Young saint modeled purity

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

	St. Maria Goretti When: Oct. 16, 1890-July 6, 1902 Where: Italy What: Martyr Feast: July 6 Patron: Girls, loss of parents, martyrs, rape victims, young people

For more than a century, Catholic parents and teachers have urged youth to look to Maria Goretti as a model of purity. Her life continues to be both a model of chastity and a reminder that sexual temptation was not something invented in the 1960s.

Maria was born Oct. 16, 1890, at Corinaldo, near Ancona, on the east coast of central Italy, to Luigi and Assunta (Carlini) Goretti. In 1896, the Gorettis moved to the Galiano region and later to the Anzio region, on the west coast of Italy, near Rome, in search of work. Soon, Luigi, a farmworker, died from malaria, leaving his impoverished widow to care for their six children.

One hot afternoon in July 1902, the 11-year-old Maria was sitting at the top of the stairs to their cottage mending a shirt. A cart pulled up and an 18-year-old neighbor, Alexander Serenelli, jumped off and invited Maria to join him in the bedroom. She had resisted his advances a few days earlier but had not told anyone because she didn't want to embarrass his family.

But on this day, he refused to accept her "No." He grabbed her, pulled her into the room and shut the door. Maria attempted to escape, warned him that what he wanted to do was wrong and tried to call for help while he was strangling her. She continued to resist and told him that she would rather die than submit as he was ripping her dress.

Suddenly, the enraged Alexander began slashing at her with a long dagger. Maria fell, gasping that she was being killed. Alexander plunged the dagger into her back and ran.

The mortally wounded girl was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where she would not die until the next day. During that time, she expressed concern for her mother, said she forgave her murderer and eagerly awaited the Last Rites, including Communion. Twenty-four hours after the attack, she died.

Her murderer was sentenced to 30 years in prison, where he was a surly and unrepentant inmate. Then, after six years and near despair, he dreamed one night of Maria gathering white lilies, which she gave to him. With that dream, he experienced conversion. Finally, after 27 years in prison, he was released and immediately went to Maria's mother to beg her forgiveness.

In the years after Maria's murder, her reputation grew, and on April 27, 1947, Pope Pius XII declared her blessed. The pope then greeted the crowd on the balcony of St. Peter, accompanied by Maria's mother, then 82, two of Maria's sisters and a brother.

Three years later, 250,000 people - the largest crowd to ever attend a canonization - were in St. Peter's Square when Pius XII declared her a saint. Among the multitude kneeling there was Alexander Serenelli.