“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.”
Albert Einstein
SOME COMMENTS
ABOUT SAINT MARIA GORRETTI
INTRODUCTION
The title of my reflection is, “Some Comments About Saint
Maria Goretti.”
14TH MONDAY ORDINARY TIME
Today’s gospel- Matthew 9: 18-28 - was not picked because this is the feast of
Maria Goretti. It’s the continuation of Ordinary Time and itjust happens to tell a story about a young
girl like Maria Goretti – but the gospel story is about agirl whois dying and Jesus calls her to healing and life.Maria Goretti dies and this young girl lives
– so the contrast is polar opposite.
And today’s first reading from Hosea 3: 16-22 - centers
in on virtues other than those heard in the context of Maria Goretti.We hear mention of right and justice, love
and mercy – and fidelity. A preacher could make a case for forgiveness in that
Maria Goretti forgives her killer before she dies and God wants Hosea to be the
great forgiver of his wife as God is to Israel.
SAINTMARIAGORETTI
Saint Maria Goretti - an 11 year old girl - was the victimof murder – by a 20 year old guy. This a totally different story.
Maria Goretti was
presented to us when we were young as a model of chastity – death as a choice
compared to giving in to lust.I noticed
in the literature that the message for today is different than what we heard in
the early 1950’s.
In fact, the mind set – and the story of her killer –
might be a good probe for a sermon.
Maria was a victim. But whatever words are used – her
family was poor and they lost their dad in 1900 and they ended up moving in
with another poor family – the Serenelli’s – who in the same situation. Maria
saw the son Allesandro – as a brother not as a seducer – or abuser.
When he made his moves on Maria – we all know the story –
she resisted and he went crazy with an awl – a knife like weapon – stabbing her
14 times – some wounds in her stomach.
It took them 5 hours to get Maria to the hospital which
was close by and the operation took another 5 hours. No anasthesia and she dies
of septic poisoning. This is 1902.
I spotted an Australian newspaper article that mentions
the grounds for her canonization are not enough according to one writer. The
article was entitled, “A Rush to Judgment”.Yet she died in 1902 and wasn’t canonized till 1950. I thought her story
should be part of the discussion on canonizations.
Her story has the great element of her forgiving
Allesandro before he died. It took him 3 years to accept – and slowly change.
He was given a 30 year prison sentence – was at Maria’s canonization – having
become a Capucin brother.
Her canonization was one of the largest - some 500,000 – in an outdoor ceremony in St.
Peter’s Square, Vatican – with many young people as part of the crowd.
The Passionists run her shrine in Nettuno by water – about
45 miles south of Rome- not too far
from the beaches of Anzio of World War II fame – but I’m about to bring the
Redemptorists into the scene.
CONCLUSION
In 1984John Ruef
took me to Maria Goretti’s shrine. It’s in the Province of Frosinone and we
have a place in Frosinone where Clement studied and was ordained and sent from.
That was the main purpose of our trip.
For a comparison – the early Redemptorists had struggles
with poverty and they also had to move a lot - like the Goretti family as well
as the Serenelli families.This was to
be the lot of Clement and Thaddeus Hubl.
“One needs a certain time to realise that the faces in the Italian primitives are those one meets daily on the streets. We have lost the habit of seeing what is really important in a face.”
