"The Second St. Gianna Beretta"

If you are not familiar with the beautiful Italian physician, wife, and mother who died for the life of her unborn child and was made a Saint by Pope John Paul II on May 16, 2004, you owe it to yourself to learn about Saint Gianna Beretta Molla and the medical circumstances of her last pregnancy.  Hers is the story of the warmth of motherhood and the self-gift of laying down her own life for that of her child, and a child she had not even met face to face yet.  

The heroic love of a mother's heart continues in another Italian woman by the name of Chiara Corbella who died on June 13, 2012 after declining cancer treatments to save the life of her unborn child.  Chiara and her husband Enrico had greatly suffered in their marriage, losing both of their children only minutes after they were born due to birth defects.  There are so many couples who allow themselves to be torn apart in the face of such tragedy and suffering, but Chiara and Enrico witnessed to the love of God by becoming pro-life speakers and sharing their testimony.  Enrico said, “We grew more and more in love with each other and Jesus. We were never disappointed by this love, and for this reason, we never lost time."

When Chiara was in her third pregnancy she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer which required treatment immediately.  Because of the posed threat to their unborn son, Francisco, Chiara refused treatment until after his birth on May 30, 2011.  Unfortunately at this point it was too late to stop the cancer and Chiara lost sight in one eye and then a year later lost the battle for her life.  At her funeral Mass the celebrant and Vicar General of Rome, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, said Chiara was "the second Gianna Beretta."

Enrico said of the last year of his love Chiara's life, “I spent a lot of time this year reflecting on this phrase from the Gospel that says the Lord gives a cross that is sweet and a burden that is light. When I would look at Chiara when she was about to die, I obviously became very upset. But I mustered the courage and a few hours before – it was about eight in the morning, Chiara died at noon – I asked her.  

I said: 'But Chiara, my love, is this cross really sweet, like the Lord says? She looked at me and she smiled, and in a soft voice she said, 'Yes, Enrico, it is very sweet.' In this sense, the entire family didn't see Chiara die peacefully, but happily, which is totally different,” Ernico said.

When his son grows up, he added, he will tell him “how beautiful it is to let oneself be loved by God, because if you feel loved you can do anything,” and this is “the most important thing in life: to let yourself be loved in order to love and die happy.”

“I will tell him that this is what his mother, Chiara, did.

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