St. Maria Goretti

On July 6, 1902, an eleven-year-old farm girl lay dying in a hospital bed in Nettuno, her body pierced fourteen times by an awl. When a priest asked if she forgave Alessandro Serenelli—the twenty-year-old farmhand who had attacked her for refusing his advances—she answered without hesitation: "Yes, for the love of Jesus I forgive him... and I want him with me in Paradise." She died the next day. The Church's youngest canonized martyr, Maria Goretti has become one of the most venerated saints of the modern era—not primarily as a model of chastity, but as an icon of radical, unconditional forgiveness. --- ## Life & Legacy Maria Goretti was born on October 16, 1890, in Corinaldo, a hilltop village in the Marche region of central Italy. Her parents, Luigi and Assunta, were sharecroppers barely surviving. When Maria was six, the family migrated south to the malaria-ridden marshlands of the Agro Pontino, eventually sharing a farmhouse at Le Ferriere with the Serenelli family—a father and his son Alessandro. Luigi died of malaria in 1900. Ten-year-old Maria took over the household while her mother worked the fields. Despite crushing poverty and no formal education, she developed a deep spiritual life, memorizing prayers and the rosary, attending Mass when possible, and preparing earnestly for her First Communion, which she received on May 29, 1902—just weeks before her death. Alessandro Serenelli, then twenty, had begun making advances. Maria refused repeatedly, warning him that such acts were mortal sins. On July 5, 1902, while the adults worked in the fields, Alessandro found Maria alone, mending a shirt on the farmhouse landing. He dragged her inside and demanded she submit. When she refused, crying out that he would go to hell, he stabbed her fourteen times with an awl. Maria was transported by cart to the hospital in Nettuno—a journey of excruciating agony. Surgeons operated without anesthesia, but her wounds were too severe. After speaking her words of forgiveness, she died on July 6 at 3:45 in the afternoon, clutching a crucifix and gazing at an image of the Virgin Mary. Alessandro was sentenced to thirty years. For years he remained hardened. Then, according to his testimony, Maria appeared to him in a dream, offering him lilies. The vision shattered his resistance. After serving twenty-seven years, his first act upon release was to visit Maria's mother and beg her forgiveness. "If Maria could forgive me," Assunta told him, "then so can I." They attended Christmas Mass together. Alessandro spent his remaining years as a lay brother with the Capuchin Franciscans, working as a gardener. He died in 1970 and is buried alongside Assunta Goretti in Corinaldo—murderer and victim's mother sharing eternal rest. Pope Pius XII beatified Maria in 1947 with Assunta present at age 82—the first time a mother witnessed her child's beatification. On June 24, 1950, Pius XII canonized her before 500,000 people in St. Peter's Square. Among those present, weeping, was the sixty-six-year-old Alessandro Serenelli. --- ## Patronage St. Maria Goretti is the patron saint of: - **Youth** — particularly young women - **Chastity and purity** - **Victims of rape and assault** - **Forgiveness** - **The Children of Mary** Her patronage has evolved over time. While Pius XII emphasized her defense of chastity, Pope Francis and modern devotion highlight her capacity for forgiveness. As Francis noted, her story demonstrates that "no one is beyond redemption." --- ## Feast Day **July 6** — the anniversary of her death. The feast is celebrated with particular solemnity at the Basilica in Nettuno, where her remains are venerated, and at Corinaldo, her birthplace. --- ## Pilgrimage Sites The principal sites associated with St. Maria Goretti: - [**Nettuno**](https://www.destinationes.com/pilgrimage/nettuno) — The Pontifical Basilica of Our Lady of Graces and St. Maria Goretti houses her mortal remains in a crystal casket. The seaside town is also where she died in the hospital. - **Casa del Martirio, Le Ferriere** — The farmhouse where Maria lived and was martyred, now a pilgrimage chapel maintained by the Passionist Sisters. - **Corinaldo** — Her birthplace in the Marche region, where a sanctuary complex includes the house where she was born and the graves of Alessandro Serenelli and Assunta Goretti. --- ## Prayers & Devotions ### Prayer to St. Maria Goretti *O Saint Maria Goretti, who strengthened by God's grace did not hesitate, even at the age of eleven, to sacrifice life itself to defend your virginal purity, obtain for us from Our Lord the grace to practice holy purity with heroic fortitude. Help all young people, especially those who are most tempted, to turn to the Sacraments often and to invoke the Blessed Virgin Mary for assistance. Obtain for me the grace of final perseverance and the grace of a holy death. Amen.* --- ## Quotes & Writings Maria left no writings—she was illiterate. But her final words, spoken as she lay dying, have become among the most quoted in modern hagiography: > "Yes, for the love of Jesus I forgive him... and I want him with me in Paradise." Alessandro Serenelli, after his conversion, wrote his own testimony, which he asked to be published after his death: > "I am now 80 years old. I am about to die... I want to declare that young people, who today have so many corrupt things around them, should study her as a model. The parents should teach their children to live according to God's commandments." --- ## Further Reading - [*St. Maria Goretti: In Garments All Red*](https://www.amazon.com/Maria-Goretti-Garments-All-Red/dp/0895551160) by Fr. Godfrey Poage, C.P. — Classic biography by a Passionist Father. - [*Saint Maria Goretti: Virgin and Martyr*](https://www.amazon.com/Saint-Maria-Goretti-Virgin-Martyr/dp/0895552558) by Dom Alphonse Capone — Detailed historical account. - [Vatican Biography](https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_19500624_maria-goretti_en.html) — Official canonization documentation. --- ## 🪶 Closing Reflection > "Maria Goretti's heroic decision was not made in a moment; it was prepared for by her daily fidelity to grace." - [Pope Pius XII, Canonization Homily, June 24, 1950](https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/it/speeches/1950/documents/hf_p-xii_spe_19500624_maria-goretti.html)