Maria Goretti

Who they were

Maria Goretti was born on 16 October 1890 at Corinaldo in the Marches, second of six children of Luigi Goretti and Assunta Carlini, farmers who moved to Ferriere di Conca in the Pontine marshes. At ten she lost her father to malaria, and helped her mother by caring for the younger children and running the house. Though unable to read, she asked to make her First Communion a year early, in 1902, and walked miles to Mass.

The family shared a farmhouse with the Serenellis. Alessandro Serenelli, eighteen, whom she had thought of as a brother, pressed himself on her repeatedly and threatened to kill her if she told; she refused him each time, begging him not to offend God. He stabbed her, and before she died on 6 July 1902 she forgave him, saying she wanted him with her in heaven. In prison he was converted, and in 1928 asked her mother's forgiveness and received Communion with her.

The miracles

As a martyr she did not need an approved miracle for beatification. Her mother was present at her canonisation. Her body rests at the shrine of Our Lady of Grace at Nettuno.

Why that counted as sanctity

A girl of eleven chose death rather than sin, and forgave her murderer as she died - a forgiveness that won his conversion.

Connected on this site

• Karolina Kózka Blessed
  “Kózka is often referred to as the "Polish Maria Goretti" due to the manner of her death.” — Wikipedia
• Pierina Morosini Blessed
  “She went on pilgrimage to Rome for the beatification of Maria Goretti.” — this site's research
• Veronica Antal Blessed
  “She has been titled as the "Maria Goretti of Romania" due to the manner of her death similar to that of Maria Goretti.” — Wikipedia