Maria Goretti

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Saint Maria Goretti

Virgin, martyr
Born	October 16, 1890
Died	July 6, 1902
Venerated in	Catholic Church
Canonized	June 24, 1950
Feast	July 6
Attributes	Fourteen lilies, farmer clothing, sometimes a knife
Patron saint of	Crime victims, teenage girls, Modern Youth, Children of Mary

Saint Maria Goretti (October 16, 1890 – July 6, 1902) is a Roman Catholic virgin saint.

She was born as Maria Teresa Goretti, nicknamed "Marietta", in Corinaldo, Italy, in 1890 she and her family moved to Le Ferriere, where they lived in a building they shared with another family, the Serenellis. Maria was a very pretty girl who looked older than she really was; soon, her teenaged neighbour Alessandro Serenelli (1882-1970) became sexually obsessed with her, and approached her several times with lewd suggestions, which Maria rejected once and again.

On July 5, 1902, Alessandro attacked Maria when she was sewing at home, threatening her with a knife; when she would not yield to him, protesting about her not wanting to sin and warning Alessandro that he'd go to Hell if he raped her, Serenelli stabbed her 11 times. The injured but still-living Maria tried to reach the door, so Alessandro stabbed her 3 more times before running away. Maria's toddler sister Teresa, who was taking a nap, awoke with the noise and started crying, and when Alessandro's father and Maria's mother came to check on the little girl they found the bleeding Maria and took her to the nearest hospital in Nettuno. The following day, after expressing forgiveness for her murderer and stating that she wanted to have him in heaven with her, Maria died of her injuries.

Alessandro Serenelli was sentenced to prison for his crime and remained unrepentant and incommunicated from the world, for three years. One night, he had a dream of Maria offering him 14 lilies for the 14 times she was stabbed. Following this dream, he became deeply repentant. After his release from prison, Alessandro went to Maria's still-living mother, Assunta, and begged her forgiveness. She forgave him, and they attended Mass together the next day, receiving Holy Communion side by side.

On June 24, 1950, Pope Pius XII canonized Saint Maria Goretti as a virgin and martyr saint of the Roman Catholic Church. Maria's mother, nicknamed "Mama Assunta" by her neighbors, was present at the ceremony; she was the first mother ever to attend the canonization ceremony of her child, along with her four remaining sons and daughters. Alessandro didn't go to the canonization ceremony to avoid any attention directed towards him, but he remained a close friend of the family; he became a Capuchin laybrother, living in a convent and working as its receptionist, and died peacefully in 1970.

Saint Maria Goretti's feast day is July 6. She's represented in media as a wavy-haired young girl in farmer clothes, with a bouquet of lillies in her hands, and is sometimes counted among the ranks of the Passionist order since her spiritual formation was guided by the Passionists.

[edit] Trivia

In the 1949 Italian movie "Cielo sulla palude" (English title, "The sky over the marshes"), Maria Goretti is played by 15-year-old actress Ines Orsini, who also played the Fatima vident girl Lucía dos Santos.