Holy Women's History Month: Saint Gianna Beretta Molla

I hadn’t heard of Saint Gianna Molla back in 1993. At the time, I was a young mother of three small boys. I had suffered a life-threatening internal hemorrhage after the remains of an ectopic pregnancy ruptured one of my fallopian tubes. Because I had experienced two previous ectopic (tubal) pregnancies, and because I nearly died with this one, my doctors and many of our relatives told my husband and me that we “had no business having more children,” and “you have to think of your other children now.” 

In those first few months after surgery, we believed that we ought to listen to the “doctors’ orders.” We continued using NFP (Natural Family Planning) in the most conservative way to avoid pregnancy.  

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Questioning the Doctors’ Recommendations 

A year later, with heaviness in our hearts, my husband and I discussed the future and the possibility that we would not have more children. We questioned the doctors’ recommendations. Was God calling us to actively seek another pregnancy? My husband and I brought our concerns to our spiritual director, explaining to him that the doctor told us that we should not have any more children.  “James and Ellie,” he said, “that is a decision to be made between the two of you and God. No one else.”  He encouraged us to pray “for God’s will.” He further recommended that we talk to a faithful Catholic doctor. Her advice after reviewing my file was that we could try for more children, but I would need to be monitored carefully in the first several weeks to confirm that it wasn’t another ectopic pregnancy. She also encouraged us to pray. We deeply desired another child, but we did not want to be careless or irresponsible.  

Learning About the Newly Beatified Gianna Molla

It was around this time, in 1994, that I bought a short booklet about Blessed Gianna Molla at a homeschooling conference. She had just been beatified, the step before becoming an official saint of the Church. I learned that Blessed Gianna was a Catholic physician. In 1961, when she became pregnant with her fourth child, doctors discovered she had a benign tumor in her uterus. She allowed the surgeons to remove the tumor but not to perform the complete hysterectomy that they recommended, which would have killed her unborn child. The week before Gianna gave birth to her fourth child, she told her husband, “If you must decide between me and the child, do not hesitate. Choose the child. I insist on it. Save him.” In April 1962, their daughter was born, but the following week, Gianna died of a septic infection. 

Saint Gianna’s story inspired me to pray more and to fully embrace God’s Divine Will. Even with three small children, Saint Gianna chose life for her unborn child. I’m sure it pained her to know that she could possibly die and leave her children without a mother. “If you knew how much suffering it brings, having to leave behind small children,” she said to her sister on her deathbed. That kind of trust to fully embrace God’s Divine Will, despite the suffering, deeply resonated within me (and continues to inspire me today). 

Embracing God’s Divine Will and Embracing Suffering 

After much prayer and discernment, and weighing all the risks, we decided to try for another pregnancy — to actively embrace God’s Divine Will, whatever that was. A year and a half later, we were still not pregnant. We felt at peace, and although we were disappointed, we trusted in God’s will.   

We stopped charting, and I sold off some of our baby furniture.  A few months later, it dawned on me that I hadn’t had a period in a while. High basal body temperatures and the beginning of morning sickness confirmed that I was pregnant. God had blessed us with another “fruit of our love.” We were thrilled. 

With the blessing, however, soon came the suffering.  I began having debilitating migraine headaches, and some days, I could not get out of bed.  Worse than the physical pain, however, was the emotional suffering.  Doctors, well-meaning friends, and relatives told us that we were being “irresponsible” and “selfish” and that if I was suffering, “I had asked for it.” I thought of Blessed Gianna, a physician herself, and wondered if her doctors told her that she, too, was being irresponsible and selfish when she refused to have a hysterectomy because she wanted to preserve her unborn child’s life. We stopped listening to the doctors and focused on God’s will. 

Two Joyful Additions to our Family 

Seven months later, we welcomed our fourth son into our family. Three years after that, our youngest son was born. 

Although we could have used NFP to morally avoid pregnancy permanently and to limit our family size to three sons, we chose to listen to our hearts, to answer God’s calling, and to seek God’s Divine Will. When I consider that our two youngest sons might possibly not be here today, my heart becomes heavy.

But God, in His perfect will, knew these two unique and unrepeatable human beings were meant for this world. I am grateful to God, to the Church, and to Saint Gianna Molla’s inspirational life, because I can’t imagine our family without our two youngest sons (now 29 and almost 26).  

During Women's History Month, Catholic Mom writers are celebrating the women who have inspired their faith journeys—whether canonized saints, saints in progress, or beloved women from Scripture. Through personal reflections and heartfelt stories, they share how these holy women have touched their lives, offering wisdom, strength, and a deeper connection to God. Join us as we honor the spiritual legacy of these remarkable women and the lasting impact they continue to have on our hearts and souls. 

Copyright 2025 Ellen Gable Hrkach 
Images: Holy Cross Family Ministries