GIANNA AND PIETRO | KAIROS GLOBAL | FEBRUARY 2024

‘I kiss and embrace you with all my love.’

Mom was at my door the next moment, staring at me, baffled and bewildered.

I looked at her, holding The Journey of Our Love. 

‘It is just a book,’ I answered her unspoken question.

She was relieved, and approached me with a grin.

‘I suggest you read it,’ I said when Mom took the book from my hand.

‘OH! It’s Gianna!

‘Yeah, yes, not any Jack, James or Tom,’ I laughed at her curiosity.

This is how it happened. Mom finished reading the book in three days. And she made Dad read it too. They replenished their love, befriended each other again and started reliving their Holy Matrimony.

There is more. They wrote me a letter after a month. Here, I’m sharing it with you.

Eliza Darling!

Grace to you.

We can’t thank you enough for the most precious gift you have presented us. Guess what, ‘The Story of Our Love’. As you see and experience, it brought a change of heart.

And now, Dad and Mom see God’s grace and plan in living this life. It is not dull and sombre anymore. There is no ego hurt. There is no misunderstanding, no rejection but complete acceptance. If we hadn’t read Gianna and Pietro, we couldn’t have attained this peace, joy and love, we celebrate these days.

Gianna and Pietro, the holy couple taught us that Holy Matrimony is nothing but the ‘sacrament of love.’ They are of our era. Gianna was a paediatrician and Pietro, an engineer. They met in December 1954 and got married a couple of months later. A letter from Gianna before their wedding, reminded us how the biblical Tobias and Sarah had started their life together. Gianna writes, ‘Dearest Pietro, I’m sure that you will always make me as happy as I am now and that the Lord will listen to your prayers, coming from a heart that has always loved him and served him in a saintly way. Pietro, how much I have to learn from you! You are such a fine example for me, and I thank you for it.’ 

The couple had four children, Pierluigi, Marionlina, Laura and Gianna. They wrote almost seventy-three letters in six years. They assert that they received a special grace when they had accepted the sacramental anointment. It is true, we would say. We too had a special moment at our wedding, something words can’t express. But we never learned that it’s grace upon grace. Coming back to them, they wrote frequent letters while Pietro was away for work. They might have written many times a day. Love was so intimate between them. It is surprising that career commitments didn’t loot their quality time and rather they were sustained in pure romance always. They advanced in love as days passed. They had many trips together. The book sketches a lot of photographs from their life. 

All happy?

But no. They had struggles too. The most painful thing was, they could live together for just seven years. Gianna was called away too soon. It happened when she was pregnant with their fourth child, Gianna Emmanuela. She developed a fibroma on her uterus, and was given three choices, an abortion, a complete hysterectomy, or the removal of the fibroma alone. She opted for the removal of the fibroma, risking her own life as she knew everything about the consequences. She delivered the baby but died a week after that on Easter Saturday, 1962.

How Pietro lived his remaining years without Gianna, we don’t understand... He exercised great faith, hope and lived the rest of his life trusting in divine providence as he had always done along with his wife. They had an intense prayer life. They were devoted to Mary, our divine mother. It is right to say, a family that prays together stays together. 

‘… you really are the 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!’ Yes, Gianna’s words are true. See, how much she treasured her husband. 

We learned to respect one another. We learned to love each other.

And we promise you, our Eliza, unlike the past days, we are one in the ‘sacrament of love’. 

We are sorry for not being good examples to you.

We are sorry for stealing your good times with us.

Here, Dad and Mom promise you the best in Christ.

As you always wished and said, we are going to relive our Holy Matrimony.

We cherish the grace received through our little daughter.

Let us celebrate life in serenity and joy.

God bless you

Hugs and kisses from Dad and Mom.