St. Maria Goretti
July 6
Probably my least favorite saint to write about, yet one of the saints I hold dearest to my heart, Maria Goretti was just a girl when she was murdered and I was just a girl when I first learned about her.
There is so much to write about Maria Goretti and it has been written, even by me before. The skinny of it is this: she’s not a great saint because she would rather die than be unchaste; she’s a great saint because, even at 11, she knew God intimately and relished in His Love so much that she was able to spread it to others, even to her attacker and murderer.
These reflections are supposed to be short and I’m going to try to keep it that way. Maria was coerced and groomed to have sex with a young man, her attacker, way before she was actually attacked and murdered. No one did anything about it because their family was in a precarious situation. Surely, nothing will happen to Maria, she will be fine no matter what. And you know what? She was fine, though in no thanks to those around her. She was loved and valued by her family, but she wasn’t protected. A child left to fend for herself. So Maria went the only place she knew would give her complete consolation and protection, Jesus.
When 18-year-old Alessandro attacked 11-year-old Maria, she tried to get him to stop out of concern for his soul. She wasn’t worried that she would be “unchaste” if she was raped, she was concerned that Alessandro would be. Alessandro was not open to hearing the voice of God through this girl he wanted power over, so he strangled her and then stabbed her a total of 14 times, leaving her for dead. Maria, after cooperating with the authorities, forgave Alessandro for his acts against her, and this is why she’s a saint.
Now, this isn’t about Alessandro but after a time in jail, he had a dream of Maria that changed the course of his life and he finally repented. When he was freed from jail, he sought the forgiveness of Maria’s mother first, and obtained it. Then he went to work as a laybrother in the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin as the receptionist and gardener until his death. He didn’t go off and try to make it big on his conversion. He didn’t even talk about it much. He just led a life of service to try and make up for all the ways he had failed previously. He looked to Maria and Maria gave him humility. This flies in the face of the celebrity converts we see these days. No one wants to live a quiet life anymore, everyone wants recognition for their conversion and power to go along with it. No one wants to simply serve. But that’s what Jesus did and what we should all do. Maria certainly lived this way.
St. Maria Goretti, pray for us!
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