Mini Task #1

St Maria Goretti

St Maria Goretti is called a martyr for her forgiveness and the miracles it produced; I want to have the strength and courage she has to forgive others even if they have done her so wrong. She forgave the one who killed her without a second doubt at her young age she knew that we have to forgive others as God has forgiven us for our sins.

St Theresa

A saint who devoted her life to travelling to spread messages of love and simplicity, I have always love the thought of travelling the world to spread peace and love. I am not one to want to have a lot of things in life and simplicity is always better than having a lot of unnecessary things in life.

 

 

 

 

 

Saint Cecilia

Saint Cecilia is the patron saint of music, they said that she sang her heart out to God. I have always loved music, growing up I’ve always thought of how grateful I am to have a voice like mine though not melodious or as beautiful as others but at least I could sing, I have always told my other friends that before I die I would use up all my talents, I would sing whenever there’s a given chance so when the time comes that I am with the presence of God I would have proudly say that I have shared his gifts to others.

 

St. Faustina Kowalska

In her daily life she was to become a doer of mercy, bringing joy and peace to others, and by writing about God’s mercy, she was to encourage others to trust in Him and thus prepare the world for His coming again. I would want to live with all her values, helping others the best as she can.

 

 

 

 

Saint Dymphna

Dymphna is the patron saint of the nervous, emotionally disturbed, mentally ill, and those who suffer neurological disorders – and, consequently, of psychologists, psychiatrists, and neurologists. I have went through a lot of things growing up and I don’t want others to suffer the pain that I have went through, and even though all of that my faith is still strong and I believe that God has a plan for all of us.

 

Mini Task #2 

Saint Maria Goretti (October 16, 1890 – July 6, 1902) is an Italian virgin-martry of the Catholic Church, and one of the youngest canonized saints. She was born to a farming family. Her father died when she was nine, and they had to share a house with another family, the Serenellis. Maria took over household duties while her mother, brothers, and sister worked in the fields.

One afternoon, Alessandro, the Serenellis’ son, made sexual advances to her. When she refused to submit to him, he stabbed her fourteen times. She was taken to the hospital but she died forgiving him. He was arrested, convicted, and jailed. During imprisonment he repented. After 27 years he was released from prison, and visited her mother to beg forgiveness, which she granted. He later became a lay brother in a monastery, dying peacefully in 1970. She was beatified in 1947, and canonized in 1950.

Maria Teresa Goretti was born on October 16, 1890 in Corinaldo, in the Province of Ancona, then in the Kingdom of Italy, to Luigi Goretti and Assunta née Carlini, the third of seven children: Antonio (who died in infancy), Angelo, Maria, Mariano (Marino), Alessandro (Sandrino), Ersilia, and Teresa.

By the time Maria was five, her family had become so poor that they were forced to give up their farm, move, and work for other farmers. In 1896, they moved to Colle Gianturco, near  Paliano and Frosinone, about fifty miles outside Rome; and then in 1899 to  La Ferriere, near modern Latina and  Nettuno in Lazio, where they lived in a building, “La Cascina Antica,” they shared with another family which included Giovanni Serenelli and his son, Alessandro. Soon, her father became very sick with malaria, and died when she was just nine. While her mother and siblings worked in the fields, she would cook, sew, watch Teresa, and keep the house clean. It was a hard life, but they were very close.

On July 5, 1902, eleven-year-old Maria was sitting on the outside steps of her home, sewing one of Alessandro’s shirts and watching Teresa, while Alessandro was threshing beans in the barnyard. Alessandro knowing that Maria would be alone, tried to threaten her with a knife if she would not submit to him.  Maria protested saying that that was a mortal sin and she would rather die than submit, at first Alessandro choked her than stabbed her eleven times, then when she tried to escape he stabbed her three more times. Her sister, Teresa awoke with the noise and started crying, and when Assunta and Giovanni came to check on her, they found Maria on the floor bleeding and took her to the nearest hospital in Nettuno. She underwent surgery without anesthesia, but her injuries were beyond the doctors’ help. Halfway through the surgery, she woke up. The pharmacist said to her, “Maria, think of me in Paradise.” She looked at him and said, “Well, who knows, which of us is going to be there first?” “You, Maria,” he replied. “Then I will gladly think of you,” she said. She also expressed concern for her mother’s welfare. The following day, 24 hours after the attack, having expressed forgiveness for Alessandro and stating that she wanted to have him in Heaven with her, she died of her injuries. (Alessandro, as a Lay brother sweeping)

Maria was beatified on April 27, 1947. In attendance at the ceremony were both Assunta and Pope Pius XII. Three years later, on June 24, 1950, Pius XII canonized Maria as a saint, the “Saint Agnes of the 20th century.” Assunta was again present at the ceremony, along with her four remaining sons and daughters. Alessandro was also present Maria’s three brothers would claim that she intervened miraculously in their lives. Angelo heard her voice telling him to emigrate to America. Alessandro was reportedly miraculously given a sum of money to finance his own emigration to join Angelo. Sandrino died in the United States in 1917, and Angelo died in Italy when he returned there in 1964. Mariano said he heard her voice telling him to stay in his trench when the rest of his unit charged the Germans in World War I. He, the only survivor of that charge, lived until 1975 and had a large family.

Maria’s feast day, celebrated on July 6, was inserted in the General Roman Calendar when it was revised in 1969. She is the patron saint of chastity, rape victims, girls, youth, teenage girls, poverty, purity and forgiveness.