Sunday, May 22, 2022

Love Letters of St. Gianna

 From National Catholic Register:

She was a doctor who drove to Mass in her Fiat 500 and searched endlessly for the will of God. He was a humble, morally resolute engineer full of enthusiasm for the richness of life. They met in the town of Mesero, Italy, and the day before their wedding, Pietro Molla gave Gianna Beretta a watch, a pearl necklace and a note. 

“Let these crown the wonder and the brightness of your beauty and your virtues on our wedding day,” he wrote. “May the watch always mark the loveliness and most peaceful times of our life, and may this pearl necklace be a sign of the enchanting light of our love. They are given to you ... by your Pietro with the greatest love.”

The couple documented their love story in years of letters to each other. Love Letters to My Husband and The Journey of Our Love are books that contain dozens of letters between the two of them. While their deep affection for each other has only captured the hearts of readers in print since 2002 and 2014, respectively, Gianna was beatified in 1994 and canonized in 2004.

Their wise words induce reflection on holy and mighty expectations for romantic relationships, from dating, to engagement, to marriage, and on love itself. In the book The Journey of Our Love, the introduction author Elio Guerriero wrote:

“Better than a theological treatise, these letters are a convincing proof that the way of holiness does not necessarily pass through religious life or the priestly ministry,” he wrote, “but can unfold in the midst of the world, living one’s own vocation as a Christian called to holiness with Christ in married life.”

The couple exchanged the honest and affectionate desires of their hearts with each other and responded with kindness and shared enthusiasm for their upcoming life together. 

Gianna: “I really want to make you happy and be what you desire: good, understanding and ready for the sacrifices that life will require of us. I haven’t told you yet that I have always been very sensitive and eager for affection.”

Pietro: “A new life is beginning for me: the life of your great (and greatly desired) affection and of your radiant goodness. ... I too want to make you happy and understand you well.”  (Read more.)


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