July 6 we celebrate liturgically the feast of Saint Maria Goretti. I remember this feast because my granddaughter did research on a Confirmation name back in grade school and chose St. Maria Goretti for her Confirmation name.
SAINT MARIA GORETTI
Maria Goretti (October 16, 1890 – July 6, 1902) is an Italian virgin-martyr. Having died at the age of 11, she is the youngest canonized saint in the Catholic Church’s long and storied history.
She was born on the eastern side of Italy to a farming family, but increased poverty forced the family to move to the western side of the country when she was only six.
When Maria was nine, her father died tragically from Malaria. This was a terrible time of trial and suffering for the whole family. The Gorettis had to share a house with another family, the Serenellis, in order to survive. Aside from having the responsibility of caring for her family, Maria had to also cook and clean for her two next door neighbors–Giovanni Serenelli and his son, Alessandro–who assisted her mother with the farm tasks.
The Serenelli family was what we would call today a very dysfunctional family. Alessandro Serenelli, the young man (20) who attacked Maria was part of this terrible mess. Giovanni, his father, was an alcoholic and his mother died in a psychiatric hospital when he was only a few months old, apparently after trying to drown Alessandro when he was a newborn.
On July 5, 1902, eleven-year-old Maria was sitting on the outside steps of her home, sewing one of Alessandro’s shirts and watching Teresa, her baby sister, when Alessandro threatened her with a knife if she did not do what he said; he was intending to rape her.
Maria would not submit, protesting that what he wanted to do was a mortal sin and warning him that he would go to hell. She desperately fought to stop him. She kept screaming, “No! It is a sin! God does not want it!” He first choked her, but when she insisted she would rather die than submit to him, he stabbed her eleven times.
Though, she prevented him from violating her, Maria was mortally wounded. The next day in the hospital Maria died, while looking at a picture of the Virgin Mary and clutching a cross to her chest. Her last words were, “I forgive Alessandro Serenelli and I want him with me in heaven forever.”
During his prison sentence Maria appeared to Alessandro and forgave him. That act of mercy and forgiveness—that act of love—filled Alessandro with contrition for his crime. When he was eventually released from prison, he visited Maria’s mother begging forgiveness, which she readily granted. From that point on, he lived a beautiful and converted life of holiness, eventually becoming a Franciscan lay brother.
Maria Goretti was beatified by Pope Pius XII in 1947, and canonized in 1950 by the same Pope. Maria’s mother and Alessandro were present at both ceremonies.
COMMENTARY
I share the story of Maria Goretti not only to honor her, but to cite her as an example of one who understood the horror and consequences of sin and preferred to die rather than commit a mortal sin. Today we live in a culture that has lost the sense of sin. It is the last thing most people want to acknowledge or talk about.
In today’s hardened society, those supporting abortion, a grave sin, avoid at all cost discussing the killing and dismemberment of the innocent, our youngest and most vulnerable human beings. Killing innocent human beings is a mortal sin against the 5th Commandment.
Sexual sins are not the only sins but they are certainly a battle of our times. Adultery, fornication, masturbation, pornography, contraception, sterilization and abortion are real life struggles for many. These are still GRAVE SINS, despite our culture’s embrace of Moral Relativism.
Moral relativism is the philosophical theory that all morality is relative, different moral truths hold for different people. We can all decide what is right for ourselves. You decide what’s right for you, and I’ll decide what’s right for me. No authority outside of me. In other words we play God.
Hmmm, wouldn’t that be interesting! What if it was up to each individual driver to choose the speed limit, when to turn, how to turn, when or if to stop at intersection? I suspect there would be a lot of collateral damage. to you and others. It is the same for sin. We don’t sin alone! What we choose affects everyone in Mystical Body of Christ
“The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to “the slavery of sin.” CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH #733
For forgiveness of sins, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Penance. “Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.”
JOHN 20: 22-23
REFLECTION
Saint Maria Goretti, is a model of righteousness and encouragement to avoid sin at all cost and to forgive at all cost as well. “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions”. Matthew 6:15
We experience God’s mercy through the Sacrament of Confession. It is there that we acknowledge who we are, limited, weak, and sinful creatures in need of redemption. It is there that God forgives us of any and all of our sins. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” John 3: 16-17
The Sacrament of Penance is an enormous source of interior peace. The priest in the person of Jesus raises his hand, and then with a blessing pronounces those amazing words, “I absolve you from your sins.” At that moment, we know that God has heard our cry for forgiveness, and we have been pardoned of our sins.
PRAYER TO SAINT MARIA GORETTI
St. Maria Goretti model of love and forgiveness, Help us all, especially our youth ,to flee anything that could offend Jesus or stain our souls with sin.
Even at age of eleven you understood what it meant to love God and love your neighbor. You did not withhold forgiveness from your attacker. In fact you wanted him in heaven with you.
Pray for me, that I, too, will be able to love my enemies like you did. Obtain for us victory in temptation, and grace of perseverance that we may one day enjoy with you the imperishable glory of Heaven. Amen.
SAINT MARIA GORETTI
PRAY FOR ME!