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An Exemplary Couple: Saint Gianna Beretta and Pietro Molla Their Marital Journey and Message Today
An Exemplary Couple tells the inspiring story of St. Gianna Molla’s marriage to Pietro, and her heroic act of love for her baby, Gianna Emmanuela Molla. Valentina Di Marco’s extensive study of their lives draws heavily from the many letters Gianna and Pietro wrote to each other. This book was first published in Italian and is now published in English with the help of St. Gianna and Pietro’s youngest child. Within these pages, their lives are chronicled from their courtship, engagement, and marriage to their parenting years. You will get a glimpse of how their love for each other grew as they encouraged each other in striving for holiness and a greater love of God. Valentina also shares new details of Pietro’s life as he endeavored to provide for his family during a difficult time in Italy’s history and to faithfully support Gianna through her illness and the decision to save their baby.
When reading the lives of the saints, it is often easy to feel that the virtue and sanctity of these holy men and women are somehow out of reach for someone in our present times. However, St. Gianna and Pietro Molla’s story has the opposite effect. Through this book, you will find the simple, yet holy life of a couple devoted to the true call of the marriage to help each other get to Heaven.
As the Church Militant, we have a duty to fight for a culture of life in a society that has widely accepted a culture of death through the rejection of the sanctity of marriage, the family, and the sanctity of life itself. To effectively rally against this rejection of Truth, we must arm ourselves with the virtues exemplified by the saints; learning from St. Gianna Molla and her husband Pietro is a sure way to promote a culture of life.
When reading the lives of the saints, it is often easy to feel that the virtue and sanctity of these holy men and women are somehow out of reach for someone in our present times. However, St. Gianna and Pietro Molla’s story has the opposite effect. Through this book, you will find the simple, yet holy life of a couple devoted to the true call of the marriage to help each other get to Heaven.
As the Church Militant, we have a duty to fight for a culture of life in a society that has widely accepted a culture of death through the rejection of the sanctity of marriage, the family, and the sanctity of life itself. To effectively rally against this rejection of Truth, we must arm ourselves with the virtues exemplified by the saints; learning from St. Gianna Molla and her husband Pietro is a sure way to promote a culture of life.
165 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 14, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 9, 2025
It was such a great story to read about how they loved each other in and through marriage. It was so beautiful to see the way he loved her and thought of her constantly. I knew hardly anything about Gianna’s life but to see her from her husband’s eyes was honestly so moving. It takes a holy man to lead a woman like her and that is exactly what Pietro is. Discovering the man who is married to this great Saint was a gift in itself. Definitely recommend, especially if you are looking for great examples of holy marriages.
June 9, 2026
I don't know how I haven't read up on St. Gianna before...she's literally the reason I'm alive. Thankfully, reading this book helped fill in quite of few of my gaps in knowledge about her. I loved learning more about the lives of Gianna and Pietro--it's helpful to see saints (technically a saint and a blessed, but Pietro's is for sure going to be canonized) that live in a similar time period as us because I think we can sometimes forget that saints love things like hiking and fashion magazines and going to see plays. Pietro and Gianna had such a beautiful marriage too; in their letters they would often admit worries or confess faults but also were so deeply in love with the other and clearly tried hard to fulfill the Lord's will for their lives. St. Gianna reminds me a lot of St. Thomas More in that they both lived as married lay people in the world, were excellent at their jobs, and were well-loved by those around them, and when the time came to make a heroic sacrifice for God, they were willing to do so.
You might be wondering why I only gave this book three stars if I love St. Gianna so much. Fair question. Maybe it's the English teacher in me, but I did not enjoy how this book was written. The book was frankly a collection of quotes with a few sentences in between each, and, consequently, the organization felt a bit repetitive and choppy at times. Now I did really love the inclusion of the quotes because I enjoyed hearing eyewitness testimony from priests and family members about Gianna and Pietro, but it didn't really feel like I was reading a book. Additionally, this book was originally written in Italian, and I feel like the translator does not have a full grasp of the subtleties of the English language. It felt like the translator was trying to keep the translation as literal as possible, and that choice led to some clunky phrasing (referring to Gianna's husband as "Daddy Pietro" and "Engineer Pietro" at times) and frequent fluctuation of tense.
