Saint Maria Goretti, “by her inviolate candor has stolen your hearts.” Pope Pius XII pointed this out to those who flocked to Saint Maria Goretti’s canonization on June 24, 1950. He might as well be saying it to me seventy-five years later.
You might hear people say, “Saint (fill-in-the-blank) is stalking me.” Sometimes Saints choose us as their friends. Sometimes, we choose them. Sometimes, it’s as natural as the unfolding of a lifelong best friend who is always ready to be in your corner.
Saint Maria Goretti has always been present in my life. Recently, though, she reminded me how much she, and all the Saints, take our friendships seriously, especially when we ask for it.
I was blessed to be in Italy this year, and ended up at the Shrine of Saint Maria Goretti in Nettuno twice. I did not seek it out or plan either visit. However, I realized quickly that it was part of God’s providence. As I was heading there on the train from Rome, I knew I needed to have a proper response to this free gift from the Lord, and that Maria must want me there. Twice.
So I decided I would go to the Shrine of Saint Maria Goretti and entrust a special intention to her, asking her ongoing intercession for it. There is surrender that happens when we entrust someone or something to the Saints. It’s an invitation to faith. It’s an invitation to share a burden or struggle. In this case, there was a large element of I have no idea what to do with this, and I was happy to turn it over to someone else to worry about.
Tenacious in Life
As Pope Pius XII pointed out, Maria was known for her “inviolate candor.” Most famously, she kept reminding Alessandro during the attack that what he was doing was wrong and he must not sin. She was also known by her neighbors as “the little old lady” because of how seriously she lived and prayed.
It was rare in her time to receive First Holy Communion before the age of twelve. She hungered to receive Jesus. Yet she was also expected to work. She tenaciously arranged with her mother to be able to rush through her housework in order to go to the neighboring town for instruction. She received Jesus in Holy Communion at age ten on the feast of Corpus Christi.
Her last words were a candid statement of both confident belief and prayerful request: “I forgive Alessandro Serenelli . . . and I want him with me in Heaven forever.”
Tenacious in Death
After her death, Alessandro was convicted and imprisoned for thirty years. He showed no remorse. At his trial, he went as far as trying to lay the blame on Maria herself for the attack. Six years after her death, Maria appeared to Alessandro, offering him fourteen white lilies, one for every wound he gave her. One can imagine, in her first years in Heaven, Maria going before God the Father and asking to visit Alessandro. The same tenacious little girl who finagled her way to receive Holy Communion early was determined to see Alessandro in Heaven with her. Her perseverance led him to seek forgiveness from the Church and from Maria’s mother.
That same tenacious personality is who I met in Nettuno when I asked for her intercession. I know she is praying for my intention because she is determined to remind me. It’s almost become a game with us. If I go to a new church, chances are there is a statue or stained glass window of Saint Maria Goretti. Her relic was recently chosen to be in the new altar at our Motherhouse. Three different times, people have pulled out her relic to show me, without any context of my friendship with her. One time, a young man randomly approached me (in a very large crowd) and said, “I have the sense a Saint wants to say ‘hi’ to you.” Before he could finish, I said, “It’s Maria Goretti, right?” It was. Just today, as I worked on this post, I received a letter from a sister who is named for Saint Maria Goretti.
Tenacious in Love
Has my prayer been answered? Yes, but in a way I didn’t expect. It wasn’t an intention that has an immediate answer. It’s basically a long-term assignment for Maria. It was a prayer that had flowed from feeling helpless. A different answer came that I didn’t know I needed. Maria promised to walk along with me. She promised to be a friend. She promised to tenaciously bring my petition before the throne of God, just as she had always done.
I’m content with however the Lord chooses to unfold it, and the weight of the intention is significantly lighter because it is shared. Saint Paul reminds us in Galatians 6:2 to “bear one another’s burdens.” Paul didn’t just mean us here on Earth. Ever mindful of the communion of Saints, he also means those ahead of us, those who have completed the race. He means us and Jesus. Isn’t that the goodness of the Lord, the goodness of Christian discipleship? “We love because he first loved us. [. . .] The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also” (1 John 4:19, 21). The Saints in Heaven, unburdened by their earthly cares, are free to live out this love for us on earth.
What Saint are you being drawn to in friendship? Who are you going to ask?
Sr. Mary Claire of the Holy Family is a member of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT) and currently serves in Corpus Christi, TX. She loves Jesus and Mary, and her students would say every Saint is her favorite. She graduated with a degree in elementary education and is currently working on a Masters in Theology from her Alma Mater, Franciscan University. A Tennessee girl who could live off Dr. Pepper and popcorn, she loves road trips, especially this one we are on to Heaven.
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