St. Maria Goretti
St. Maria Goretti, an Italian girl who died in 1902 resisting an attempted rape, forgave her murderer before she died. One of the youngest canonized saints, she is patron of youth, chastity and forgiveness. Her feast is July 6.
In three points
- She grew up in a poor farming family and cared for her siblings after her father's death
- Alessandro Serenelli stabbed her when she resisted him
- Dying, she forgave him and said she would meet him in heaven
- The repentant Alessandro testified at her cause, and Pius XII canonized her in 1950
Her life
Maria Teresa Goretti was born October 16, 1890, in Corinaldo, Italy, the third of seven children of a poor farming family. Her father Luigi taught her a deep love for God. When she was nine he died of malaria, and she cheerfully cared for her siblings while her mother Assunta and older brother worked the fields.
Her death
The Gorettis shared a house with the Serenelli family. The teenage Alessandro Serenelli became fixated on Maria and repeatedly tried to assault her. Around 3 p.m. on July 5, 1902, he attacked her in a hayloft; when she fiercely refused, he stabbed her many times. She lived a day, and before dying on July 6 she forgave him: "I forgive Alessandro.... I will meet him again in heaven." Her fidelity to Christ (Matthew 28:18-20) enabled her to keep her purity and intercede for her attacker, showing the power of forgiving even our worst enemies (Matthew 5:43-48).
Canonization
Her cause opened in 1934, and the repentant Alessandro testified to her holiness. Ven. Pius XII beatified her in 1947 and canonized her in June 1950 before 250,000 people, with her mother present. Her relics are in the Basilica of Our Lady of Grace and St. Maria Goretti in Nettuno, Italy. She is often shown holding lilies, a sign of purity.
Prayer: O St. Maria Goretti, lily of purity, who, rather than stain your soul by sin, chose to shed your blood, look with pity upon me, a sinner. Obtain for me the grace to imitate your angelic virtue and like you, to prefer death to sin. Amen.
Key Scripture
Read online with linked Scripture: catholic.id/tracts/saint-maria-goretti/