Flora Gualdani’s life story is nothing short of amazing, and it isn’t over yet.
A midwife in Italy, Gualdani has delivered more than 6,000 babies – and saved countless more from abortion, according to the Catholic News Service.
“Life is always beautiful,” the 81-year-old said, reflecting on her life.
Gualdani, who lives in Tuscany, has cared for abandoned babies, counseled women who were suffering after aborting their babies, run a maternity home for struggling families and more as part of her missions work, the report states.
One of those babies, Davide Zanelli, said she helped him to “be born twice” – once physically and once spiritually.
“Everything I have I owe to Flora,” he said.
Here’s more from the report:
An encounter with a pregnant woman with cancer was a pivotal episode in the first part of Flora’s career as a trained midwife, when she was in her early 20s. The sick woman was being pressured by doctors to abort, against her wishes.
Abortion was then illegal in Italy, and it was not uncommon for Italian women to travel to London to procure the procedure, which Flora was shocked to learn on a visit to England as a young adult. Abortion was legalized in Italy in 1978.
With Flora’s support, the woman carried to term and gave birth to a healthy little girl. Afterward, however, the mother was in the hospital and too ill to care for her, so she asked young Flora to take charge of the girl.
This baby girl, born in 1964, was the first of Flora’s many “adoptive” children.
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She also used to run a maternity home on her property, Bethlehem House, to help pregnant and parenting mothers and their children. Up to eight women could stay there at one time, according to the report.
Gualdani served with missionaries in a number of countries as well, providing care to women and babies in Egypt, China, Thailand, Bangladesh and Cambodia, the report continues.
Some of the babies’ births were joys, other were full of sorrow.
“Among the babies I helped to be born here, some I also accompanied to heaven,” she said, referring to babies who were miscarried or stillborn.
“In my life, not one woman has returned regretful for having welcomed life,” she said. “I have always seen so much joy when a baby is born, even if there are certain anxieties, struggles… at that moment, you forget.”
Her story is a powerful inspiration to pro-life advocates everywhere. In big and small ways, people across the world like Gualdani are making a huge impact for life.
