Today’s saint was an 11-year old child when she showed courage in choosing her Christian principles over her life. Saint Maria Goretti, affectionately called Marietta, was born in 1891 into a poor Italian family. Her father died nine years later and the family’s situation grew much worse. The family was able to survive by working for a man named Giovanni Serenelli and his son Alessandro.
Maria was pious and prayerful, reciting the Rosary daily for the repose of her father’s soul. In 1902, 20-year-old Alessandro Serenelli began making advances upon 11-year-old Maria. She refused, telling him that it would be a sin. Angered by the rejection, Alessandro stabbed her eleven times. Maria preferred to die than be raped. She survived for 20 hours in the hospital, undergoing surgery without anesthesia. Asked if she forgave her murderer, she replied, “Yes, for the love of Jesus I forgive him…and I want him to be with me in Paradise.” St. Maria Goretti died on July 6, 1902, a martyr for chastity. Venerable Pope Pius XII canonized her in 1950. 250,000 people were in St. Peter’s Square for her canonization and among them were her mother and her murderer, who had long repented of his crime.
God certainly chooses the humble and the little to teach us profound lessons in courage.
Father,
source of innocence and lover of chastity,
you gave St. Maria Goretti the privilege
of offering her life in witness to Christ.
As you gave her the crown of martyrdom,
let her prayers
keep us faithful to your teaching.
We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen