St. Maria Goretti Medal and Necklace

Sterling Silver St. Maria Goretti Medal and Necklace

14KT Gold Filled St. Maria Goretti Medal and Necklace

14KT Gold St Maria Goretti Medal

St. Maria Goretti

Saint Maria Goretti, the child martyr of purity, was born in Corinaldo, Italy, on October 16, 1890. Her parents were very poor sharecroppers. The good Catholic mother taught her daughter to love God wholeheartedly and to hate sin above all things. Rather to die than to commit sin became her simple rule of life. Everyone loved Maria. She grew to be a beautiful girl; she had bright chestnut hair, perfect features, and a radiant smile which reflected a rare modesty of soul.

Maria suffered martyrdom at the hands of a nineteen year old youth who had become infuriated by her constant rebuffs to his unchaste advances. On July 5, 1902, with a poised dagger, he demanded her surrender. The alternative was death. Courageously, promptly, and heroically Maria refused, crying out: “It is a sin. God does not want it”. Fourteen times the cruel knife pierced her virginal body. Death came the following day, the feast of the Most Precious Blood. The little Saint implored pardon for her murderer: “I forgive him… May God forgive him.. . I want him with God in paradise like the repentant thief”.

The Conversion of Her Murderer

Maria was interred in the Church of Our Lady of Grace in Nettuno in charge of the Passionist Fathers, who had instructed Maria in life and had promoted her cause after her death. Her shrine has become a place of pilgrimage. Many miracles have been wrought through the power of her intercession. The greatest miracle of all is the conversion of her defiant murderer, who three times before the Sacred Congregation of Rites became her principal witness. With most humiliating self-abasement he said: “It is my duty. I must make reparation and do all in my power for her glorification. I have sinned deeply, but I feel confident of salvation. I have a Saint in Heaven praying for me”.

It took the Church only fifteen years to approve the heroic virtue and martyrdom of this young girl, who died rather than offend God. She was beatified by Pope Pius XII on April 27, 1947. Among the immense crowd that thronged St. Peter’s Basilica on that memorable occasion were Maria’s own mother, brother and two sisters. The Holy Pontiff congratulated Mrs. Goretti for the “incomparable happiness of having seen her daughter elevated to the honors of the altar”. He compared Maria with St. Agnes of Rome, stating that “the delicate grace of these adolescent girls might make us over- look their courage; yet strength is the virtue of virgins and martyrs”.
On June 25, 1950, Pope Pius XII placed Maria Goretti’s name on the calendar of the Saints. Her aged mother, paralyzed and in a wheelchair, was present also at the Canonization ceremony.
St. Maria Goretti Rosary
UPC: 617759369571
Brand: Bliss