05/31/2026
Temperamentally, Gianna and Pietro were opposites.
She was bold;
he was reserved.
They were close friends but it was Gianna who moved the relationship to the next level.
Dearest Pietro,
I hope you don’t mind if
I begin this letter by calling you by your first name and using such familiar language.
After sharing our thoughts so openly yesterday,
I think we can assume this level of intimacy, which will help us to understand and to love each other more and more.
I really want to make you happy and be what you desire: good, understanding and ready for the sacrifices that life will require of us.
I haven’t told you yet that
I have always been very sensitive and eager for affection. While I had my parents, their love was enough for me. Then, although remaining very united to the Lord and working for him, I felt the need for a mother, and I found her in the dear nun whom I told you about yesterday.
Now there is you, whom I already love, and to whom I intend to give myself to form a truly Christian family.
Ciao, dear Pietro. Pardon my familiarity, but that’s how I am. Arrivaderci.
With affection,
Gianna
My dearest Gianna,
I've read your letter over
and over and kissed it.
A new life is beginning for me: the life of your great (and greatly desired) affection and of your radiant goodness.
We are starting the journey of our love.
I love you, my dearest Gianna.
I could not have received a greater or more ardently desired grace from our Heavenly Mother, Our Lady of Good Counsel, as she is invoked in my little church
in Ponte Nuovo.
I so wanted and needed love and a family of my own. Now I have you, your
love and affection,
and I am happy.
My love is yours, and
I want to raise a family with you.
I too want to make you happy and understand you well.
Forgive me for not beginning a closer confidence sooner than I did.
Thank you for your help and trust.
With all my love,
Pietro
Faced with Gianna's effusive declaration, Pietro's own passion bursts from him.
(He was Italian too, after all!)
He does show some regret about her having to make the first move, but it's not because he thought less of her for doing it. He just wished he hadn't let his shyness stop him.
The world now knows
St. Gianna as a witness
of total self giving.
She gave up her life to save her unborn child, Gianna Emanuela, whom she loved passionately even before she felt her stirring in her womb.
She did not take these
gifts and critique them
because they were not packaged according
to her will or according
to an abstract ideal.
She accepted them graciously as they were
-imperfections and all
—as coming from the
hand of Providence.
It was what made her happy in this life and happy
in the next.
She went for it.
May she guide you
to go for it too.