In conclusion: content = 5/5, writing = 2/5
You might be wondering why I only gave this book three stars if I love St. Gianna so much. Fair question. Maybe it's the English teacher in me, but I did not enjoy how this book was written. The book was frankly a collection of quotes with a few sentences in between each, and, consequently, the organization felt a bit repetitive and choppy at times. Now I did really love the inclusion of the quotes because I enjoyed hearing eyewitness testimony from priests and family members about Gianna and Pietro, but it didn't really feel like I was reading a book. Additionally, this book was originally written in Italian, and I feel like the translator does not have a full grasp of the subtleties of the English language. It felt like the translator was trying to keep the translation as literal as possible, and that choice led to some clunky phrasing (referring to Gianna's husband as "Daddy Pietro" and "Engineer Pietro" at times) and frequent fluctuation of tense.
In conclusion: content = 5/5, writing = 2/5
June 27, 2025
Super short read but a tender insight into the short but everlasting marriage of St. Gianna + Pietro Molla. Their 6 and a half years of marriage is nothing short of radical, and I hope dearly that I can emulate their love for Christ, for each other, for their children, and for humanity. Let’s get Pietro’s canonization process started!!!!
December 27, 2024
Moved me to deep emotion several times. The story of St. Gianna Molla and especially seeing the complementarity and holiness of her husband Pietro is truly an inspiring and remarkable image of marriage and family life for our time. Let us aim at the heights!
An easy read, about 4 hours for me to read. The introduction and conclusion feel like the master’s thesis which this book came out of and could be skipped or skimmed to get right to the rich fare of the short biographies and letter excerpts.
Pietro certainly is a poet! “Looking at you, O dearest Gianna, and your sweet beauty and reading your great affection in your gaze is a balm of serenity and of life for me.”
Gianna: “You are truly a dearest and most affectionate little husband, a saintly papa, not of gold, but of diamond, the biggest and most precious one there is on this earth.” (p 79)
The stories of their love and losses, cultivating a life of family prayer and Eucharistic and Marian devotion - very inspiring. Only downside was it felt a little too much like a master’s thesis at certain points. The pictures were great too!
An easy read, about 4 hours for me to read. The introduction and conclusion feel like the master’s thesis which this book came out of and could be skipped or skimmed to get right to the rich fare of the short biographies and letter excerpts.
Pietro certainly is a poet! “Looking at you, O dearest Gianna, and your sweet beauty and reading your great affection in your gaze is a balm of serenity and of life for me.”
Gianna: “You are truly a dearest and most affectionate little husband, a saintly papa, not of gold, but of diamond, the biggest and most precious one there is on this earth.” (p 79)
The stories of their love and losses, cultivating a life of family prayer and Eucharistic and Marian devotion - very inspiring. Only downside was it felt a little too much like a master’s thesis at certain points. The pictures were great too!
February 15, 2025
Very simple book but very enjoyable. Details the relationship of St. Gianna and her husband Pietro through their engagement, parenthood, and marriage, and it is neat to see how they help each other live out the call of their vocation, namely to help each other become saints and to raise children to know and love the Lord.
March 2, 2025
Great easy read on a very holy couple. One that is inspiring and something to aspire to. It reads more like a research paper or thesis. I loved all of the letters between the couple.
June 20, 2025
wow this was beautiful <3
July 25, 2025
Such a sweet faith-filled ove story. Great example of how marriage is can be both worldly and spiritual.
March 3, 2026
Audiolibro 💜 2da vez, como si fuera la primera. Me emociona grandemente volver a visitar la vida de estos santos. Cada vez noto detalles nuevos de la historia que me cuestionan en lo más profundo.
May 27, 2026
Lovely❤️
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews