Saint Maria Goretti VM

There was little reason to persecute the poor girl, since she was given to good works, prayer, and kindliness. But her mother-in-law confined her to a tiny room and fed her on scraps until she escaped and found her way home. The bishop of Tournai-Noyon and the Bertulf's father, the count of Flanders, both insisted that Bertulf take her back and treat her gently and lovingly.

At first Bertulf pretended to love Godeleva. Soon, however, he became violent to her. On July 6, 1070, he went away to Bruges and that night two of his hired hands lured Godeleva through the back door of the castle, tied a rope round her neck, drowned her in a pond, and then tried to make it look like a natural death. Although it was obvious that she had been killed on his orders, no one was able to prove Bertulf guilty.

What seems to have persuaded many in Flanders that she was a saint were the many miracles that soon began to be performed at the site of Godeleva's murder. These events are known from an account written by a contemporary, Drogo of Bergues (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley).

In art, Saint Godeleva is depicted as a young woman with a rope. At times the image may include a rope around her neck and four crowns, or she may be shown strangled with a handkerchief. Godeleva is venerated in Ghistelles, Belgium (Roeder).

In 740 BC, the year of Josiah's death, Isaiah had a vision of the Lord sitting on a throne surrounded by seraphim. Each had six wings: "And one cried to another, and said, 'Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory"--words which today form part of the Mass. The God of Isaiah was a God of Holiness, and the beginnings of his vocation were marked by majesty, piety, and grandeur.

Tradition tells us that Isaiah was sawn in two by order of King Manassas of Judah, and buried under an oak tree. His tomb was still venerated in the 5th century AD (Benedictines).

There are at least two images of Isaiah on the web:

9th-century French illumination of The Prayer of Isaiah, and
An image by Raphael.

Maria was the daughter of a farm laborer, Luigi Goretti, and his wife, Assunta Carlini. She showed marked signs of youthful holiness. There were five other children. The family moved in 1896 to Ferriere di Conca, near Nettuno and Anzio in the Roman Campagna. Soon after, Luigi died of malaria. His wife struggled to support the family, receiving much help and encouragement from Maria. She was well known to her neighbors for her cheerful unselfishness and religious disposition.

In 1902, as Maria sat on the front step mending a shirt, an 18-year-old neighbor, Alexander Serenelli, the son of her father's partner, who lived in the same house with the Gorettis, beckoned Maria into a bedroom, but she refused to go. He grabbed her and pulled her in. She struggled and tried to scream, but he choked her. She cried that she would rather be killed than submit. Alexander began to pull her clothes off and struck her with a dagger. She cried out that she was being killed, and he repeatedly stabbed her in the back and ran away.

She was taken to the hospital, but it was clear she would not live. In her last hours she forgave her murderer, whom it was revealed she had feared for a long time but did not want to cause trouble by naming. She died within a day of the attack.

(Another version of the story says that Alexander attacked her when they were working together in the fields.)

Alexander was sentenced to 30 years of penal servitude and for eight years was unrepentant. One night he had a dream in which Maria gathered flowers and offered them to him, and he experienced a change of heart. He served 27 years, and his first act as a free man was to beg forgiveness from Maria's mother. On Christmas Day 1937, Alexander and Maria's widowed mother received Communion side-by-side. He has been cited as an example by those who advocate for the abolition of the death penalty.

In 1947, Maria was declared blessed by Pope Pius XII, who appeared on the balcony of Saint Peter's with Maria's mother and three of her sisters and brothers. In 1950, she was canonized for her purity in front of the largest crowd ever gathered for a canonization. Alexander was still alive. At the time of her canonization, some 30-40 miracles were recorded as a result of her intercession (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, White).

Maria Goretti is the patron saint of teenagers, particularly girls, and of the Children of Mary (White).

A worthless 11th-century fiction has him the illegitimate son of Lucerna and her father's slave Cyrus. Romulus was abandoned, suckled by a wolf, and captured by Saint Peter when Emperor Nero was unable to do so. Romulus later performed all kinds of extravagant miracles after being instructed by Peter's companion Justin. After evangelizing much of central Italy, Romulus was put to death by the governor, Repertian (Benedictines, Delaney).

In art, Saint Romulus is portrayed as a bishop with an arrow broken above his breast. He may also be shown at their martyrdom or enthroned among four martyrs (Roeder).