Our Founder

Friends of Saint Gianna was founded by Linda Grace, a Catholic convert, wife and mother, whose own journey of faith became closely intertwined with the life and witness of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla.

While Linda and her husband were preparing to be received into the Catholic Church, they met regularly with their parish priest for adult faith formation. As her Confirmation approached, Linda knew she would soon be asked to choose a patron saint.

At the time, she was navigating the beautiful but often overwhelming realities of motherhood. She prayed a simple prayer, asking Jesus to introduce her to the saint He desired to accompany her throughout her Catholic life.

Having always been drawn to the great Catholic mystics, she assumed her Confirmation saint would be one of them.

Instead, she unexpectedly came across a brief post about Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, a saint she had never heard of before.

What immediately struck Linda was that Saint Gianna was not a distant figure from centuries past, but a modern wife, mother and physician who pursued holiness while living an ordinary family life.

Although she had only read a few paragraphs, she found that she simply could not stop thinking about Saint Gianna.

As she continued learning about her life, Linda discovered that many people sought Saint Gianna's intercession for infertility, pregnancy loss, difficult pregnancies, motherhood and family life.

This deeply resonated with her own journey.

For ten years, Linda had carried the heavy cross of infertility and pregnancy loss, including the heartbreaking loss of twins. After previously welcoming two sons without difficulty, she and her husband endured years of waiting before, by the grace of God, they were eventually blessed with their first daughter.

Through Saint Gianna's story, Linda found not only a patron saint, but a heavenly friend who understood both the joys and the sorrows of family life.

Then came two deeply personal moments that strengthened this growing conviction.

Saint Gianna's feast day, 28th of April, falls on Linda's own mother's birthday. Later, she discovered that Saint Gianna's daughter, Mariolina Zita "Maria" Molla, shared Linda's birthday of the 11th of December.

To many, these may seem like small coincidences. To Linda, they were gentle reminders of God's loving providence, confirming that Saint Gianna was to become her Confirmation saint and faithful companion in her vocation as a wife and mother.

As Linda continued reading about Saint Gianna's life, she found herself identifying with her in more ways than she had expected.

It was not only Saint Gianna's experience of marriage, motherhood and suffering that resonated with her, but also her generous and charitable heart. Saint Gianna saw her medical profession as a vocation of love and service, caring for those who were sick, vulnerable and in need.

Linda had long shared that same desire to help others. She had also carried within her heart a longing to become a missionary and to dedicate her life to sharing the Gospel. Although that calling has unfolded differently than she once imagined, she has come to realise that evangelisation is not limited to distant mission fields. It can flourish within marriage, motherhood, parish life and the ordinary encounters of daily life.

The more Linda discovered about Saint Gianna, the more she recognised a woman whose love for God overflowed naturally into love for others. She admired Saint Gianna's joyful generosity, her deep trust in God and her wholehearted commitment to serving those around her.

Linda was also deeply inspired by the loving marriage shared between Saint Gianna and her husband, Pietro. Their relationship, founded on faith, mutual sacrifice, tenderness and a shared desire to place Christ at the centre of their family life, became a beautiful example of the kind of marriage she desired to cultivate with her own husband. It reminded her that holiness is not pursued alone, but can be lived together through the vocation of marriage, with husband and wife helping one another grow in love of God while faithfully raising their children and following Christamid the joys and challenges of modern family life.

These shared desires to love generously, to serve others, to evangelise, to strengthen family life and to pursue holiness in the ordinary circumstances of life deepened Linda's conviction that Saint Gianna had become not only her Confirmation saint, but also a trusted friend in heaven.

Not long afterwards, Linda received her very first relic, a second-class relic of Saint Gianna sent from Italy with the endorsement of her parish priest. Receiving this precious gift further strengthened the growing conviction that Saint Gianna's life was not meant to remain only within the pages of a biography, but was to be shared with others.

Over time, that conviction became the foundation of Friends of Saint Gianna.

Friends of Saint Gianna was established to introduce people to Saint Gianna not simply as a canonised saint, but as a woman whose life speaks powerfully to the realities of modern family life. Through prayer, education, relic veneration, gatherings and the sharing of testimonies, the apostolate seeks to encourage ordinary people to discover that holiness is possible in the midst of everyday life. We believe there is no need to pretend that marriage and parenthood are always easy. They are filled with moments of great joy as well as seasons of sacrifice and weariness. Saint Gianna reminds us that holiness is not found in a perfect family life, but in faithfully loving God and one another through it all.

Saint Gianna reminds us that holiness is not reserved for those living extraordinary lives. It is found in faithfully loving God within the ordinary responsibilities, sacrifices and joys entrusted to us each day. Whether as husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, single people, professionals, students or those carrying hidden crosses, every person is called to become a saint.

It is Linda's hope that everyone who encounters Friends of Saint Gianna will discover what she herself discovered: a compassionate friend in heaven who understands the beauty and challenges of modern life, continually points souls towards Jesus Christ, and gently reminds us that sainthood is not beyond our reach, but is the universal calling of every Christian.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith." - Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV)