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Pietro Molla, husband of St Gianna Beretta Molla, who gave her life for her unborn child, has died near Milan aged 97.
“Early on Holy Saturday morning, April 3, 2010, Mr. Pietro Molla, husband of St. Gianna Beretta Molla, died in his family home in Mesero, near Milan in Italy, surrounded by his daughter Gianna Emanuela and his other children, Pierluigi and Laura,” Fr Tom Rosica wrote on ZENIT.
Mr Molla was 97 years old and had been in failing health for several years.
“I shall never forget the eve of St Gianna’s canonization at the Vatican on May 16, 2004, when Pietro called me to his room at the convent of the Sisters of Maria Bambina, and asked me to spend several hours with him as he prepared spiritually for the canonization ceremony the following morning,” Fr Rosica wrote.
“That night I said to Pietro, ‘You are from a family of Saints and Gianna will not be the only one raised to the glory of the altar. You will follow.’ He held my hand firmly, smiled and wept. ”
“The scenes of the canonization ceremony on May 16, 2004, remain engraved on my mind and heart.
“Pietro Molla was a pillar and rock. He lived a remarkable, saintly life and like his beloved wife, Gianna, made holiness something attainable for all of us.
“The cause for the beatification and canonization for St Gianna’s brother, Frei Alberto Beretta, a Capuchin missionary in Brazil, is now opened in Bergamo, Italy.
“I am certain that the cause for Pietro Molla’s beatification and canonization will be opened soon. What a powerful witness this would be to the dignity and sacredness of marriage and family life!
“Laura Molla shared with me this morning by phone that the Molla family is somehow linked to the mystery of Holy Saturday. It was on Holy Saturday 1962 that Gianna Beretta Molla gave birth to her daughter, Gianna Emanuela.
“One week later, on Easter Saturday, St Gianna died from the serious medical condition that resulted from bringing her child to term. St Gianna gave her life so that the child in her womb would live. And now Pietro returns to the house of the Father on Holy Saturday morning 2010,” Fr Rosica wrote.
SOURCE
St. Gianna’s Husband Dead at 97 (UCA News)
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