The parish Moms Group that I am extremely blessed to be a part of recently prayed a novena for a member experiencing medical trouble after the birth of a child. Of course, her health not only affects her, but the entire family since they depend on her in so many ways. Who better to pray to for her recovery than St. Gianna Molla, a mother who constantly served others as a medical doctor, a wife, and a mother?

Moving from a larger metropolitan area to a smaller one within the last year has meant a change in my surrounding demographics, particularly among the women I know. I was accustomed to living in a place that’s cost of living necessitated two full-time incomes. In my new home, I expected to see many more stay-at-home mothers and, indeed, there are. There are also a number of women working full-time, dedicating themselves both to their families and to their professions, whether that is as a teacher or a doctor, or through other professions. There is also the segment I am part of: women who have chosen to mostly stay home with their children, but also to work professionally in a part-time capacity. I’ve met doulas who meet with clients with children at their side, nurses who take evening shifts after their husbands return from day jobs, and extremely creative women who have started their own businesses selling homemade goods.

Regardless of their professional choices, all of these women are striving to fulfill their vocations as wives and mothers. I see in the many manifestations of womanhood an echoing of Mary’s words to the Angel Gabriel “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to Thy Word.” In the encyclical, Mulieris Dignitatem, Pope John Paul II teaches us that women are called in a particular way to make a gift of themselves. The women that I know do this in a variety of ways – through caring for sick children throughout the night and waking early the next morning, through playing with their kids during the day and serving patients in the evenings, and by putting their talents and gifts at the service of the wider community.

A decade ago, my first encounter with Saint Gianna Molla was through reading a book of the love letters between her and her husband. I was extremely struck by the constancy of her efforts to love her family and to serve God and others. She received a medical degree in 1949, a time when there still weren’t many women doctors. In the years following the opening of her practice, she had two children. In her life, I see such a witness to the vibrancy of womanhood. She did not blindly follow a pre-ordained plan laid out for her life, but followed the Will of God for her specifically, retaining always a love first for God and then for her family.

Yet as all mothers know, the path to holiness rarely comes without suffering. Every mother experiences this in some degree through the discomfort of pregnancy and the pains of labor. Many women experience the painful loss of miscarriage or complications during or after birth. Uniting with Mary who followed her Son to the Cross, as mothers we know that there is a reason for our suffering, that God is with us and bestowing us with the graces needed in order to suffer for those we love.

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The reason Gianna Molla’s life drew the attention of the faithful everywhere is because she not only suffered for love of her children; she sacrificed her life for one of them. During her second month of pregnancy with Gianna Emanuela, she developed a fibroma in her uterus. When she underwent surgery, she selflessly pleaded for her child’s life to be put before her own. The surgery was successful and she was able to carry her baby to term. Several days before the birth of her daughter, Gianna is quoted as saying ““If you must decided between me and the child, do not hesitate: choose the child – I insist on it. Save him.” All efforts were made to save both mother and child and on April 21, 1962 Gianna Emanuela was born. A week later, however, with the name of Jesus on her lips, Gianna Molla died at the age of 39.

While few mothers are called to literally give their lives for their children, we each are called to die to ourselves through a gift of self to our families. The holiness of St. Gianna Molla is apparent in mothers who choose life for their children despite external and internal pressures to abort. Her dedication to serving the Lord by serving her family and others is present in mothers who stay at home and those who work in offices. Each one of us has the opportunity to pray to this extraordinary women that she might intercede for us as we strive to give our lives to God, family, and others, in the particular path to which God has called us.

Caitlin Bootsma is the editor of Human Life International’s Truth and Charity Forum. Mrs. Bootsma received a Licentiate in Catholic Social Communications at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome as well as a Master’s of Systematic Theology from Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College. She lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband and two sons.

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