Gianna Beretta Molla

Gianna Beretta Molla (1922 to 1962) was an Italian pediatrician who combined medical practice with Catholic charitable work and is venerated as a saint. Born in Magenta, she studied medicine in Milan, received her medical diploma at Pavia in 1949, opened a practice in Mesero and from 1952 specialised in paediatrics at the University of Milan. Alongside her work she was active in Catholic Action and helped the Saint Vincent de Paul group in its outreach to the poor and the elderly. She married the engineer Pietro Molla in 1955 and had four children. In 1961, during her fourth pregnancy, a fibroma was found on her uterus. She chose to have only the fibroma removed rather than undergo an abortion or a complete hysterectomy, and she died of septic peritonitis in April 1962, a week after her daughter was delivered by Caesarean section. She was beatified in 1994 and canonised in 2004 after two healings were attributed to her intercession.