Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Maria Goretti

This blog has become quite neglected, but it was all worthwhile because now I have finished my first year of teaching, and turned in my master's thesis. My husband and I have also purchased our first home!

What day better to come back to the blog than the Feast of St. Maria Goretti. One of the youngest saints ever. She was filled with the life of Christ at a young age, and joined him in heaven at a young age as well. Sadly, she's one of the 20th century saints that we do not have a picture of. Her family was very poor. I like the depiction of her posted below.
I like this statue because it is symbolic as well as realistic. Maria is depicted as a young girl, but she has a womanly confidence about her. She is barefoot and carries the instrument of her martyrdom. Maria Goretti died before her twelfth birthday, defending herself from a neighbor boy who wanted to rape her. She was very poor, so her discalced (shoe-less) appearance is right on target. She was a mature (although vulnerable) young girl. She stayed at home alone to care for the baby of the family and the household chores while her mother, brothers and older sister worked in the fields. For her defense of her virginity until the end, Maria is considered a martyr. I won't go into the grusome details about how exactly she was killed. You can look that up yourself. The important thing is, with her dying breaths she forgave her attacker.


The story of Maria Goretti has come under attack by various people and groups. The first was a general response by feminists (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3735/is_200410/ai_n9478273/) that the veneration of Maria Goretti promoted virginity at all costs, and the idea that it is better to be dead than raped. This is kind of like the question raised by so many pogroms and the Holocaust, would you spit on the Bible if someone threatened to kill you if you didn't? I agree that we should preserve life if at all possible, including our own, but when it comes to dying for what you believe in, when does the greater import shift to our honorable death, rather than attempting to preserve our life?

In addition, an Italian writer has taken issue with basically the entire story about Maria Goretti. He claims that she could not have physically fended off her attacker and therefore did not die a virgin. This raises the question are virgins only virgins physically? Is there not a spiritual side? I suggest this based on the following scripture verse:

Matthew 5:28: "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

If someone looks lustfully and committs adultery in their heart (but not physically), God sees this as a sin. Therefore, if someone is raped, but is pure in heart (even if not a virgin physically) does God see the physical reality or the heart condition? This reminds me of the suggestion that because Mary gave birth to Jesus, her womb was no longer "virgin" and therefore she was no longer a virgin.

My outlook about Maria Goretti is this: Yes, she said, she'd rather die than be raped. I would argue she wasn't concerned as much for her own physical virginity, but for her attacker's soul. Of course, that can be debated. What is clear is that Maria Goretti did not kill herself by that statement. Her attacker decided to pull out a knife and stab her. How quickly his lust changed to hatred! She did not in any way kill herself or put herself in danger. Who's to say that his intention wasn't to kill her in the first place?

There is also a cultural difference that needs to be considered. In Southern Italy, there had long been a custom of young men winning a bride by rape and/or abduction. Maria Goretti, although young, was no doubt old enough to know about this cultural norm. She still insisted that it was a sin, even if the young man intended to marry her afterward. Of course, we do not know that's what he intended, but it has been argued, so I thought I'd bring it up. For further information about this custom, see especially Franca Viola's story.