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Saint Gianna Shrine & Prayers

Saint Gianna Beretta Molla: The Heroic Modern Day Saint
Shrine Prayers

About Saint Gianna Beretta Molla

Saint Gianna Beretta Molla (1922-1962) was an Italian wife, mother, and physician who sacrificed her own life so that her unborn child would live. Gianna and her husband Pietro had three children, followed by two miscarriages and then Gianna conceived for the last time. During this pregnancy doctors discovered that Gianna had a painful uterine tumor. To have it removed would have caused the death of her unborn child.

She declined the medical procedure during the pregnancy and told her husband, "I renew the offering of my life to the Lord. I am ready for anything as long as my baby is saved." Eight days after giving birth, Saint Gianna died on April 28th.

The foundation of Gianna's spiritual life was a fervent prayer life that began at an early age. She saw her husband Pietro and the children that they bore together as gifts from God, given to her simply as signs of His abundant love, and this instilled in her heart a profound sense of gratitude. They prayed that their family would be a "cenacle where Jesus may reign over all affections, desires, and actions." She sanctified each day and all of the activities in it because of her desire to serve the Lord. She provides a lesson for all of those who strive for holiness in their everyday lives.

Saint Gianna's Shrine within the walls of the home

On the Feast of the Visitation, May 31st, with a crowd of almost 500 people and 17 priests, we officially opened the Shrine of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, a side addition to our chapel at Saint Gianna & Pietro Molla Maternity Home.

Many come here to pray for healing in relationships. Some come as they enter engagement and married life. Some come with health struggles. Most who come here leave filled with great hope and peace.

Indeed, we feel so blessed! We are grateful to the children of Saint Gianna for entrusting these sacred relics to us. We are also grateful to Bishop John T. Folda, Diocese of Fargo, who gave his blessing on this holy venture and to ALL who helped in ways great and small to make this shrine a reality. This project is truly a beautiful tribute to God through His beloved Saint Gianna.

What we believe

To honor our beloved Saint, we felt called to erect this beautiful shrine to prayerfully lift our hearts and minds to God. Gianna's powerful intercession has saved lives of mothers and children across the world. Her intercession has helped women conceive children they have longed for.

We want to foster the power of prayer and faith by giving our residents, staff, and visitors the chance to honor Gianna and pray for her intercession as one among the Saints in heaven. As Catholics, we believe that the Saints are more alive in heaven than they were on earth. Because of this and the power of God, this "cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1) is able to pray on our behalf (intercede). Many miracles have been attributed to Saint Gianna's intercession.

How it came to be

After receiving the relics of Saint Gianna from Gianna Emanuela, we prayed and discussed at length how we would display them. We wanted them properly shared and venerated. With the approval of Bishop Folda, we decided to build a shrine as an addition to the side of our chapel. The shrine was designed to match the Saint Gerard Shrine that was already in the back of our chapel.

Come and see

The Shrine of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla is open for private veneration. Call 701-248-3077 or email sgpmollahome@outlook.com to schedule a visit. It is available according to the schedule and availability of Saint Gianna & Pietro Molla Maternity Home. Because it is a home for our moms and their little ones, we are not always open to the public.

Prayers >>

Love and Sacrifice

by Saint Gianna
Love and sacrifice are as intimately tied together as sun and light. One cannot love without suffering and suffer without loving. Look at mothers who really love their babies…how many sacrifices they do and how ready they are even to shed their own blood as long as their babies grow to be good, healthy, and strong!

And hasn’t Jesus died on the cross for us, for our love? The blood of sacrifice is what affirms love and confirms it.

When Jesus, in Holy Communion, shows us His wounded heart, how can we tell Him we love Him if we make no sacrifices to be united to His and offered to Him in order to save souls?
And which is the best way to do sacrifice? It is to adore the will of God every day in all the small things that make us suffer, and to say, whenever something happens to us, “Thy will be done, O Lord!” Souls are sanctified not only through great penances such as wearing a hair shirt, fasting, giving up sleep, sleeping on a table and such. The real sacrifice is to accept with love, joy, and resignation the cross that God sends us…

…Let us love the Cross and remember that we are not carrying it alone – Jesus is helping us; and that, as Saint Paul says, "We can do all things in Him Who empowers us."
- Saint Gianna Beretta Molla
SGPM Maternity Home

Novena, Litany, and Saint Gianna's Prayer

Novena to Obtain Graces Through Saint Gianna Beretta Molla

God, our Father, You have granted to Your church the gift of Gianna Beretta Molla. In her youth she lovingly sought You and drew other young people to You, involving them, through apostolic witness and Catholic Action, in the care of the sick and aged, to help and comfort them.

