The beautiful, true story of the 12-year-old girl who in 1902 died a martyr to preserve her purity. Describes her virtuous life, poverty, holiness, valiant resistance, heroic and lingering death, conversion of her murderer and canonization in 1950 with her mother, her murderer and over 500,000 present. This is the famous, popular, classic biography! This is a good book to read to children, so they have someone worthwhile to imitate. By having Maria put before them as a model, they will learn to appreciate the virtue of purity

St. Maria Goretti is a short biography of the short life of St. Maria Goretti, who was murdered at the age of 12 in the course of a rape attempt and later become the youngest official saint of the Catholic Church. She forgave her murderer while dying in the hospital and he later repented of his act and became a Capuchin lay brother after leaving prison. Originally published in 1950 in conjunction with her official canonization, the book has held up well because the story was well-documented to begin with. My edition also contains her canonization speech by Pope Pius XII as well as another speech about her that he gave to youth, along with an forward by the priest responsible for bringing her relics on tour to the United States in 2015 along with a novena and a couple other prayers associated with her. The power of forgiveness is perhaps the most important lesson to be learned from St. Maria's life, and that is something that modern society really does need to learn.

Recommended for anyone interested in the life of this most relevant of saints. ( )