St. Maria Goretti

St. Maria Goretti Stained Glass Window in the Newman Center

About the Window

Represented as a young girl of 11 years old, holding lilies and a crown of flowers. The symbol of her martyrdom is represented by the knife and blood at her feet. The background represents the house where she grew up.

Biography 

The youngest canonized saint in the Church. She died tragically on July 6, 1902, at the age of eleven. Born into poverty, her father moved the family when Maria was just six years old from the east side of Italy (near Ancona) to the west side (near Nettuno, about 40 miles south of Rome) in hopes of escaping the grinding poverty that was gripping the area. Just three years later, when Maria was nine, her father died tragically. It fell to her at that time to raise her five siblings while her mother worked the fields to produce the crops with which they would both pay the rent and feed themselves.

This was a terrible time of trial and suffering for the whole family. For Maria it was especially difficult. Aside from having the responsibility of caring for her family, she had to also cook and clean for her two next door neighbors– Giovanni Serenelli and his son, Alessandro–who assisted her mother with the farm tasks.

It was also during this time that Alessandro began to devel­op an impure liking for Maria. The big 20-year-old would say rude and crude things to her, things that were inappro­priate and embarrassing, and that would cause her to run away. However, at a certain point he began to make direct sexual advances towards her, demanding her virginity and threatening her with violence for non-compliance.

Finally, after many months of this, Alessandro forced him­self upon Maria in an attempt to rape her. Though she pre­vented him from violating her, Alessandro brutally stabbed her numerous times. Maria died the next day in the midst of horrendous infection brought on by her lacerations. Her last words were, “I forgive Alessandro Serenelli … and I want him with me in heaven forever.”

During his prison sentence Maria appeared to Alessandro and forgave him. That act of mercy and forgiveness—that act of love—filled Alessandro with contrition for his crime. It was also a turning point for him where grace entered his heart. From that point on, he lived a beautiful and con­verted life of holiness, eventually becoming a Franciscan lay brother. Before his death Alessandro Serenelli wrote a beautiful open letter to the world. 

Maria is known as a wonder-worker. She has intervened with the Lord to produce countless miracles. Of all the saints (over 160) whose relics Fr. Carlos Martins, Director of Treasures of the Church, ministers with, Maria is the one who by far has produced the most miracles.

Alessandro us represented at his feet with the 14 white flowers that are turning into flames. Maria Goretti’s heroic story of love and forgiveness would not be complete with­out one of its first miraculous fruits: the conversion of Ales­sandro Serenelli, Maria’s murderer.