SAINT MARIA GORETTI

The Flower of the Fields

Saint Maria Goretti, a martyr for purity, was elevated to the honors of the altar by Pius XII on 24 June 1950.  He declared her a saint in St. Peter’s Square in Rome in the presence of thousands of her devotees.  The authenticity of her martyrdom was recognized on 25 March 1945.

            Maria Goretti died in the hospital in the Italian coastal city of Nettuno on 6 July 1902.  The previous day, 5 July 1902 at 3:30 PM, she was attacked by a young man, Alessandro Serenelli, who mortally stabbed her 14 times.  His family shared a home with the Goretti family in the area of the Cascina Antica of Ferriere di Conca, near Nettuno.

            Every year those who celebrate her memory, especially during the centenary of her martyrdom, have an opportunity to rediscover the essential and indispensable relationship with themselves and with the call to holiness.  In this way they can experience even on a natural level, esteem for one who has achieved important objectives and on a spiritual level, the ultimate goal of holiness.  To venerate a saint and to consider the message of his or her witness to Christian life means to live out these values in one’s own faith life.

            Maria Goretti, in merely 11 years and 6 months and 21 days, reached highest level of sanctity because at one point in time she totally gave the gift of her life to God, as also in one moment of time violence was perpetrated against her.  She suffered this violence by a man who, at that instant, was blinded by carnal passion.  She knew how to choose the Lord by offering him her purity, her virginity rather than commit sin.

            Only the grace of the Holy Spirit, that was so incisively operative in “Marietta” could transform that small child into a martyr for purity and one of the greatest child-saints of the 20^th century.  The basic reason for her “quasi-natural” sanctity can be found in the sacraments of Christian initiation that she received as an infant.  In particular it was the sacrament of the Eucharist that she received on 16 June 1901, in the parish Church in the town of Conca, today Borgo Montello, that endowed her with an internal energy making her capable of confronting any events in which evil was present.  In the school of the divine Master and at the wellspring of the communion with God in the sacrament of the Eucharist, Marietta received the faith that empowered her.

            The stages of this extraordinary and exceptional sanctity are expressed in several significant moments of Marietta’s brief existence:

n      her birth on 16 October 1890 in Corinaldo (Ancona) of Luigi Goretti and Assunta Carlini, a family of farmers;

n      the following day she is baptized with the names of Maria and Teresa in the Church of St. Francis in Corinaldo;

n      For reasons of employment, on 12 December 1896, the Goretti family leaves Corinaldo and goes to the town of Colle Granturco, near the city of Paliano, in the service of Senator Scelsi.  It was here that they meet the Serenelli family and it is here that they will remain until the end of February 1899 when again the entire Goretti family, together with the Serenelli family, move to another area of Italy.  They definitively settle in Ferreire di Conca, near Nettuno, to work in the fields in the service of Count Mazzoleni.

n      Here the most painful events in the life of Marietta take place.  In these marshlands, on 6 May 1900, at the age of 41, her father, Luigi, dies of malaria.  Here young Marietta will be mortally wounded by Alessandro Serenelli, a young man who was obsessed with her and who tried in every way possible to cause her to sin until 5 July 1902-- the day of the brutal attack.

      The tragedy took place in a setting of extreme moral poverty on the part of the aggressor and of great spiritual and ethical dignity not only on the part of Marietta, but that of the entire Goretti family.  Her mother, Assunta, was trying to sustain her family in the light of the death of her husband and basic needs of her children. 

      It was a life of suffering and privations for Assunta.  Her first child was born shortly after their marriage in the Capuchin Church on 25 March 1886.  He was named Antonio and lived only 8 months.  Then there was Antonio (18 August 1888); on 16 October 1890 Maria, “the flower of the fields” is born.  It is she who would radically change the destiny of the Goretti family.

      In Corinaldo two other children would be born:  Mariano and Alessandro.  In Colle Granturco, near Paliano, her sister Ersilia would be born on 22 February 1898; while Teresa, the last child, is born in Casina Antica, on 2 February 1900.

      The family is almost complete even as problems continue to become more severe due to the death of Luigi Goretti, the head of the family.  Without the presence of an adult in the family, the Goretti family was placed at a great risk.  However, wholesome, moral values, and a deep faith life that was part of the experience of all the members of the Goretti family were forces that sustained them even in the midst of serious difficulties.

      One outstanding example is the ability to harmonize education, faith and work.  After the death of her husband, Luigi, Assunta Carlini, together with the assistance of her children, especially her extraordinary child Marietta, assumes responsibility for their life situation in the “Pontine swamps”, a dangerous area for sicknesses.

      The solitude of the family, the environmental isolation and the hard work in the fields created psychological conditions in which some people became unbalanced and were no longer able to master their instincts and carnal tendencies.  This is precisely what happened in the case of Alessandro Serenelli who shared a house with the Goretti family in Cascina Antica.   There were many possibilities for peaceful co-existence in the house and mutual collaboration in the fields.  The trust that Assunta placed in him was not justly and honestly repaid by the youth, who instead plotted how to take advantage of the situation.  In particular he sought ways of sexually exploiting the young and attractive Marietta Goretti.  When he decided to carry out his plan he did not anticipate the insistent and courageous rejection by the young girl.  In an expression of diabolical fury, lethal blows were uncontrollably unleashed on the pure and fragile body of Marietta.  It can be said that this was the first official case of “pedofilia” resulting in the death of a child that occurred at the beginning of the 20^th century. 

      The aftermath of this tragic event is well known.  It was not only reported in the judicial acts, but also in the local history.  Alessandro was arrested, tried and imprisoned.  Then repentance, grace, and finally the choice of different style of life: that of consecration to God.  For Marietta the road ended in the hospital and a fruitless attempt to save her life.  The wounds were deep and mortal.  She spent only one day in agony, but before dying, completely conscious and in full control of her faculties, assisted by divine grace, Marietta forgave her assassin from her heart and promised to pray for him from Paradise.

      The life of this little girl, initially clouded in despair and darkness, immediately became a source of inspiration.  Following her burial in the cemetery of Nettuno, a continual pilgrimage began to the tomb of the child-martyr which inspired much reflection on the courage that was demonstrated by this little girl in an extremely embarrassing situation.  Many began to see a heroic act in this event that was inspired by faith.  After 33 years of waiting, of numerous statements by witnesses, including those of the mother of Marietta and her murderer, the informative process that began on 31 May 1935 in the Diocese of Albano, was concluded on 24 June 1950 in St. Peter’s Square at which the mother and brothers of Marietta were present, as well as Alessandro Serenelli, having repented and chosen another style of life.

      May the life of Maria Goretti be a challenge to all to rediscover the courage to be faithful and to be Christian in a world that today is marked by apathy and indifference.  A little girl of 12 years of age, who knew how to give witness to the faith even to the point of martyrdom, even to keeping herself pure and chaste before God and in her own conscience, is a continual challenge to young people and adults to courageously follow the way of the Gospel in faithful abandonment to God.

Fr. Antonio Rungi, C.P.

(DOL Provincial)