Maria Goretti
The sacred tragedy of this young Italian saint took place at the beginning of the summer of 1902, when a young man tried to sexually assault her. Frustrated that she fought him off out of love of God and of concern for his soul as well as her own life, he stabbed her to death. The young girl forgave her aggressor and murderer before she died: “For love of Jesus, I forgive Alessandro from my heart, and I want him with me in paradise.” Indeed, the murderer converted in jail, and spent his entire life, until his death in 1970, doing penance in a monastery.
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