It was a lovely spring morning when the Gorettis were leaving their old home with their good neighbors the Cimarellis. There where only six Gorettis then. Luigi Goretti, the father, and Assunta the mother, Angelo who was nine, Maria then six, Marino who was four, and the new baby Alessandro. They were moving to Rome where the climate would be better, for they were excellent farmers. Maria was the only girl of the family then, but there were more to come. She was born on October 16, 1890 in Corinaldo, Italy where the family was now moving from. The journey was sometimes uncomfortable as the family crossed from near the top of Italy in Corinaldo, to Rome. They had to travel across the Apennine mountains and Maria never did complain. When the clan got to Rome they wandered through Rome looking for a job. A few days later they got a job from a Count Mazzonleni’s to work at his farm. When they reached the farm they saw that it had badly fallen into ruin. It was called, “The old cheese factory,” but it’s real name was the Ferriere farm. It had been badly taken care of and was more like a swamp. Domenico Cimarelli and Luigi Goretti worked on their half of the farm and would split the crops. Luigi got right to work. Filled up the ditches, cleared out the brambles, removed rocks and other such work all day long. He became very weak from all such intense work and grew ill. The crops then were behind and were still in the fields since he could not go out. Count Mazzoleni then told Luigi that he would have to hire help. He told him then that there were two people who would come and work with them. The two people arrived and introduced themselves. They were Giovani Serenelli and his youngest son Alessandro who was very strong for being 18. Giovani’s wife had died in an insane asylum and his other son was in one too, and Giovani and his son had needed work. They also were from Corinaldo, and they spoke the same dialect as the Gorettis. The Gorettis were overjoyed that the newcomers were from Corinaldo too. So the Serenellis moved into with the Gorettis and together they worked at the farm. During the rest of the summer the new family fit in fine and each family enjoyed each other. But when winter came there was nothing to do. Mr. Serenellis began to drink. And Alassandro’s behavior changed. He no longer played with the children as he used to. Assunta noticed that he would come back home with magazines and lock himself in his room. Once when she was cleaning his room she saw that he had cut out some bad pictures from the magazines and had hung them around his bed. She decided not to do anything about it for surely his father knew about it, and she did not want to start any trouble in the house by taking them away.

Luigi fell ill again. But this time he would not get better. He was very weak from all of his hard work. On the night of his death, he saw Giovani and Alessandro come into the room. When he saw them his eyes got big and he said to Assunta, “Assunta, go back to Corinaldo, go back to Corinaldo!” he kept repeating this out loud. The passing of her father was hard for Maria. She had loved him dearly. Every night she would say a whole rosary for him and when ever she would pass his grave she would say an extra Hail Mary for him.

It was now June 1901, Maria was 11 years old. She told her mother that she wanted to prepare to receive her First Holy Communion. At first Assunta said that it was impossible because they were so poor. But Maria thought of a way and her mother agreed to it. Maria went to a lady in town who was teaching there and to the nearby Passionist monastery to learn her Catachism. She studied hard for 11 months, and she was to receive her First Holy Communion on the feast of Corpus Christi. Everyone at the Ferriere farm contributed to Maria’s outfit - the shoes, the dress, the veil and even a little crown of flowers. Maria received Jesus that day for the first time like a little Saint and she was immensely happy.

Ever since her father’s death Giovani was in charge, and Maria had to take her mother’s place and would have to do all the house work and take care of her brothers and sisters while her mother worked in the fields. Maria did look like a little mother. She wore a shawl and she was very tall that she looked 15 years old. Maria enjoyed going to the market with Theresa Cimarelli, her godmother, to sell eggs and milk. Her sullen face would disappear and she would laugh again. But then she would have to go back home and she would become cheerless again.

One day her mother had to stay at the home and Maria was sent to work on plowing the fields with Alessandro. After they had been working for some time Alessandro stopped and faced Maria. He grabbed Maria by her shoulders and for a second Maria did not know what he was doing. Suddenly she realized it and called for help, squirmed free, and ran away and then hid in a bush. She then went back home for lunch and after lunch she pretended to get a basket before she went back to work with Alessandro, but she ran into the hay loft and hid in some hay for three hours. After that Maria constantly avoided Alessandro. But another time while she was making the beds Alessandro came into the room and grabbed her again. No one else was in the house. Maria then dug her nails into his face until he let her go. She ran to the door calling for help, but he got in front of her and closed the door. He said with his fist at her, “If you say a word to your mother, I’ll kill you.”

