St. Maria Goretti
Today is the feast of St. Maria Goretti.
Born in 1890, her father died from malaria when she was just nine years old. On July 5, 1902, eleven-year-old Maria was sitting on the outside steps of her home, sewing and watching her younger sister Teresa, while her mother worked in the nearby fields. At the same time twenty-year-old Alessandro Serenelli was threshing beans in the barnyard nearby. Knowing she would be alone, he returned to the house and made sexual advances toward Maria which she rejected. Alessandro threatened to stab her if she did not give in to his desire for her. She would not give in, however, protesting that what he wanted to do was a mortal sin and warning him that he would go to Hell. She fought desperately and kept screaming, "No! It is a sin! God does not want it!" Allesandro stabbed her 14 times before running away.
Alerted by the noise her mother rushed from the field and found Maria lying on the floor bleeding and took her to the nearest hospital, but her injuries were beyond the doctors' help. The following day, 24 hours after the attack, having expressed forgiveness for Alessandro and stating that she wanted to have him in Heaven with her, she died of her injuries.
Allesandro was arrested and sentenced to 30 years in prison where he was so unrepentant and violent that he spent most of it in solitary confinement.
One night, six years into his prison sentence, Maria appeared to Alessandro. He saw her in a garden picking 14 white lilies, then handing them to him one by one. This gesture of forgiveness, this act of love, broke open the evil heart of Alessandro and he immediately became contrite for what he had done to her. He begged for a priest and made a complete confession. After this miraculous encounter Alessandro changed dramatically. He lived out the rest of his prison sentence in humble contrition.
Upon his release, Alessandro visited Assunta, Maria’s mother and begged her forgiveness. She forgave him, and they attended Mass together the next day, receiving Holy Communion side by side. Assunta even went so far as to accept Allesandro as her own son since he had no family on earth.
Soon after, Alessandro entered the Franciscans and lived out the rest of his life in prayer, penance and humble work.
Maria was canonized on June 24, 1950 by Pope Pius XII. Her mother, four of her siblings and her repentant murderer, Alessandro were present.
Some 500,000 people, among them a majority of youth, had come from around the world. Pius asked them: "Young people, delight of the eyes of Jesus, are you determined to resist any attack on your chastity with the help of the grace of God?" A resounding "yes" was the answer.