The Story of St Maria Goretti and Alessandro.

 “I’m nearly 80 years old. I’m about to depart.

Looking back at my past, I can see that in my early youth, I chose a bad path which led me to ruin myself.

My behavior was influenced by print, mass-media and bad examples which are followed by the majority of young people without even thinking. And I did the same. I was not worried.

There were a lot of generous and devoted people who surrounded me, but I paid no attention to them because a violent force blinded me and pushed me toward a wrong way of life.

When I was 20 years-old, I committed a crime of passion. Now, that memory represents something horrible for me. Maria Goretti, now a Saint, was my good Angel, sent to me through Providence to guide and save me. I still have impressed upon my heart her words of rebuke and of pardon. She prayed for me, she interceded for her murderer. Thirty years of prison followed.

If I had been of age, I would have spent all my life in prison. I accepted to be condemned because it was my own fault.

Little Maria was really my light, my protectress; with her help, I behaved well during the 27 years of prison and tried to live honestly when I was again accepted among the members of society. The Brothers of St. Francis, Capuchins from Marche, welcomed me with angelic charity into their monastery as a brother, not as a servant. I’ve been living with their community for 24 years, and now I am serenely waiting to witness the vision of God, to hug my loved ones again, and to be next to my Guardian Angel and her dear mother, Assunta.

I hope this letter that I wrote can teach others the happy lesson of avoiding evil and of always following the right path, like little children. I feel that religion with its precepts is not something we can live without, but rather it is the real comfort, the real strength in life and the only safe way in every circumstance, even the most painful ones of life.” 

Alessandro Serenell

The above is the final letter of a man called Alessandro.    When he was 20 he attacked and tried to rape an 11 year old girl called Maria Goretti.        His family was close to the Goretti family, but as he said in the above letter he was very much influenced by print (looking at indecent photos), the mass media (stories in newspapers that were sexy), and bad example, the talk of other boys and men about women and girls in an indecent way.   He looked at the innocence of little Maria and desired her.     When he eventually found himself alone in the house with her,, he attacked her.   Maria resisted and so in frustration he took a knife and stabbed her 14 times.    Arrested for her murder he accepted no responsibility and shouted that she had lured him.  He often went into rages.   Then one night in a dream Maria appeared to him carrying 14 flowers, each one a Lilly, the flower that symbolised purity.    Alessandro woke up the next morning and confessed his sin to everyone. and spent the rest of his life in repentance.   On his release he visited the mother of Maria who said to him "God has forgiven you, Maria has forgiven you, and I too forgive you"   On her death bed Maria told the priest "I forgive Alessandro, and I want him to be with me in Heaven".   This is a wonderful story of forgiveness and eventually in 1950 when Pope Pius XII canonised Maria as a saint for young people, Assunta the mother of Maria sat side by side with Alessandro.

Today so many young people no longer value purity.    That girls are bodies to please young boys is acceptable.  As they grow up they resent restraint and believe they do not harm.    But they eventually do so much harm   Having sex is not about love and commitment, it is about self love.   Many young women find themselves pregnant and to their horror find the partner does not care and walks out on them.   They are then left as single parents which is not an easy life.  Many prove good mothers but the child lacks a father and this can cause emotional problems.   Others marry but the beautiful gift of faithfulness in a marriage is tested.   Unfaithfulness becomes so easy.   Thank God however there seems to be a revival in marriage, and having gone through the values of a Godless society, marriage seems to be on the increase again despite the efforts of a Godless and Marxist state to eliminate it.     Young girls may again dream their dreams and not be used and abused.    Our young people must not ever again tarnish the beauty of love and marriage.    St Maria Goretti, pray for us.     And indeed Alessandro, pray for us.   And may we find the gift of forgiveness in our lives.