07/06/2022 – St. Maria Goretti

Today is the feast of St Maria Goretti.

We know her as a martyr for purity and indeed she is.

At the cost of her life, she refused the advances of a neighbour because as she warned him “It is a sin” and she told him she would rather die than sin.

But St Maria is in a very real sense, a rosary saint. Every evening, her family gathered after the work of the day to pray the rosary. She came to love the Blessed Mother and her rosary.

It was her habit to wrap a rosary around her wrist so that she could pray it often throughout the day. She was probably wearing it or praying it when her attacker approached.Lying in hospital in great pain, the rosary was with her.

She repeatedly forgave her attacker remembering the oft repeated words of the Our Father “ Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”