The story of Chiara Petrillo's selfless love for her unborn child and trust in God which led her to delay treatment for an aggressive cancer in order to protect her unborn baby is one of the most inspiring testimonies to maternal love and abandonment of self to God's will that I've ever read. It is all the more poignant for the fact that this was Chiara's third child: her two previous much loved babies, David and Maria, had both been severely disabled and had each died shortly after birth. In both cases she had been pressured to abort the babies but had refused.
You can read her story here, here and here and there's a lovely montage of her life on YouTube (above - in Italian only, but it's easy to catch the drift).
Chiara's baby Francisco was born on the 30th of May 2011. Chiara lived to see his first birthday, and nurture him through his first year. She died on June 13th 2012, and was buried in Rome on June 21st.
Eternal Rest grant unto her O Lord, and May Perpetual Light shine upon her.
This must go down as one of the greatest acts of love of the century. Thanks for covering it Annie. God bless.
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