“Violent people have been trying to seize God’s earthly Kingdom forever." ~ Matthew 11:12
She was born the daughter of a poor Italian tenant farmer
in 1890. When her father died nine years later, Maria was left to raise her
five siblings while her mother worked the fields. As such, she never learned to
read or write.
Her young life never
seemed to pause. She also cooked, cleaned, and sewed for two next-door
neighbors - Giovanni and his alcoholic son, Alessandro. Despite their extreme
poverty, the family remained close and piously worshipped God.
During this time,
Alessandro developed an impure liking for the beautiful 11-year-old with
chestnut hair and delicate features. After months of crude taunting, the 20-year-old
brute attempted to rape her.
Maria defended her God-given purity, screaming: "No!
This is a sin; God doesn’t want this!"
Enraged, Alessandro stabbed her heart 11 times. When she
attempted to flee, he stabbed her three more times in the back.
She survived for several
hours after undergoing surgery without anesthesia. When asked if she forgave
her attacker, she replied: "Yes, for the love of Jesus I forgive him...
and I want him to be with me in Paradise." Reassured by the Church’s last
sacraments, Maria died the next day from an infection brought on by her wounds.
Alessandro, a legal
minor, was sentenced to thirty years. He remained unashamed for his actions
until, during the eleventh year of his incarceration, Maria appeared before him
in a dream. From his account, “She smiled at me and offered an armful of the
lilies. When I took them, each lily transformed into a pure-white flame.”
After serving
seventeen more years in prison, he visited Maria's mother and asked for her
mercy. She gave it willingly, saying, "If my daughter forgave you, who
am I to withhold it?” He became a porter and gardener at a Capuchin
monastery, a job he held for the rest of his life.
On June 24, 1950, Pope
Pius XII canonized Maria Goretti as the youngest saint at the time. It was the
first time in its history that St. Peter’s Basilica - the largest church
in the world - couldn’t be used for a Canonization Mass.
Among the half million
souls at the open-air ceremony in St. Peter’s Square, 66-year-old, ex-con,
Alessandro Serenelli, sobbed tears of joy.
Before he died in
1970, Alessandro wrote an open letter to the public stating: “Saint Maria
Goretti was my good Angel, sent to me through Providence to guide and save me.
I still have impressed upon my heart her words of rebuke and pardon.”
The feast of St. Maria Goretti is celebrated annually by
Roman Catholics worldwide on July 6th. She’s the Patron Saint of
chastity, rape victims, youth, poverty, purity, and forgiveness.
Saint Maria, look kindly at those who’ve
strayed from the path of eternal salvation. Free us from evil temptations,
comfort our sorrows, and guide us, that one day we might enjoy the enduring glory
of Heaven with you. Amen