Maria then lived in terror after that. The thought of Alessandro haunted her. So many times she wanted tell, but every time she was going to she kept her lips shut for fear of what Alessadro would do. She was also afraid that Alessandro would come upon her suddenly and beat her. One day while Maria was washing dishes, Alessadro called out from his room to her, “Maria, I have a torn shirt that needs mending, I’ll need it to go to Mass tomorrow. You’ll have to repair it for me this afternoon. I’m leaving it here for you.” Maria wanted to tell him that she had no time to do it, but she was a good girl and out of true charity she would do it for him. Later that afternoon Maria was sitting on the front porch watching her baby sister Theresa who was sleeping next to her. Maria was sewing Alessandro’s shirt as fast as she could. Alessandro had made an excuse to leave the fields and was coming in the house. Maria was tense. She heard him in the kitchen fumbling in the tool box. Suddenly he called to her, “Maria, come here!” Maria did not answer him, she did not even move. “Hear me,” called Alessandro, “Come here immediately.” He grabbed Maria’s arm and began to drag her in. Maria grabbed to the banister and started crying for help. But Alessandro yanked Maria in and locked the door behind him. There was no way out. “Alessandro let me go!” Maria cried. Alessandro then held up a knife. Maria was terrified. She frantically pulled free from Alessandro’s hand and ran behind the table, screaming for help. Alessandro knocked over the table and tripped Maria. When Maria fell he pinned her to the floor. “No, I will not ,Alessandro, no.” Maria continued to struggle to get away with all of her might. “Alessandro, let me go, let me go!” Alessandro did not expect that she would fight so much. He was furious. He pulled out the knife and hung it over Maria. Maria knew the danger that she was in. With a final act of courage she cried, “No! No! It is a sin! God does not want this! If you do this, you will go to hell! What are you doing, Alessandro? You will go to hell!” That was it. Alessandro was raging mad. He dug the knife into her chest, her stomach and back, over and over again stabbing her 14 times. Maria kept repeating, “God does not want this! You will go to hell” and with her right hand she tried to cover her knees with her skirt. She finally fell unconscious. Alassandro was frightened. He thought she was dead. He threw the knife behind the closet and locked himself in his room.

Outside Assunta was working with the children in the fields. It was a long time since Alessandro had left and the baby was crying. Assunta had just sent Mariano to get Alessandro when Giovani cried, “Assunta, Assunta, come here!” Everyone ran to see what had happened. They saw how trashed the room was. And there was Maria on the floor. Domenico picked Maria up and brought her into her room. Assunta fainted at the sight of her daughter. When she woke she saw Theresa Camillo helping Maria. Maria’s clothes were dripping with blood. Assunta asked Maria who did this and what had happened. Maria was slow in answering. “It was Alessandro. He wanted to commit an awful sin, but I wouldn’t.” Meanwhile Domenico had rushed off to get the Doctor spreading the news that Maria had been attacked. People rushed to the farm and the Goretti home was filled. The knife was discovered and several men tried to break down Alessandro’s door. Count Mezzolni came in and told the men to get the police instead. Two men then left for the police. Doctor Bartoli came and everyone was told to leave. He then examined Maria and said that the damage was very serious. The hours passed slowly as they waited for the ambulance to come. Back in those days the ambulances were pulled by horses. It was now about six o’clock when the ambulance came and Maria’s wounds had been bleeding since two o’clock that afternoon. Maria was put on a stretcher and was put into the ambulance. Her brothers and sisters went into the wagon to kiss their sister goodbye. Poor Maria was crying as they said goodbye. Assunta stayed with Maria as the ambulance left for the hospital. The road was rough and long and with every bump Maria hurt more.

Maria was examined at the hospital. There was one stab that had just missed her heart and had gone in deep. Her lungs had been thoroughly pierced through and her intestines were ripped. The bottom of her back was damaged. There were four spots on the chest that had been stabbed, five crisscrossed on her stomach, and five other brutal cuts. She had to be worked on immediately. For two hours the doctors worked on bandaging and stitching up her wounds. She was given nothing to stop the pain for fear that it would do her harm. It was very painful and Maria fell unconscious. Most of her body was all bandaged up but her arms and feet were not, and her hands and feet were freezing. Maria was told that she was not allowed to speak. Her mother was later going to leave to rest that night, and Maria was going to ask her to stay but she did not say anything offering it up as a sacrifice.

All that night Maria moaned helplessly as her body was full of pain. The next morning, now Sunday, the priest came to give Maria Holy Communion. Before he did he asked Maria if she forgave Alessandro for Jesus had forgiven those who had killed Him. Maria looked at the Crucifix on the wall and said, “Yes, for the love of Jesus I too pardon him, and I want him to be with me in Heaven.” Maria then received Jesus with great joy. Dr. Bartoli changed the bandages and saw that Maria’s knees and elbows were black and blue from when Maria had tried to escape from Alessandro. Then Sergeant Fantini came and asked Maria questions about the attack so that he could write up a trial against Alessandro. During all of the questions that he asked, Maria replied simply and honestly and did not get angry or over emphasize anything. Assunta asked Maria why she did not tell her anything. “Because he said he would kill me if I did,” she said, “And you see, he killed me anyway.”

Maria’s health was dying away. She received extreme unction later that day. Maria seemed to be battling a devil. It lasted for three hours. “Alessandro, Alessandro, let me go…NO! NO! NO! You will go to hell! Mama, Mama, help!” She would cry. Her head shook back and forth on her pillow. The fight was haunting her. It was the last battle she would have to fight. At the end of the battle Maria’s whole body shook. She threw her head against her pillow. Maria suddenly gasped hard. She gently laid her head on the pillow. Maria Goretti had gone to God. On July 6, 1902, the first Sunday in July, the day after the attack, Maria died. It was the feast of the Precious Blood and the Passionists were singing Vespers, “Who is this that cometh…this beautiful one… Why is thy apparel red, and thy garments like theirs that tread in the wine press?” - Isais 63:1-2

Maria Goretti was declared Saint Maria Goretti on June 24, 1950. For the first time was a mother ever to attend the canonization of her daughter. Assunta was there at the canonization of Maria and sitting next to her was Alessandro. He had repented and had begged the forgiveness of Assunta. Alessandro lived at a Capuchin monastery for years working as a gardener. He grew to have a special devotion to Maria and prayed to her for any heavenly help. Alessandro died at the monastery as a lay brother at the age of 87. One can be sure that Maria got Alessandro in the end, and that he is with her in Heaven.