Choosing Life

ON JUNE 13 this year I was in Adelaide, Australia, together with those faithful who had come from near and far to celebrate the Saint’s feast in the Church of Our Lady Queen of Peace. It was a very busy but rewarding day for me, and I was especially happy to hear confessions from a number of people who had not gone to church for a long time.

That evening, feeling somewhat tired, I was at a friend’s place being wined and dined along with Fr. Allan Winter, the parish priest, when I received an unexpected phone call from Italy. It was a close friend of mine informing me that Chiara had passed away that morning, “donating her life in favour of her own son”. My friend then added, “She did not hesitate to sacrifice herself. She is truly a saint of our times.”



The story of Chiara Corbella, a 28-year-old girl who died from the consequences of a cancer that was diagnosed too late, is extraordinary and heroic.

Her story is somewhat similar to that of Giovanna Beretta Molla, the paediatrician who was canonised in 2004. Beretta Molla refused both an abortion and a hysterectomy when she was pregnant with her fourth child, despite knowing that continuing with the pregnancy could result in her death.

Chiara’s choice in favour of her son Francesco who, thanks to her selfless deed, is today a  healthy, 1-year-old boy, leaves one with a strong impression of sainthood.  

The dream of motherhood had come to Chiara at the Marian shrine of Medjugorje. It was there that, in 2007, she met the man of her life: Enrico Petrillo, a Catholic of devout faith. They were married a year later, and Chiara was soon pregnant with a baby girl, Maria. Unfortunately the ultrasound revealed an anencephaly, a congenital malformation which meant that the baby would be born either partially or totally without a brain.

Chiara and Enrico accepted this new life with open arms as a gift from God, despite pressure from their doctors to abort for medical reasons. Maria’s brief lifespan of 30 minutes were a joy for the young couple, during which they were able to christen the baby and accompany her to a ‘new birth in heaven’.



A few months later a second baby arrived. This time it was a boy, David. Even in this case, their joy was devastated by the results of the ultrasound, which revealed that the boy would be born without legs.

David was delivered on June 24, 2010, only to die a few days later accompanied by the prayers of his parents, who barely had enough time to christen their second child.

The abundant share of suffering and disappointment did not deprive the brave, young couple of their faith in God, and a few months later a third gift from heaven arrived: Francesco.

This time the ultrasound confirmed that the baby was in excellent health. The cross, however, was still waiting for them, for five months into her pregnancy the doctors found that Chiara had a dangerous carcinoma on her tongue, and that Chiara was therefore in need of immediate invasive therapies: surgery and subsequent chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

The therapies would naturally have destroyed the foetus’ life, so Chiara and Enrico decided to protect the baby’s life at all costs, and postponed them to after the baby’s birth.



Francesco was born a perfectly healthy child on May 30, 2011, but Chiara was by then so debilitated that she had lost the sight of her right eye, and she eventually died on June 13.

“I am going to heaven to take care of Maria and David, you stay here with Dad. I will pray for you,” she wrote to her son shortly before her death.

Chiara’s funeral was attended by over 2,000 people. She was laid in her bridal clothes inside a simple wooden bier with an open Bible laid on top of it. Chiara did not want flowers at her funeral, but asked that everyone present receive a small plant to symbolise the gift of life.

After the funeral, Enrico said, “When I looked at Chiara before she was about to die, I obviously became very upset. But I mustered some courage, and a few hours before her death I asked her, ‘Chiara, my love, is this cross really sweet, like the Lord says in the Gospels?’ She looked at me and smiled, and in a soft voice answered, ‘Yes, Enrico, it is very sweet.’”

Perhaps Chiara’s death on June 13, the Feast Day of St. Anthony, was no coincidence. I am sure our Saint was the first to welcome her with open arms on the day of her joyous birth in heaven.