Catholic Dads

Parents Who Become Saints

June 16th, 2010

What if one of your parents was an honest-to-goodness saint? Not the “my mother was a saint to put up with all of us” type of saint, but an actual canonized saint-a holy man or woman honored by the Church until the ends of time.

Columbia is the monthly magazine put out by the Knights of Columbus. This month’s issue is devoted to fathers. One of the articles has three adult children writing about their father, who just passed away on Holy Saturday at the age of 97.

The children’s names are Gianna, Pierluigi and Laura. They write glowingly about their father, Pietro.

In reading their testimonies, you can’t help but be struck by the words they used to describe their father . . . . . loving, dedicated, patient, a treasure, affectionate, strength, firmness, humility, untiring willpower, help, role model, close, generosity, enthusiasm, cultural and intellectual richness, guide, support, care, sensitivity, counsel (never imposed, always available), great example of love, constancy and faith, thirst for knowledge, inspiration, whole heart, diplomacy . . . . . .

There were two passages that especially struck me, both by Pierluigi, his son (who is 53, married, with a daughter) -

“Papa always wished to offer and model for us principles, rules and personal and religious customs that showed us how much these were at the core of his being.”

and

“He lived and passed onto us a fatherhood that was characterized by responsibility, good example, and a sense of duty. He first lived those qualities in his daily life, and dedicated himself to work, to family and to God with a deep respect for his neighbor.”

If you really read and re-read these descriptions and these passages, no other commentary is necessary. Pietro Molla’s fatherhood is a model for the rest of us. This is how Our Father expects us to father our children; the children he has entrusted to our care. It is our vocation; it is our calling.

Chances are that Pietro will not be canonized or even declared a Servant of God (the first step to sainthood). But, in reading the reflections of his children, he was a saint. He was a saint to them and to the others with whom he came into contact in his life. He was a holy man who followed God’s will and made his love for God interchangeable with his love for his neighbor.

And his life-story reminds us all that WE are called to be saints; all of us; to our children, to our wives, to our neighbors. No recognition can be expected (just see today’s Gospel from Matthew 6). Sanctification is our calling; it must be our life purpose.

It is good for us to start with examples like Pietro. Also, take a good look at St. Joseph, St. Thomas More and Blessed Louis Martin (the father of St. Therese of Lisieux).

Mothers also have their role models; St. Monica, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Blessed Marie-Azelie Guerin Martin (the mother of St. Therese of Lisieux) . . . . .

and . . . .

St. Gianna Berretta Molla (1922-1962), the wife of Pietro and mother of Gianna, Pierluigi and Laura. She was a holy woman living in our times. Already living an exemplary life as a physician, wife and mother, she was diagnosed with a benign tumor when pregnant with Gianna. She had essentially two choices – her life or Gianna’s. She chose Gianna and died a week after Gianna was born. She was canonized in 2004 by Pope John Paul the Great, with her husband and children present in St. Peter’s Square. She was the last saint canonized by the Holy Father.

Fathers . . . . Mothers – we are called to be saints. Our children need us to be saints. God expects us to be saints. He has given us an awesome, divine, eternal responsibility to be parents to the children he has entrusted to us. We WILL be called before him to account for how we have done with this most important of responsibilities.

Pietro and Gianna’s children knew they lived amongst saints. Let our children be able to say the same of us.

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