By Corazon Damo-Santiago
A sea of humanity that came to attend the canonization of Maria Goretti cannot be accommodated in Saint Peter’s Basilica, the biggest church in the world.
So, for the first time in the history of the church, the canonization was held in Saint Peter’s Square on July 25, 1950.
The unique episode in the history of the church was attended by Maria Goretti’s mother and all her siblings, and Alessandro Serenelli, her 66 year-old murderer, a Capuchin laybrother.
In Saint of the Day, Leonardo Foley writes: “Maria may have had trouble with catechism, but she had no trouble with faith. God’s will was holiness, decency, respect for one’s body, absolute obedience, total trust. In a complex world, her faith was simple: It is a privilege to be loved by God and to love him—at any cost. As the virtue of chastity dies of a thousand qualifications, she is a breath of sweet fresh air.”
She forgave her killer
Maria Goretti, was born in 1890 in Ancona, Italy. The third among seven children, her father died of malaria when she was 9 years old.
She was tasked to help in household chores and take care of the other children, while her mother helped in the farm.
They rented a house shared with Giovanni Serenelli, a partner of his father who had a son, Alessandro.
Maria had her first communion when she was 11. She was good-natured, obedient, happy with an outlook in life beyond her years.
At 12, she was physically mature and Alessandro started to make amorous advances.
She resisted them and kept the threats to herself, warned that her mother and she will be killed by Alessandro. He broke into the house, when she was alone and made sinful advances which Maria resisted shouting, “No it is a sin. God does not want it.”
Enraged, he stabbed her 14 times, and left her in a pool of blood.
She was brought to the hospital, but the doctors failed to save her.
Before her death, Maria forgave Alessandro, promised to pray for his repentance and wished to see him in heaven. Sentenced to 30 years of imprisonment, he was ill-tempered and unrepentant. After eight years, he saw Maria Goretti in a vision offering him flowers.
The experience changed him completely and he became an exemplar of goodness among the prisoners. So, after 27 years, he was released from prison. The first act he did was to go to the Goretti family to ask for forgiveness.
On sexual permissiveness
Rape is defined in the Webster’s Dictionary as an outrageous violation of a woman by force or deception. It is a violation of a basic right to human dignity.
The church teaches that every person is a child of God, thus, should resist the profanation of her integrity.
“Surely, you know, reminds Saint Paul [1 Corinthians 3:16] that you are God’s temple and that God’s spirit lives in you.”
Fr. Nil Guillemette in Stars Forever declares, “If one sees a woman as a child of God, redeemed by Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, promised to eternal life in Heaven, then rape will be seen for what it is: a profanation of what is sacred.”
Ironical, though, a Filipino woman or girl is raped every 72 minutes, according to Clara Rita Padilla, founder and executive director of En Gende Rights, in a commentary she wrote on May 14.
She said there are 7,409 women who were raped in 2014. If the numbers would include unreported cases, data would surely be staggering.
The “Philippines has been found to be one of the countries where the child-sex trade is flourishing,” said in the article “Child Abusers” in the Philippine Star on January 18, 2014.
Many of the children forced into sex trade come from impoverished families, and many of the victims “are forced into the flesh trade by their own parents or guardians.”
Dr. Bebe C. Kennedy states that movies and television have themes that induce sexual arousal, resulting in difficulties among adolescents’ understanding of their sexuality. Saint Paul reminding every Christian of his fraternal duty: “Let us conduct ourselves properly as people who live in the light of day—no orgies of drunkenness, no immorality or indecency…. Take up the weapons of the Lord Jesus Christ and stop paying attention to your sinful nature and satisfying its desires” (Romans 13: 13-14).
Fr. Guillemette on a homily meditation on the life of Maria Goretti declares: “If a woman—whatever her age and her intellectual formation—has enough insight into her self-worth as God’s child, she will understandably resist the profanation of her personal integrity with all her might, even to the point of sacrificing her life for it. Unfortunately, in today’s permissive society, many women have difficulty understanding this.”
Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris College in Laguna.