On Maria Goretti as Martyr for Purity

On Maria Goretti as Martyr for Purity · Martyr for Purity Revisited

• 1) She was killed for saying no to a sin against purity.
• 2) I'm not sure Alessandro was very into actually raping her, he was probably threatening to get consent - if at all, and very briefly - between asking for consent and killing her for refusing it.
• 3) While she certainly refused consenting to a very grave sin (fornication with deflourishing, but apart from that natural fornication), she might not have refused consent to some other proposal which Serenelli could have made if their government had still been Papal States, like "in a few months, you will be twelve, would you like to marry me". It was anticlerical Italy which had raised the bar from 14/12 to 18/18 and probably making exceptions in case of pregnancy - a pregnancy which could only be obtained either by rape or by the sinful consent St Maria Goretti refused. To the honour of Alessandro - he died a penitent after I was born - I think it was only the latter he was after.

Whether or not a raped woman is morally still pure or not (which might depend on how she reacts to it) there is a loss of physical integrity of the virginal purity./HGL