St. Maria Goretti

Maria Goretti was born on October 16, 1890, in Corinaldo, in the Province of Ancona, Italy. Her family lived in deep poverty, and when her farmworker father moved them to Ferriere di Conca, near Anzio, their hardship only increased. After her father died of malaria, Maria's mother was left to care for and provide for her children alone.

While her mother and older siblings labored in the fields, young Maria assumed great responsibility at home. She cooked, sewed, kept the house, and lovingly cared for her youngest sister, Teresa. Despite their poverty, the Goretti family was united by a strong faith and a deep love for God.

On July 5, 1902, tragedy struck. Maria was seated on the steps of her home, quietly sewing, while Alessandro Serenelli, an 18-year-old neighbor who shared the farmhouse with her family, worked nearby in the barnyard. Suddenly, Alessandro attacked her, attempting to force her into grave sin.

Maria resisted with all her strength, crying out that what he was doing was a mortal sin, warning him that it would endanger his soul. "No! It is a sin! God does not want it!" she exclaimed, declaring she would rather die than offend God. Enraged by her resistance, Alessandro stabbed her fourteen times before fleeing.

Awakened by her sister's cries, the family rushed home and found Maria gravely wounded. She was taken to the hospital in Nettuno, where surgeons operated without anesthesia. During the procedure, the surgeon asked her to remember him in Paradise. With simple faith and serenity, Maria replied, "Then I will gladly think of you."

Though she did not fully grasp the severity of her condition, Maria bore her suffering with remarkable peace. Before dying on July 6, 1902, she forgave her attacker, saying she wished to see him with her in Heaven. She died gazing upon an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, holding a crucifix close to her heart.

Alessandro Serenelli was soon captured and sentenced to 30 years in prison. For many years he remained hardened and unrepentant. Eventually, he experienced a profound conversion after a dream in which Maria appeared to him in a garden, offering him lilies that burned away as he held them. From that moment, his life changed. Upon his release 27 years later, he sought out Maria's mother and begged her forgiveness. She replied, "If my daughter can forgive him, who am I to withhold forgiveness?"

Maria Goretti was beatified on April 27, 1947, and canonized on June 24, 1950, by Pope Pius XII at St. Peter's Basilica. Remarkably, Alessandro Serenelli was present at her canonization, sitting among the faithful. He later lived as a lay brother with the Capuchin Franciscans, spending the rest of his life in penance and prayer.

Saint Maria Goretti is honored as a martyr, not only because she died defending purity, but because her life reveals the Gospel's deepest truth: that forgiveness is stronger than violence and mercy more powerful than sin.

Her body rests in the crypt of the Basilica of Our Lady of Grace and St. Maria Goretti, where it is preserved within a statue beneath the altar. Though sometimes described as incorrupt, her remains are not; the statue has occasionally led to confusion.

Saint Maria is often depicted with flowing hair, dressed in white or simple farm clothing, and holding lilies, a symbol of purity and forgiveness.