Santa María Goretti: This is what her mother did when she saw her daughter’s murderer

July 6 is the feast of Saint Maria Goretti, a teenager who died after being attacked by a young man who wanted to abuse her. Many years later, the saint’s mother opened a door and behind her was the murderer of her daughter. We tell you what happened then.

In the book collection Christian Year, from the Library of Christian Authors (BAC), describes the life of Asunta Goretti, mother of Saint María Goretti. Although she was illiterate, she knew how to instruct her children in the faith. She had to migrate with her husband and her children looking for a better future, until they settled in Ferriere. Shortly after her husband, Luis Goretti, died.

Asunta dedicated herself to working hard as a farmer to raise her children. María Goretti helped her with household chores. The house, where they momentarily lived, had some rooms that they had to share with Juan Serenelli and his twenty-year-old son Alejandro.

Alejandro went astray through bad steps and filled his head with impure readings. He sought to take advantage of María on two occasions until July 5, 1902 when he tried a third time. Seeing her alone, he sought to violate her.

The 11-year-old saint defended herself with all her strength and he attacked her with a sharp iron, causing about 14 wounds.

In the midst of her terrible pain, little María Goretti told her murderer: “I forgive you.” The saint died in the hospital, after saying that she forgave her attacker out of love for Jesus and that she wanted to be with him in heaven. Alejandro was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

according to the book Saint Maria Goretti and the conversion of her murdererfrom Father Ángel Peña, Mrs. Asunta obtained work in the parish house of Corinaldo, the town where the saint was born.

The meeting of the mother of Santa María Goretti with her daughter’s murderer

On Christmas night 1934 he heard a knock at the door. When she opened it she came face to face with Alejandro, who had been freed several years before.

With great shame, Alejandro asked him if he recognized him. She indicated yes. After entering the house, the murderer knelt down and asked for forgiveness. Mother Assunta told him: “God has forgiven you, Mary has forgiven you and I have forgiven you.” And they hugged each other.

Christian Year He says that that night they received the Eucharist together during the Midnight Mass. Furthermore, when they spoke badly of Alejandro, the lady defended him, claiming that he was very sorry. “God has known how to bring good out of so much evil,” she stated.

On the other hand, Alejandro said that at a party for María’s beatification, Assunta presented him to her daughter’s nephews as the one who “opened the doors of heaven to Aunt María. Thanks to him she is now blessed,” she highlighted. Assunta attended the canonization of her daughter in Rome in 1950 and died in 1954.

What happened to Alejandro?

Father Ángel Peña relates that Alejandro found work in a Capuchin convent. He took care of the garden and acted as caretaker. He had a terrible fall from the church step and fractured his right femur. He died on May 6, 1970, the day of Saint Dominic Savio, who precisely used to say: “death before sinning.”

In his spiritual testament, Alexander wrote: “Taking a look at the past, I recognize that in my youth I took a false path, that of evil, which led me to perdition.”

“I wait serenely for the moment of being admitted to the vision of God, of embracing my loved ones again, of being closer to my protective angel (Saint Mary Goretti) and her mother Assunta.”

“Think from childhood that religion with its precepts is not something that can be dispensed with, but rather the true encouragement, the only safe path in all circumstances, even the most painful in life. Peace and good,” she concluded.