We thank You for the gift of this young woman, so deeply committed to You. Through her example grant us the grace to consecrate our lives to Your service, for the joy of our brothers and sisters. 

Glory be …

Jesus, Redeemer of mankind, You called Saint Gianna to exercise the medical profession as a mission for the comfort of bodies and souls. In her suffering fellow men and in the little ones, deprived of all support, she saw You. 

We thank You for having revealed Yourself to this servant as “one who serves” and who soothes the sufferings of men. Treasuring her example, may we become generous Christians at the service of our brothers and sisters, especially those with whom You deign to share Your Cross.

Glory be…

God, Sanctifying Spirit, who love the Church as Your Bride, You poured into the heart of Saint Gianna a share of Your Love so that she could radiate it in her family, and thus cooperate with You in the wonderful plan of creation, and give life to new children who could know and love You.

We thank You for this model wife and, through her encouraging witness, we beg You to grant to our families the serene and Christian presence of mothers committed to transform their homes into cenacles of faith and love, rich with generous activity and sanctifying service.

Glory be…

O God, Creator and lover of mankind, You were close to Saint Gianna when, affected by illness, she was in the painful dilemma of choosing between her own life and the life of the child whom she was carrying in herself, a gift long-awaited. Trusting You alone, and aware of Your Commandment to respect human life, Gianna found the courage to do her duty as a mother and to say “yes” to the new life of her baby, generously sacrificing her own. Through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Jesus, and after the example of Gianna, inspire all mothers to welcome with love the sparkle of new life. Grant us the grace we are praying for …………. and the joy to find an inspiration in Saint Gianna who, as a model spouse and mother, after the example of Christ, gave up her life for the life of others. 

Hail Mary…
Litany of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us

Response: Have mercy on us
God the Father in Heaven.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world.
God the Holy Spirit.
Holy Trinity, one God. 

Response: Pray for us
Holy Mary.
Saint Michael the Archangel.
Saint Joseph.
Saint Gianna, filled with love for God.
Saint Gianna, filled with love for children.
Saint Gianna, filled with love for Our Lady and her Rosary.
Saint Gianna, filled with love for the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Saint Gianna, who sought the will of God in all things.
Saint Gianna, generous with those in need.
Saint Gianna, devoted to prayer.
Saint Gianna, willing to lay down your life for the sake of the gospel.
Saint Gianna, patient in suffering.
Saint Gianna, united to Jesus on the Cross.
Saint Gianna, called to the vocation of marriage.
Saint Gianna, who welcomed children as a blessing.
Saint Gianna, physician to the ill.
Saint Gianna, faithful daughter of the church.
Saint Gianna, witness to the sanctity of human life.
Response: Deliver us Lord through the intercession of Saint Gianna
From neglecting God through prayer.
From refusing to see God in the sick and poor.
From callousness to the sufferings of others.
From selfishness.
From a lack of trust in God’s providence.
From blindness to the dignity of the human person.
From denial that human life begins at conception.

Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.

Let us pray:
Lord of life, we thank You for the heroic witness of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla. You have taught us that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for others. Saint Gianna did this, not only as she gave birth to her last child, but also in her everyday life as she died to herself so that she could live wholly for You. What selflessness we see in her! Help us, we pray, that through the intercession of Saint Gianna, our society may regain a sense of the sacredness of all human life. Fill us with her spirit of courage to suffer any struggle rather than deny You and the sanctity of human life. We ask You this through our Lord, Jesus Christ, your son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

(Composed by a priest from Alabama and offered to the Society of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla)
Prayer of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla

Jesus, I promise You to submit myself to all that You permit to befall me, make me only know Your will.
My most sweet Jesus, infinitely merciful God, most tender Father of souls, and in a particular way of the most weak, most miserable, most infirm which You carry with special tenderness between Your divine arms.
I come to You to ask You, through the love and merits of Your Sacred Heart, the grace to comprehend and to do always Your holy will, the grace to confide in You, the grace to rest securely through time and eternity in Your loving divine arms. Amen.