Gianna Beretta was born in Magenta, near Milan, on October 4, 1922, the tenth of thirteen children. She was active in Catholic Action (organized lay apostolate groups) and the St. Vincent de Paul Society. She qualified as a physician in 1949 and specialized in pediatrics, opening a practice in Mesero. She thought seriously about joining her brother, a missionary doctor in Brazil, but poor health kept her home.

In 1955 she married Pietro Molla, an engineer, and they had three children. She kept practicing medicine while raising them, and she loved skiing, mountains and music. In 1961, two months into her fourth pregnancy, doctors found a large fibroid on her uterus. Of the options offered, she chose surgery that removed the fibroid but kept the pregnancy, knowing the risk to herself. She told her doctors that if they had to choose, they should save the child.

Her daughter Gianna Emanuela was born on April 21, 1962. Gianna died a week later, on April 28, of septic peritonitis, at thirty-nine. John Paul II canonized (officially declared a saint by the pope) her on May 16, 2004, with her husband and daughter—herself a physician—present. People follow her because she was a working mother and doctor whose holiness looked like ordinary family life, until the moment she was asked to give everything.

Gianna Beretta Molla (1922–1962) was an Italian pediatrician, wife and mother of four. During her fourth pregnancy she developed a uterine fibroma and chose a surgery that preserved the pregnancy. Her daughter Gianna Emanuela was born on April 21, 1962; Gianna died on April 28, 1962. Pope John Paul II canonized her on May 16, 2004.