Butler's Lives of the Saints by Bernard Bangley

Author:Bernard Bangley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Paraclete Press
Published: 2011-08-19T04:00:00+00:00

JULY 6

Maria Goretti (1890–1902)

Innocence

Sexual assault is not a subject many religious people want to discuss, but it is more prevalent than we may imagine. The story of Maria Goretti, tragic as it is, serves a double task as a reminder and an inspiration.

Maria was the child of Italian peasants, born near Ancona. Not a bright child, she was nonetheless cheerful and devout. Her father died when she was ten, and her mother went out to work, leaving Maria at home to do housekeeping.

An eighteen-year-old neighbor, Alessandro Serenelli, began to make advances toward her. Maria’s disinterest frustrated Alessandro to the point that he attempted to force her into submission, threatening her with a knife. She fought him with all her strength, but he repeatedly stabbed her during the struggle. Maria was hospitalized, but after forgiving Alessandro and expressing concern for her family, she died the next day. Her story does not end here, however.

Alessandro received a lengthy jail sentence. Eight years after he murdered Maria, he had a dream in which he saw Maria picking flowers to give him. The dream was vivid and disturbing. Alessandro, who had been hostile and unrepentant, became a convert to Christianity. When he was released from prison twenty-seven years later, Alessandro was a changed man.

His first act upon receiving freedom was to visit Maria’s mother and beg her forgiveness. On Christmas Day, 1937, Alessandro and Maria’s mother received communion together. He was standing with a quarter million people in St. Peter’s Square when Maria became a canonized saint in 1950.

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