Thanks to the Catholic Company's review program, I was able to review Thomas McKenna's booklet, St. Gianna Beretta Molla, A Modern Day Hero of Divine Love. This 32 page booklet is illustrated with photographs of St. Gianna and her family. It also contains several prayers to St. Gianna, a novena and a litany.
I've never read a biography of St. Gianna before, so I enjoyed learning more about her. In short, she was an Italian woman born in 1922. As a child she was very religious and wanted to be a missionary. However, she had health problems that led her to believe this wasn't her vocation. She became a doctor and, at age 33, she married. She had three children and continued to work as doctor. She suffered from two miscarriages and then, in 1961, became pregnant with her fourth child. During the pregnancy she suffered from a fibroid tumor which needed to be removed to save her life. She chose the riskiest surgical option because it was most likely to save the life of her unborn child. The surgery was successful. Unfortunately, St. Gianna died from an infection following the c-section by which this baby was born.
The booklet speaks of St. Gianna's sprituality and gives more details on her life than I am able to tell you here. It also includes several pages on her writings. If you are looking for a quick introduction to this modern-day saint, I'd recommend this booklet. The writing style is a little flowery, and while a full-length book of this style would probably annoy me, in this short booklet it was tolerable. Click here to purchase the booklet.
This book sounds utterly captivating. She was quite a woman to become a doctor and succeed. How sad that they died in childbirth.
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