St. Maria Goretti icon

St. Maria Goretti icon
September 2nd 2016
4.5 x 6 inches
Ink, watercolor, gold leaf

“How beautiful you are, virgin of Christ;
nothing can rob you of your reward
or separate you from the love of the Son of God.”
~ from the Responsory for Virgin Saints

I finished this icon awhile back and am only now uploading it, because I haven’t had much spare time to write up the descriptions. In any case, this is my icon of St. Maria Goretti, the “Agnes of the 20th century” and one of the youngest canonized saints. A lot of other depictions of the saint have her wearing vague, almost Greco-Roman-esque clothing that I found entirely inadequate for an accurate portrayal of what she would have worn. Instead, I got my inspiration from photographs of late-nineteenth/early-twentieth century Italian immigrants from Ellis Island to give me a feel for the clothing she might have worn. I decided to depict her wearing something that a practical, hard-working woman of the period would have worn, including a head-scarf, a blouse, and a skirt with an apron. She also holds a palm branch (symbol of victorious martyrdom) and a lily branch (symbols of purity), with her hands crossed over her breast. I'm not sure if I quite succeeded in making her look like an eleven-year-old, but I did try.



:+: A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE SAINT :+:

Saint Maria Goretti (October 16th 1890 – July 6th 1902), was born in Corinaldo, Italy, the third of seven children born to Luigi Goretti and his wife Assunta née Carlini. They were a pious, hard-working family who farmed their own land in the mountainous region near Corinaldo. By 1896, however, they were forced to sell their land and move to find work as tenant farmers. They traveled to Campagna where there was more work to be had. They settled first in Colle Gianturco, then three years later moved to Le Ferriere to become sharecroppers for Count Mazzoleni, living in a house called “La Cascina Antica” which they shared with another family called the Serenellis.

The Gorettis worked hard to make the best of things. Assunta worked all day taking care of the children and also cooked, cleaned, and worked hard to make the dilapidated house into a livable home. Luigi was out in the fields doing back-breaking work that included draining the marshy farmland to make it arable and productive. He worked so hard that he ignored a growing illness that proved to be very serious. He had contracted malaria from the nearby swamp and soon grew worse until he finally passed away. Before dying, he told Assunta to leave and go home to Corinaldo. After his death, Assunta struggled to care for her seven young children and work the farm. Unable to carry out Luigi’s last wishes because of her poverty and the youth of her children, she was forced to stay with the Serenellis who boarded with them in the same house.

Maria had to take over the domestic duties of the house, including caring for her younger siblings, doing the sewing, and cooking while her mother worked in the fields. In the meantime, Giovanni Serenelli began drinking heavily and became abusive. His son, Alessandro too became sullen and withdrawn, and even made several aggressive advances towards Maria. She rejected him each time, but this only made him more angry and dangerous and he threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone about his advances. Intimidated and shaken, she told no one about it, but was very careful to avoid being alone with him at any time.

The only happiness in her life was her love for her mother and siblings and her love for Jesus. The great moment of her life was when she finally finished her Catechetical instruction and received her First Holy Communion. After that, she looked forward to every Sunday when she could receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

Maria Goretti was eleven years old when, on July 5 1902, she was sitting on the steps of her house mending one of Alessandro’s shirts and watching over her sleeping baby sister Teresa. Giovanni, Assunta, and the others were busy with the threshing outside, when Alessandro made an excuse and went back to the house where he knew Maria would be alone with the baby. The twenty-year-old Alessandro approached her, grabbed her and threw her into the house and then proceeded to lock the door. He drew out a knife and threatened to kill her if she refused to yield to him. She fought against him as hard as she could and when he tried to choke her she screamed: “No! No Alessandro! It is a mortal sin! You will go to hell Alessandro! You will go to hell if you do it!” She said she would rather die than submit to him and she screamed so much that, afraid someone would hear, he stabbed her eleven times to silence her. When she tried to crawl over and open the door to yell for help he stopped her by stabbing her three more times and then ran off.

It was baby Teresa who finally alerted the family to what had happened. They heard the baby crying from the house and they ran to see why Maria was neglecting the baby. It was Giovanni Serenelli who discovered Maria lying in a pool of her own blood on the kitchen floor. When he yelled for Assunta to come in, Maria looked up at her mother and said, “It was Alessandro, Mama…Because he wanted me to commit an awful sin and I would not.” The nearby farmers were alerted and the local police and hospital were quickly notified. Alessandro was apprehended soon afterwards; the vehicle taking him to prison overtook the one that took Maria to the hospital. In the meantime, however, Maria was in critical condition. As the Journalist Noel Crusz reported: “The wounds penetrated her throat, with lesions of the pericardium, heart, lungs and diaphragm. Surgeons at Orsenigo were surprised that she was still alive. In a dying deposition, in the presence of the Chief of Police, she told her mother of Serenelli's sexual harassment, and two previous attempts made to rape her. She was afraid to reveal this earlier since she was threatened with death.”

The doctors performed surgery without anesthesia, but her wounds were so grave that they were unable to do anything. One of her doctors said to her: “Maria, think of me in Paradise.” She replied, “Well, who knows, which of us is to be there first?” Then he said, “You, Maria.” And she again replied, “Then I will gladly think of you.”

