Pope canonizes Mother who gave her life for her unborn child

Date: 2004-05-16

St. Gianna Beretta Molla: "Messenger of Divine Love"

VATICAN CITY, MAY 16, 2004 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II presented the beauty of the family when canonizing an Italian doctor who accepted the risk of death rather than endanger her unborn child.

The Pope recalled Molla (1922-1962) as "a simple yet especially significant messenger of divine love" when he canonized her and five others today in St. Peter's Square.

"A few days before her marriage, in a letter to her future husband, she wrote: 'Love is the most beautiful sentiment that the Lord has put in the spirit of man,'" the Holy Father said in his homily. Present at the canonization were Molla's widowed husband and three children.

"Following the example of Christ, who 'having loved his own ... he loved them to the end,' this holy mother of a family was heroically faithful to the commitment she took on the day of her marriage," the Pope said.

"The supreme sacrifice that sealed her life testifies that only the one who has the courage to give himself totally to God and to brothers fulfills himself," he added.

He added: "May our age be able to discover, through the example of Gianna Beretta Molla, the pure, chaste and fruitful beauty of conjugal love, lived as a response to the divine call!"

Code: ZE04051610