St. Maria Goretti
Feast 07-06 · Canonized 1950
Patron of
About
Maria was born in 1890 in Corinaldo, Italy, into a poor farming family. After her father died, she helped her mother care for her younger siblings while working in the fields.
In 1902, at the age of eleven, she was attacked by a neighbor who tried to assault her. She resisted, telling him it was a sin, and he stabbed her fourteen times. She forgave her attacker before dying the next day, July 6, 1902.
Her attacker later repented and attended her canonization in 1950. She is venerated as the patron saint of youth and of victims of assault.
Suggested prayer
O God, who gave St. Maria Goretti grace to forgive the man who stabbed her and to pray for his repentance, grant through her intercession that victims of violence and the young may see purity and mercy triumph over evil. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.