Faithful get to touch St. Gianna Molla’s relics during veneration at OLV

The daughter of a beloved Catholic saint made another local appearance Friday, July 12, and this time guests had the very rare opportunity to touch relics of her late mother. 

Dr. Gianna Emanuela Molla’s visit to Western New York continued with an appearance at a series of activities at OLV National Shrine & Basilica in Lackawanna. 

Following youth-oriented activities earlier in the day, the evening’s event was a veneration of relics including two pairs of St. Gianna’s gloves worn while working in her lifetime as a pediatrician, and a chasuble which includes fabric from St. Gianna’s wedding dress.

Speaking during the veneration was Robert White, president and presentation director of the Society of St. Gianna Beretta Molla, which brought the relics to display. He told the audience of approximately 50 people that they were about to have a rare chance to make actual contact, no protective barriers between.

“When you come forward, you can touch it,” he said. “When someone is canonized, the relics are always sealed in glass or metal. You don’t physically touch the relic.”

While explaining the history of how the relics were passed on and ultimately acquired by the society, White stated that they were instructed not to permanently encase the relics now in their possession.

“Two thousand years of Church history and you’ve touched a relic. You’re about to have this opportunity,” White said.

Guests were welcomed to take complimentary rosary beads and St. Gianna medals and make direct contact with the gloves or chasuble. They were also allowed to pick up the gloves, which many did. Most who picked them up placed the gloves to chests and heads while praying for healing. Some pressed the gloves against knees or other ailing limbs. Priests in attendance were encouraged to don the chasuble, which they did. 

St. Gianna Beretta Molla, canonized in 2004, is the patron saint of physicians, mothers, and unborn children. She is known for urging doctors to make saving the life of her unborn baby – Gianna Emanuela – their top priority during a complicated pregnancy. One week after baby Gianna was born, in April 1962, Gianna Beretta Molla died of an infection.

Before the evening ended with prayers, Dr. Molla was invited to speak to the audience. She spoke of faith and her observations of it in America, telling guests that “each of us is called to be holy.” 

While her mother is a saint, Dr. Molla has passionately stated the case for her father’s own holiness and suggests both, when called upon for intercession with Christ, are impactful.

“I’ve always considered that for every priest, bishop, cardinal, lay person, in my opinion the people who are more devoted to my mom, and also to my dad, are the people with more faith in God,” she said. 

Although you could understand Dr. Molla’s partiality to her late parents, she also emphasized the need to petition all of God’s saints for intercession when praying to Jesus. 

“We need the saints. They are our friends,” she added.

Dr. Molla’s visit was set to conclude over the following weekend with a Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral, followed by a lunch in her honor.