saint spotlight..

today is the memorial of saint maria goretti...holler

maria goretti is an italian martyr who is distinguished by her holiness at a young age. although most widely known for her beautiful model of purity her witness of mercy is equally prodigious. at age 11, maria was

attacked by her 18 year-old neighbor, alessandro who stabbed her for resisting his rape attempt. maria lived for 24 hours after being stabbed during which she forgave alessandro. alessandro, eventually became repentant and after serving 30 years hard labor was released upon which he sought forgiveness from maria's mother. when maria was declared a saint in 1950, both her mother and alesandro were present in st. peter's square. check out this picture of maria's mother and alessandro below:

maria's body lies in nettuno, italy about 40 miles outside of rome. in fall 2008 i was able to visit, the pictures below (taken by my extremely talented photographer friend mary over at http://simplesweetpure.blogspot.com/.. check her out) are from nettuno:

below: the church which houses maria's body as well as a gallery of pictures and newspaper articles about maria approximately 10 steps from the beach