Emanuela. One week later, on Easter Saturday, April 28, 1962, Saint Gianna died of septic peritonitis at the age of 39. She is buried in Mesero. Pope John Paul II beatified her on April 24, 1994, and solemnly canonized her on May 16, 2004 — the first time in history that a husband witnessed his wife's canonization.
 

Her daughter, Gianna Emanuela Molla, herself became a physician and has devoted her life to honoring her mother's memory and bearing witness to the gift of life her mother gave her.