A modern-day Saint celebrated today

Shortly after her death in 1962, the touching story of Gianna Beretta Molla, married woman, mother of a family and medical doctor, spread quickly throughout the entire world. Through Gianna’s married love she became a sign of Christ’s love for the Church and for humanity.

Her action at the end of her life, in saving young Gianna Emanuela, her daughter, was heroic in that she prepared for her final action every day of her life. Her final decision for life was the natural flowering and culmination of an extraordinary life of virtue and holiness, selflessness and quiet joy.

On April 24, 1994, Pope John Paul II beatified Gianna Beretta Molla, mother of a family, in Saint Peter's Square in Rome. Ten years later, on May 16, 2004, she was proclaimed a saint of the Church. Her husband and children were present at both ceremonies.

In this moving video, find out why this contemporary Italian woman is patron saint of mothers, physicians, unborn children and the 2015 World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.