16 Facts About Maria Goretti

Maria Goretti's father died when she was nine, and the family had to share a house with another family, the Serenellis.

Maria Goretti took over household duties while her mother and siblings worked in the fields.

Maria Goretti was taken to the hospital but she died while forgiving him.

Maria Goretti later became a lay brother in a Capuchin monastery and died in 1970.

Maria Goretti is especially venerated in the Congregation of the Passion.

On 5 July 1902, eleven-year-old Maria Goretti was sitting on the outside steps of her home, sewing one of Serenelli's shirts and watching Teresa, while Serenelli was threshing beans in the barnyard.

Maria Goretti would not submit protesting that what he wanted to do was a mortal sin and warning him that he would go to Hell.

Maria Goretti tried to reach the door, but he stopped her by stabbing her three more times before running away.

Maria Goretti underwent surgery without anesthesia, but her injuries were beyond the doctors' help.

Maria Goretti was taking care of her infant sister in the farmhouse.

Maria Goretti was afraid to reveal this earlier since she was threatened with death.

Maria Goretti asserted that, while in prison, Alessandro stated that he did not complete the assault and Maria died a virgin.

Maria Goretti remained unrepentant and uncommunicative from the world for three years, until a local bishop, Monsignor Giovanni Blandini, visited him in jail.

Maria Goretti forgave him, and they attended Mass together the next day, receiving Holy Communion side by side.

Maria Goretti is represented in art as a wavy-haired young girl in farmer clothes or a white dress, with a bouquet of lilies in her hands, and she is counted among the ranks of the Passionist order since her spiritual formation was guided by the Passionists who were the postulators of her cause for Sainthood.

Heaven over the Marshes is an Italian film based on Maria Goretti's life, filmed in 1949 and directed by Augusto Genina.