Her parish priest later came in to give her Viaticum and the Last Rites, and reminded her of the death of Jesus. Looking at the crucifix on the wall and remembering how Jesus had forgiven His killers, she said, “I, too, pardon him. I, too, wish that he could come some day and be with me in heaven.” She died in the evening, less than a day after the attack.

Alessandro, in the meantime, was tried and sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. For the first three years he remained hardened, bitter, and unrepentant. However, after the visit of a local bishop several years into his imprisonment, Alessandro sent the bishop a thank you card asking for his prayers and also related an incident that had changed his life. He had had a dream in which Maria appeared to him in a garden. She picked fourteen white lilies and handed them to him one by one and each of them burned in his hands the moment he grasped them. He woke up and, feeling that Maria had forgiven him, he bitterly regretted what he had done. His demeanor in prison changed so significantly that his sentence was lessened and he was released in 1929, after only twenty-seven years. Shortly thereafter, he begged Assunta’s forgiveness, which she gave him freely, saying, “How could I refuse to forgive him, when Maria has done so?” Ever after, he had a great devotion to St. Maria Goretti, and even called her “my little saint.” He later became a lay Capuchin brother and worked there as a gardener and porter, where he died peacefully in 1970.

Maria Goretti was beatified on April 27th 1947 with her mother and Alessandro present. The Pope went over to greet her personally and she later said: "When I saw the Pope coming, I prayed, 'Madonna, please help me', and I felt faint. He put his hand on my head and said, ‘Blessed mother, happy mother, mother of a Blessed!’" Maria was canonized a year later on June 24th 1950 by Pope Pius XII. Assunta was again present, and was the first mother to ever be present at the canonization of her child. St. Maria Goretti’s body is kept in the Basilica of Nostra Signora delle Grazie e Santa Maria Goretti in the city of Nettuno, Italy.

“It is well known how this young girl had to face a bitter struggle with no way to defend herself. Without warning a vicious stranger burst upon her, bent on raping her and destroying her childlike purity. In that moment of crisis she could have spoken to her Redeemer in the words of that classic, The Imitation of Christ: "Though tested and plagued by a host of misfortunes, I have no fear so long as your grace is with me. It is my strength, stronger than any adversary; it helps me and gives me guidance." With splendid courage she surrendered herself to God and his grace and so gave her life to protect her virginity.

The life of this simple girl - I shall concern myself only with highlights - we can see as worthy of heaven. Even today people can look upon it with admiration and respect. Parents can learn from her story how to raise their God-given children in virtue, courage and holiness; they can learn to train them in the Catholic faith so that, when put to the test, God's grace will support them and they will come through undefeated, unscathed and untarnished.

From Maria's story carefree children and young people with their zest for life can learn not to be led astray by attractive pleasures which are not only ephemeral and empty but also sinful. Instead they can fix their sight on achieving Christian moral perfection, however difficult and hazardous that course may prove. With determination and God's help all of us can attain that goal by persistent effort and prayer.

Not all of us are expected to die a martyr's death, but we are all called to the pursuit of Christian virtue. This demands strength of character though it may not match that of this innocent girl. Still, a constant, persistent and relentless effort is asked of us right up to the moment of our death. This may be conceived as a slow steady martyrdom which Christ urged upon us when he said: The kingdom of heaven is set upon and laid waste by violent forces.

So let us all, with God's grace, strive to reach the goal that the example of the virgin martyr, Saint Maria Goretti, sets before us. Through her prayers to the Redeemer may all of us, each in his own way, joyfully try to follow the inspiration example of Maria Goretti who now enjoys eternal happiness in heaven.  
~ From a homily at the canonization of Saint Maria Goretti by Pope Pius XII

“We greet you, O beautiful and lovable saint! Martyr on earth and angel in heaven, look down from your glory on this people, which loves you, which venerates, glorifies and exalts you. On your forehead you bear the full brilliant and victorious name of Christ. In your virginal countenance may be read the strength of your love and the constancy of your fidelity to your Divine Spouse. As his bride espoused in blood, you have traced in yourself His own image. To you, therefore, powerful intercessor with the Lamb of God, we entrust these our sons and daughters who are present here, and those countless others who are united with us in spirit. For while they admire your heroism, they are even more desirous of imitating your strength of faith and your inviolate purity of conduct. Fathers and mothers have recourse to you, asking you to help them in their task of education. In you, through our hand, the children and the young people will find a safe refuge, trusting that they shall be protected from every contamination, and be able to walk the highways of life with that serenity of spirit and deep joy which is the heritage of those who are pure of heart. Amen.”
~ From a homily at the canonization of Saint Maria Goretti by Pope Pius XII



The Feast of St. Maria Goretti is celebrated on July 6th.

St. Maria Goretti is the patron saint of modern youth, teenage girls, victims of rape, and the Children of Mary.

O God, author of innocence and lover of chastity,
who bestowed the grace of martyrdom
on your handmaid, the Virgin Saint Maria Goretti, in her youth,
grant, we pray, through her intercession,
that, as you gave her a crown for her steadfastness,
so we, too, may be firm
in obeying your commandments.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.