st maria goretti heres the life of st maria goretti posted with kind permission of the editor of the australian catholic magazine morning star hope you like it put up with anything to prevent sin st maria goretti maria was born on october th to luigi and assunta goretti the eldest daughter in the family of seven she was a cheerful girl always imitating her parents she had but one disire but one wish to receive our lord in the blessed sacrament the date was finally set for little maria to receive our lord on the feast of corpus christi for maria time seemed like an eter nity as she slowly neared the great day when it finally arrived fr jerome the priest who was to celebrate the mass and give the children their first holy communion delivered a sermon on the immense love of jesus christ for them and the great love we should have in return for him he then warmly urged them to die rather than commit a mortal sin maria humbly approached the altar of god and received the holy eucharist her only sadness was the thought of her father s absence who died some time beforehand as for the rest of the day maria remained under the spell of the divine visit that is until her thoughts changed to when she could go next to holy communion thus ended the happiest day of maria s life over the next twelve months maria had changed from a giggling little girl into a quiet young lady with responsibilities as her mother went out into the fields in place of her husband maria took on the ironing cooking washing and other motherly duties she was doing this not only for her own family but also for the serenellis a father and son who lived with the goretti s owning a share in the farm although maria was poorer than all the other children she by far surpassed them in virtue in all thi ngs she did the holy will of god during the month of june alessandro serenelli the son twice made advances upon maria when he chanced to be alone with her on both occasions maria managed to struggle free of alessandro s strong grip but on the second he threatened to kill her if she even uttered a word to her mother from this day on maria lived in terror fearing lest alessandro attack again on july th alessandro left work in the fields to get a handkerchief as he claimed he went to the storeroom beneath the house where maria who was outside on the landing with the baby could hear him fumbling about in with tools she wondered what he was doing it was later learned that he was sharpening a blade he went to the house and called for maria she told him she wouldn t go to him unless she knew why she was needed he stormed out to the landing and dragged her up to her room mar ia instantly realized what he was up to no no no do not touch me it is a sin you will go to hell at this point alessandro held the knife over maria s chest who was now on the floor will you or will you not maria gathered all her energy no i will not alessandro no she had chosen her martyrdom over sin god over satan overcome with rage alessandro plunged the knife into maria s breast fourteen times finally he came to his senses and thought maria was dead frantically he threw the knife behind a closet and locked himself in his room the crying of the baby teresa on the landing brought the attention to assunta and the father of alessandro as the baby was unattended and was in danger of falling off they ran to the house to find maria who covered in blood was dragging herself to the door when asked what happened she said alessandro stabbed her he wanted to make me do wrong and i would not the ambulance arrived then the police who took alessandro away as the ambulance carried maria to the hospital a large crowd followed on foot the doctors at the hospital held no hope for poor little maria the same fr jerome who gave maria her first communion came to administer the last rites and to give her holy viaticum he asked maria if she would forgive her murderer yes for the love of jesus i forgive him i wish for him to one day join me in paradise may god forgive him for i alread y have maria died at about three o clock alessandro was tried and found guilty of maria s death but because of his age he was sentenced to only thirty years in prison after eight years of being a violent prisoner and show ing no regret for his crime he saw in a dream in the midst of a field of flowers maria holding out a bunch of white lilies to him soon later he wrote to the local bishop begging god s par don for the grave sin he had committed he later gave testimony in maria s beatification in less than three years later on ju ne th maria was canonised assunta goretti was the first mother ever to be present at her daughter s canonisation may st maria goretti help us to be pure and grant us the strength to die rather than commit a mortal sin saint maria goretti pray for us by brendan arthur internet simon giaeb cc monash edu au viva cristo rey long live christ the king
