![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/613\/2018\/06\/DSC00232-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhen I was seven or eight years old, my mother told me the story about a mother who while pregnant became ill with cancer.\u00a0 The woman had to make a very difficult decision: receive treatment and risk the wellbeing of the child, or wait until the child was born to be treated.\u00a0 The heroic woman of my mother\u2019s story chose to wait.\u00a0 Six months after the birth of her daughter, the mother died.<\/p>\n
When I entered the seminary in 2002 I learned the story of Gianna Beretta Molla, an Italian pediatrician who in 1961 faced the same distressing situation of the woman in my mother\u2019s story.\u00a0 Having developed a tumor in her uterus during her fourth pregnancy, Gianna had to make a decision no family wishes to face.\u00a0\u00a0 The tumor was removed in an attempt to save both the lives of the mother and the child.\u00a0 One week after delivering a beautiful daughter named Gianna Emanuela, Gianna Molla died.\u00a0 Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1994 and later canonized her on May 16th<\/sup>, 2004.\u00a0 Her husband and children, including Gianna Emanuela, attended the ceremony.<\/p>\n\u201cWhy was my great-grandmother not canonized?\u201d I wondered when reading about Saint Gianna Molla for the first time.\u00a0 \u201cThey both did the same thing!\u201d\u00a0 Having grown up knowing of my great-grandmother\u2019s heroic choice to save her daughter\u2019s life over her own had somehow made this extraordinary decision ordinary in my mind.\u00a0 From a young age, I had heard my mother\u2019s telling of my great-grandmother Clotilde Coquis\u2019 decision, so it seemed natural to me that a mother would chose this.\u00a0 I came to realize the power of a mother\u2019s epic selfless love that is willing to lose it all for the sake of her child. \u00a0During Saint Gianna\u2019s canonization Mass, Pope John Paul II recalled that \u201cGianna was a simple, but more than ever, significant messenger of divine life\u2026 following the example of Christ, who \u2018having loved his own\u2026 loved them to the end,\u2019 this holy mother of a family remained heroically faithful to the commitment she made on the day of her marriage.\u00a0 The extreme sacrifice she sealed with her life testifies that only those who have the courage to give themselves totally to God and to others are able to fulfil themselves.\u201d\u00a0 As Jesus gave life back to Lazarus in Bethany only to have his life taken away days later in Jerusalem, the courage of my great-grandmother and of Gianna Molla is in perfect imitation of the love of Christ for the people of God.<\/p>\n
My grandmother kept a photograph of her mother on her night table, a black and white portrait enclosed in a beautiful silver frame.\u00a0 She was only twenty-two when her mother died in 1937, and she was left in charge of raising her two youngest sisters.\u00a0 Ordinary men and women make heroic choices everyday through which they conform more to Christ and grow in holiness.\u00a0 My great-grandmother will not be canonized like Saint Gianna Molla, yet her selfless act of love has certainly earned her a place among the saints of heaven.<\/p>\n
Picture is mine, all rights reserved.\u00a0 Rwanda, 2016<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I was seven or eight years old, my mother told me the story about a mother who while pregnant became ill with cancer.\u00a0 The woman had to make a very difficult decision: receive treatment and risk the wellbeing of the child, or wait until the child was born to be treated.\u00a0 The heroic woman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2533,"featured_media":3239,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[217],"tags":[734,93,128],"class_list":["post-3236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-gianna-molla","tag-love","tag-sacrifice"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Heroic Love of a Mother<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When I was seven or eight years old, my mother told me the story about a mother who while pregnant became ill with cancer.\u00a0 The woman had to make a very\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2018\/06\/the-heroic-love-of-a-mother.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Heroic Love of a Mother\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When I was seven or eight years old, my mother told me the story about a mother who while pregnant became ill with cancer.\u00a0 The woman had to make a very\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2018\/06\/the-heroic-love-of-a-mother.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Labyrinthine Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-07T20:08:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/613\/2018\/06\/DSC00232.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Father Pablo Migone\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Father Pablo Migone\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2018\/06\/the-heroic-love-of-a-mother.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2018\/06\/the-heroic-love-of-a-mother.html\",\"name\":\"The Heroic Love of a Mother\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-07T20:08:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-07T20:08:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b\"},\"description\":\"When I was seven or eight years old, my mother told me the story about a mother who while pregnant became ill with cancer.\u00a0 The woman had to make a very\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2018\/06\/the-heroic-love-of-a-mother.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2018\/06\/the-heroic-love-of-a-mother.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2018\/06\/the-heroic-love-of-a-mother.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Heroic Love of a Mother\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/\",\"name\":\"Labyrinthine Mind\",\"description\":\"Seeking God in the labyrinth\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b\",\"name\":\"Father Pablo Migone\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Father Pablo Migone\"},\"description\":\"Born in Lima, Peru and raised in Augusta, Georgia, Father Pablo Migone was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 2009 after studying at the Pontifical North American College and earning a Masters in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy. He currently serves as Vicar for Mission Advancement of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia and Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and Corpus Christi Parish in the Savannah, Georgia area. The views expressed in this blog are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of his bishop or the Diocese of Savannah.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/author\/pmigone\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Heroic Love of a Mother","description":"When I was seven or eight years old, my mother told me the story about a mother who while pregnant became ill with cancer.\u00a0 The woman had to make a very","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2018\/06\/the-heroic-love-of-a-mother.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Heroic Love of a Mother","og_description":"When I was seven or eight years old, my mother told me the story about a mother who while pregnant became ill with cancer.\u00a0 The woman had to make a very","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2018\/06\/the-heroic-love-of-a-mother.html","og_site_name":"Labyrinthine Mind","article_published_time":"2018-06-07T20:08:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/613\/2018\/06\/DSC00232.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Father Pablo Migone","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Father Pablo Migone","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2018\/06\/the-heroic-love-of-a-mother.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2018\/06\/the-heroic-love-of-a-mother.html","name":"The Heroic Love of a Mother","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-06-07T20:08:40+00:00","dateModified":"2018-06-07T20:08:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b"},"description":"When I was seven or eight years old, my mother told me the story about a mother who while pregnant became ill with cancer.\u00a0 The woman had to make a very","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2018\/06\/the-heroic-love-of-a-mother.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2018\/06\/the-heroic-love-of-a-mother.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2018\/06\/the-heroic-love-of-a-mother.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Heroic Love of a Mother"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/","name":"Labyrinthine Mind","description":"Seeking God in the labyrinth","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b","name":"Father Pablo Migone","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Father Pablo Migone"},"description":"Born in Lima, Peru and raised in Augusta, Georgia, Father Pablo Migone was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 2009 after studying at the Pontifical North American College and earning a Masters in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy. He currently serves as Vicar for Mission Advancement of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia and Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and Corpus Christi Parish in the Savannah, Georgia area. The views expressed in this blog are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of his bishop or the Diocese of Savannah.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/author\/pmigone"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2533"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/613\/2018\/06\/DSC00232.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n