Daily Saint

St. Maria Goretti was born in 1890 in Corinaldo, Italy, as the third of seven children in a poor farming family. After the death of her father, Maria’s family struggled to survive. Her mother moved the family into a shared home with the Serenelli family, which included a father and his son, Alessandro, age 20.

Maria assumed many responsibilities at an early age, helping care for her siblings and maintaining the household while her mother and older siblings were at work. Despite poverty and hardship, Maria was deeply devoted to God and sought to live a life of faithful obedience to His Will. Her purity of heart was evident to those who knew her.

On July 6, 1902, at the age of 11, Maria was stabbed to death by Alessandro after she refused his advances. She said she would rather die than consent to sin. During the assault, she resisted firmly and repeatedly urged her attacker to repent and avoid eternal punishment.

Receiving multiple stabbings, she was severely wounded and died the following day in a hospital in Nettuno, Italy. Before her death, she told a priest that she forgave her attacker and expressed her hope that he would one day join her in Heaven.

Alessandro was later convicted and imprisoned. While in prison, he experienced a powerful spiritual conversion experience when he received a vision of Maria Goretti offering him lilies that turned into flames. He was released from prison after serving 27 years. He repented for his crime and lived a life of penance, later becoming a lay Franciscan. He asked for and received forgiveness from Maria’s mother.

Maria was canonized in 1950 by Pope Pius XII in one of the largest canonization ceremonies of the 20th century. Her mother, Assunta Goretti, was present at the canonization and offered a moving witness of forgiveness toward Alessandro.

St. Maria Goretti is honored as the patron saint of youth, purity, forgiveness, and victims of violence.