Biography
Maria was born into a poor farming family in Corinaldo, Italy. After her father's death, the family shared a tenant house with another family, the Serenellis. At age 11, Maria was deeply pious and helped raise her siblings. The 20-year-old neighbor, Alessandro Serenelli, repeatedly made sexual advances toward her, which she rejected, warning him it was a mortal sin. On July 5, 1902, he attempted to rape her. When she resisted, shouting that it was a sin and he would go to hell, he stabbed her 14 times. Before dying the next day in the hospital, Maria explicitly forgave Alessandro, saying, 'I forgive him, and I want him to be in Paradise with me.' Alessandro spent 27 years in prison, experienced a conversion after a vision of Maria giving him lilies, and eventually attended her canonization in 1950—the first time a mother (Maria's mother, Assunta) attended her child's canonization.
Miracles & Signs
- ✦Her appearance to Alessandro in prison, handing him 14 lilies which healed his soul
- ✦Healing of Giuseppe Coppa from a severe foot infection
- ✦Healing of Anna Grossi from pleurisy
Wisdom & Quotes
“I forgive him, and I want him to be in Paradise with me.”
“No, no, it is a sin! God does not want it!”