Our Lady and St Elizabeth: two expectant mothers
One of the first meetings in Luke’s Gospel is a meeting of two expectant mothers. Mary, newly expecting, went in haste to her cousin Elizabeth, who was in her sixth month after years of being called barren:
And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
Before either child was born, the Gospel treats both as present: one leaps for joy, the other is greeted as Lord. Every expectant mother may take these two women as her first companions — Mary for the hidden months, Elizabeth for the long-awaited child. Luke records the end of Elizabeth’s waiting with quiet plainness: “Now Elizabeth’s full time of being delivered was come, and she brought forth a son” (Luke 1:57, Douay-Rheims).
St Gerard Majella, patron of expectant mothers
It surprises people that a beloved patron of expectant mothers was a young man who never married. Gerard Majella was born at Muro, south of Naples, in 1726. His father died when he was a child, and he worked as a tailor to support his mother before entering the Redemptorists in 1749. St Alphonsus considered him a miracle of obedience, and when Gerard was falsely accused of a shameful sin he bore the calumny with such patience that Alphonsus said, “Brother Gerard is a saint.” He died on 16 October 1755, was beatified by Leo XIII in 1893, and was canonized by St Pius X in 1904.
The Catholic Encyclopedia calls him a wonderworker in life and after death. According to tradition, he once dropped a handkerchief, and when a girl tried to return it he told her to keep it, since it would be useful to her one day. Years after his death, when she was dying in childbirth, she asked for it, and she and her child lived. Catholic diocesan sources today give him the title “Patron of expectant mothers,” and his feast is kept on 16 October.
St Gianna Beretta Molla, the mother who chose her child
Gianna Beretta Molla (1922–1962) was a pediatric physician, a wife, and the mother of three when, in September 1961, about two months into her fourth pregnancy, a fibroma was found in her uterus. Before the operation she pleaded with the surgeon to save the child she was carrying, and the child was saved. Close to the birth she told those around her that if a choice had to be made, they must choose the child. Gianna Emanuela was born on 21 April 1962; her mother died on 28 April, aged thirty-nine. St John Paul II canonized her on 16 May 2004.
Her story belongs to every woman carrying a child in fear. Her choice was heroic, which is why the Church honours it; it is not medical advice. The Church teaches that every human life is to be protected from conception and that a child’s life may never be directly taken (Catechism 2270–2271). Within that teaching, make the decisions of a dangerous pregnancy with good doctors, the people closest to you, and a priest you trust — and St Gianna’s prayers go with you into every one of those rooms.
St Anne, patroness of women in labour
St Anne is the name tradition gives to the mother of the Blessed Virgin. Her story comes from early writings outside Scripture, especially the Protoevangelium of James, whose statements, the Catholic Encyclopedia cautions, can hardly be accepted as beyond doubt on its sole authority. According to that tradition, Anne and Joachim were childless and begged God for a child, and Mary was the answer to their prayer.
Devotion to her is old and wide, and the same encyclopedia names her “patroness of women in labour.” She is usually painted holding the Virgin on her lap, with the Child Jesus in Mary’s arms — three generations in one embrace.
St Raymond Nonnatus, the saint “not born”
According to the accounts of his life recorded in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Raymond (c. 1200–1240) was a Catalan friar of the Mercedarians, received into the order at Barcelona by its founder, St Peter Nolasco, and sent to Algiers to ransom Christian captives. When the money ran out he gave himself as a hostage, and, the accounts say, his captors pierced his lips and padlocked them to stop him preaching. Gregory IX made him a cardinal; he died at Cardona in 1240.
His surname tells the rest. The Catholic Encyclopedia records that he “was taken from the womb of his mother after her death, hence his name” — non natus, not born. It adds that he “is invoked by women in labour,” and that the appendix of the old Roman Ritual carried blessings of water and of candles in his honour. His feast was kept on 31 August.
St Margaret of Antioch, a patron from legend
St Margaret, also called Marina, is honoured as a virgin martyr of Antioch in Pisidia. Her Acts tell a vivid story of a girl who refused a pagan prefect and died for Christ, but the Catholic Encyclopedia admits that “even the century to which she belonged is uncertain.” Read her story as the Church’s old legend, not as a chronicle.
Even so, the devotion is real history: the same article notes that she has been “widely venerated for many centuries as a special patron of women who are pregnant.” For centuries, women in labour asked her prayers, and that long trust is worth knowing.
Praying through the months and the hour of birth
Our Lord himself chose childbirth as his image for sorrow turned to joy: “A woman, when she is in labour, hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world” (John 16:21, Douay-Rheims).
- Choose one patron for the pregnancy and ask her help every morning in one line.
- Pray a novena to St Gerard, St Gianna or St Anne, timed to end near your due date. The Novenas tool keeps one day per calendar day and lets you start on the right date.
- Pray the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary, especially the Visitation, with your child in mind.
- Use The Cradle for a week-by-week spiritual companion. It is spiritual, never medical.
- Pack a small image of your patron, or a rosary, with your hospital bag.
A prayer composed for 1765 Regina
A prayer for the hour of birth
Lord God, author of life, you have entrusted this child to my keeping.
From the womb you have known this little one, as you knew me.
Give me courage for the hour that is coming, and skill and care to all who will help me.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, who brought forth the Saviour, pray for us.
Saint Elizabeth, who rejoiced in a long-awaited son, pray for us.
Saint Anne, Saint Gerard, Saint Gianna, Saint Raymond, pray for us.
Into your hands, Lord, I give my child and myself, and whatever this day brings.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Pregnancy and the months after it can bring a darkness that is not your fault. If you are struggling, call or text the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline at 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262), free, confidential and open 24 hours a day in English and Spanish. You can also call the Postpartum Support International HelpLine at 1-800-944-4773 (English or Spanish), text “Help” to the same number in English, or text en español 971-203-7773; you leave a confidential message and a trained volunteer returns your call or text between 8am and 11pm Eastern. It is not a crisis line. If you are thinking about ending your life, call or text 988, free and open 24 hours a day. In an emergency, call 911.
Questions
Who is the patron saint of pregnancy?
St Gerard Majella, a Redemptorist brother who died in 1755, is widely invoked as patron of expectant mothers; Catholic diocesan sources give him that title and his feast is 16 October. St Margaret of Antioch was venerated for centuries as a patron of pregnant women, and St Anne and St Gianna Beretta Molla are also widely invoked.
Who is the patron saint of childbirth and labour?
The Catholic Encyclopedia names St Anne, the mother of Our Lady in tradition, as patroness of women in labour, and records that St Raymond Nonnatus — taken from his mother’s womb after her death — is invoked by women in labour.
Why is a man, St Gerard Majella, the patron of expectant mothers?
By tradition: a girl tried to return a handkerchief he had dropped, and he told her to keep it because it would be useful to her someday; years after his death she asked for it when she was in danger in childbirth, and she and her child survived. Mothers have asked his prayers ever since.
Which saint should I pray to for a high-risk pregnancy?
Many mothers in a frightening pregnancy turn to St Gianna Beretta Molla, a physician who carried her fourth child through a dangerous pregnancy in 1961–62, and to St Gerard. Pray to them, and keep your doctors close; prayer and good medical care belong together.