Women in History: Saint Gianna Molla, a Model of Humility and Desire

For Holy Women's History Month, Emily Jerger highlights how God rewarded Saint Gianna Molla's humility and answered her desire.

Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, a beloved wife, mother, and doctor, is perhaps best known for her self-sacrificial love in choosing to risk her life in order to protect the child she was carrying.

When diagnosed with a tumor in her uterus, Gianna did not hesitate to continue her pregnancy and ask that the doctors do everything they could to save her baby. Saint Gianna gave birth to a healthy daughter, named Gianna Emanuela, before dying from an infection a week later.

In 2015 at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, I was blessed with the opportunity to attend a talk by Dr. Gianna Emanuela Molla. Hearing a daughter witness about her mother’s legacy of love and holiness, seeing how she followed in her mother’s footsteps both as a doctor and a Catholic, and knowing how proud and grateful she was for her mom was deeply moving. Gianna Emanuela came into this world because her mother protected her, advocated for her, cared for her, and loved her before she was even born. This witness of love is a beautiful gift for our times, for sure, but there is a different moment in Saint Gianna’s life that especially draws me to her example of holiness.

The Dream of Becoming a Missionary

In The Journey of Our Love: The Letters of Saint Gianna Beretta and Pietro Molla, Elio Guerriero writes about a decisive point in the life of Saint Gianna. She had already dedicated herself to studying medicine but she dreamed of even more. Gianna hoped to join her brother, Father Alberto, who was serving as a missionary priest in Brazil as well as her brother, Francesco, who was working on building a hospital. She planned to join their mission and was studying Portuguese. Guerriero shares an excerpt of one of Saint Gianna’s letters in which she writes to her brother:

“I am so happy to be coming, and I really think this is my vocation. I too have prayed about this. At the end of the month I’m going on retreat to see whether the Lord will say yes or no.” (p.9)

At this point in her journey, Saint Gianna was a prayerful, devoted Christian. She had taken concrete actions to prepare herself for what she believed was her vocation. She seemed fairly confident of what God’s will is for her, although she was open to God telling her yes or no.

Everything seemed to indicate that she would go to Brazil; however, when her brother, Francesco, returned from Brazil, he warned his family of the hardships that came with living in the hot and humid climate. Immediately, Saint Gianna’s family was alarmed, knowing she was sensitive to heat and worrying she would get sick.

An Unexpected Change in Plans

As a further blow to Saint Gianna’s hopes and dreams, her spiritual director and her bishop also expressed their doubts about her ability to endure the demands of missionary life. Despite her enthusiasm for the mission, she listened and humbly considered what her spiritual director, bishop, and family have to say. She did not try to prove them wrong or say it is a sacrifice she is willing to make.

Gianna listened, prayed, and changed course, allowing her desire for holiness to continue to grow and take shape in her own native land. This is why I love Saint Gianna. By humbly listening to the people God had placed in her life, she was able to be open to a different vocation: marriage. In the end, it was God’s will that she should stay in Italy and meet Pietro Molla. The rest is holy history.

Perhaps this aspect of her story resonates so much with me because I too once thought my vocation was to be a missionary. I entered religious life in my early twenties and traveled to India and France. I was prepared to live overseas in the long term, but God had a different plan. He lead me out of the convent and into marriage and motherhood.

A wise priest once reminded me that God was pleased with my desires and that I made no mistake in entering or leaving religious life. I know that God was pleased with Saint Gianna’s desire to be a missionary as well. In fact, one of the most beautiful aspects of Saint Gianna’s story is that God answered her desire to serve the people of Brazil in the most unexpected way.

A Missionary from Heaven

The Catholic Church canonizes someone as a saint by formally acknowledging their holiness of life and by presenting this individual as a role model. In order to be recognized as a Blessed or a Saint, miracles need to be attributed to that individual’s intercession. In the case of Saint Gianna, it was fittingly in Brazil of all places that her prayerful intercession was answered in miraculous healings.

With God, nothing is wasted. Saint Gianna ended up serving in Brazil, not by living there, but as saint interceding for mothers and children.

Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, pray for us.

Read more of our Holy Women's History Month stories.

Share your thoughts with the Catholic Mom community! You'll find the comment box below the author's bio and list of recommended articles.

Copyright 2026 Emily Jerger
Images: (banner) Trinity Mirror / Mirrorpix / Alamy Stock Photo; Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons