Why is St. Maria Goretti controversial?

[JimG]

St. Maria Goretti was beatified in 1947 as a martyr for her Faith and canonized three years later. She died defending her virginity. Why has she now, in 2016, become controversial? Apparently because—she died defending her virginity. Once a victim of sexual assault, she now is a victim of the blogosphere. Austin Ruse notes the controversy here.

 

[Della]

I read the article and I can see Mr. Ruse’s point. As I see it we have bent over backwards to defend victims of rape and male on female crime so much that we can’t relate to anyone who didn’t “just give in” to save her life. I think many who can’t relate to our saint miss is that she had defended her chastity against her attacker on several occasions. This time he was determined to have her no matter what she said–a truly evil intention. I believe that by her reminding him that he would put his soul in danger of hell–it enflamed that evil to the point of murder.

Jesus said we would be persecuted for faithfully following him–this is why our popes declared that she died to defend her virginity. After all, everyone’s body belong to him and to God, primarily to God. She understood that and wouldn’t let that man violate God’s own. I’m not sure she knew he would go so far as to kill her–I believer he used a knife found on the scene–so it wasn’t premeditated, as such, but a crime of opportunity. But the murderous rage that overtook him had been building up for a long time. By giving her life she not only saved her own soul she saved his–by defending chastity in her state in life.

 

[porthos11]

It isn’t merely the defense of her virginity, but as with all saints, their overall holiness of life is taken into consideration. She is a saint also because she demonstrated a great concern for the soul of her attacker, even to her last breath. It is a heroic example of holiness.

 

[Della]

It isn’t merely the defense of her virginity, but as with all saints, their overall holiness of life is taken into consideration. She is a saint also because she demonstrated a great concern for the soul of her attacker, even to her last breath. It is a heroic example of holiness.

True. As I read it, developing virtue is essential to true charity. By putting her chastity before consideration of her attacker’s soul, she saved both their souls. We need integrity of purpose in order to love in spirit and in truth, and not merely from sentiment.

 

[tawny]

True. As I read it, developing virtue is essential to true charity. By putting her chastity before consideration of her attacker’s soul, she saved both their souls. We need integrity of purpose in order to love in spirit and in truth, and not merely from sentiment.

Well stated.

 

[10gr8kids]

It isn’t merely the defense of her virginity, but as with all saints, their overall holiness of life is taken into consideration. She is a saint also because she demonstrated a great concern for the soul of her attacker, even to her last breath. It is a heroic example of holiness.

Exactly, her forgiveness of the man who killed her is what makes her most into the image of Christ.

 

[JimG]

Exactly, her forgiveness of the man who killed her is what makes her most into the image of Christ.

It is indeed. And she forgave him with her dying breath. But what seems mostly to grate on a sex obsessed age is that anyone should die for the protection of sexual purity, and be canonized for it.

 

[porthos11]

It is indeed. And she forgave him with her dying breath. But what seems mostly to grate on a sex obsessed age is that anyone should die for the protection of sexual purity, and be canonized for it.

Like Christ himself, the virtues of the Catholic faith are hated by the world.

 

[CRATUS]

Chastity is no longer valued as much.

 

[CRATUS]

It isn’t merely the defense of her virginity, but as with all saints, their overall holiness of life is taken into consideration. She is a saint also because she demonstrated a great concern for the soul of her attacker, even to her last breath. It is a heroic example of holiness.

I love her the most for this. All things are truly possible with Christ

 

[Dempsey1919]

Just thought. We live in a time of enormous impurity and lust. Perhaps God raised Maria to the Altars to show us how much he values purity and chastity?

 

[Hatikvah]

It is said to have taken hours to get her the few miles to the local hospital where she was operated on without anesthesia. So primitive was her everyday poverty-stricken existence, some say it was at the hospital where she first saw electric lights. Goretti died but not before forgiving her attacker whom she hoped to see one day in Heaven.

So the saint died defending her purity just like many other female saints, she was extremely brave in having surgery without anesthesia, and she forgave her attacker just as Christ did… that is not to mention that she was a little girl, not a full-grown adult!

St. Maria Goretti is a pure example of Christian virtue and a young innocent killed. How could there be controversy about someone such as that? Sickening!

 

[Sarcelle]

I think controversy may arise when people misunderstand the situation. To me, she is a saint because she has displayed valorous virtue when she overcame evil with love.

What can be misunderstood is why she became a saint. Some people think she became a saint because she died a virgin. The takeaway from this thinking is that rape victims who have been unsuccessful in stopping their rapists are now damned because they lost their virginity. If they were virtuous they would have been better off fighting off their attacker even preferring death to losing their virginity. Any woman who succumbs to fear and gets raped has sinned.

 

[PelagiathePenit]

I think controversy may arise when people misunderstand the situation. To me, she is a saint because she has displayed valorous virtue when she overcame evil with love.

What can be misunderstood is why she became a saint. Some people think she became a saint because she died a virgin. The takeaway from this thinking is that rape victims who have been unsuccessful in stopping their rapists are now damned because they lost their virginity. If they were virtuous they would have been better off fighting off their attacker even preferring death to losing their virginity. Any woman who succumbs to fear and gets raped has sinned.

I reacted that way when I first read about her. It feel icky and I couldn’t understand why she cared for the soul of her rapist

 

[Della]

I think controversy may arise when people misunderstand the situation. To me, she is a saint because she has displayed valorous virtue when she overcame evil with love.

As you say, they don’t understand the situation she was in. She had deflected his advances several times. He stalked her almost daily. It was only a matter of time until his lust would get the better of him.

What can be misunderstood is why she became a saint. Some people think she became a saint because she died a virgin. The takeaway from this thinking is that rape victims who have been unsuccessful in stopping their rapists are now damned because they lost their virginity. If they were virtuous they would have been better off fighting off their attacker even preferring death to losing their virginity. Any woman who succumbs to fear and gets raped has sinned.

And those who think that way don’t understand what rape is. It isn’t “giving in”–it’s being violently assaulted. Most rapists beat up their victims to ensure they can’t fight back. And most men are much stronger than women, so it’s not a fair fight, even if she tries to fight back. Maria didn’t even get the chance to fight–when she said no, he stabbed her 14 times. There was no such thing as her “giving in” when he attacked her. And there’s no such thing as any rape victim “giving in” either, as if she agrees to being violently assaulted.

 

[BornInMarch]

St. Maria Goretti was beatified in 1947 as a martyr for her Faith and canonized three years later. She died defending her virginity. Why has she now, in 2016, become controversial? Apparently because—she died defending her virginity. Once a victim of sexual assault, she now is a victim of the blogosphere. Austin Ruse notes the controversy here.

The controversy is not with anything St. Maria Goretti herself did, but rather with the implication of her canonization.

You see, she wasn’t fully raped: when she told her attacker he would go to hell for his deeds, he became so enraged that he murdered her instead. So calling her a saint for “defending her virginity” or for her “purity” implies that she would be committing a sin if she actually had been raped, or if she offered no resistance in an attempt to save her life.

Sadly I have seen people on this forum claim (incorrectly, as something is only sinful if done of free will [the catechism says so bluntly, so it’s not up for debate]) that those pressured into sin via duress MUST choose death if they don’t want to burn in Hell.

So rape victims who hear of St. Maria Goretti dying “in defense of her virginity” feel as though being a victim is a sin on their part. IT’S NOT.

St. Maria deserves her title, but not because she wasn’t raped. She is a saint because she looked to God even in her darkest moments.
Any rape victims looking for comfort in faith should look to the tale of St. Wilfrida (who actually WAS raped, and as a result gave birth to St. Edith).

celticsaints.org/2008/0916b.html

 

[Sarcelle]

The controversy is not with anything St. Maria Goretti herself did, but rather with the implication of her canonization.

You see, she wasn’t fully raped: when she told her attacker he would go to hell for his deeds, he became so enraged that he murdered her instead. So calling her a saint for “defending her virginity” or for her “purity” implies that she would be committing a sin if she actually had been raped, or if she offered no resistance in an attempt to save her life.

Sadly I have seen people on this forum claim (incorrectly, as something is only sinful if done of free will [the catechism says so bluntly, so it’s not up for debate]) that those pressured into sin via duress MUST choose death if they don’t want to burn in Hell.

So rape victims who hear of St. Maria Goretti dying “in defense of her virginity” feel as though being a victim is a sin on their part. IT’S NOT.

St. Maria deserves her title, but not because she wasn’t raped. She is a saint because she looked to God even in her darkest moments.
Any rape victims looking for comfort in faith should look to the tale of St. Wilfrida (who actually WAS raped, and as a result gave birth to St. Edith).

celticsaints.org/2008/0916b.html

A saint is someone who in the face of great evil managed to choose the good.

That is valorous virtue.

 

[JimG]

The controversy is not with anything St. Maria Goretti herself did, but rather with the implication of her canonization.

You see, she wasn’t fully raped: when she told her attacker he would go to hell for his deeds, he became so enraged that he murdered her instead. So calling her a saint for “defending her virginity” or for her “purity” implies that she would be committing a sin if she actually had been raped, or if she offered no resistance in an attempt to save her life.

Sadly I have seen people on this forum claim (incorrectly, as something is only sinful if done of free will [the catechism says so bluntly, so it’s not up for debate]) that those pressured into sin via duress MUST choose death if they don’t want to burn in Hell.

So rape victims who hear of St. Maria Goretti dying “in defense of her virginity” feel as though being a victim is a sin on their part. IT’S NOT.

St. Maria deserves her title, but not because she wasn’t raped. She is a saint because she looked to God even in her darkest moments.
Any rape victims looking for comfort in faith should look to the tale of St. Wilfrida (who actually WAS raped, and as a result gave birth to St. Edith).

celticsaints.org/2008/0916b.html

Thanks for the reference to St. Wilfrida; I had not previously known about her.

 

[PelagiathePenit]

The controversy is not with anything St. Maria Goretti herself did, but rather with the implication of her canonization.

You see, she wasn’t fully raped: when she told her attacker he would go to hell for his deeds, he became so enraged that he murdered her instead. So calling her a saint for “defending her virginity” or for her “purity” implies that she would be committing a sin if she actually had been raped, or if she offered no resistance in an attempt to save her life.

Sadly I have seen people on this forum claim (incorrectly, as something is only sinful if done of free will [the catechism says so bluntly, so it’s not up for debate]) that those pressured into sin via duress MUST choose death if they don’t want to burn in Hell.

So rape victims who hear of St. Maria Goretti dying “in defense of her virginity” feel as though being a victim is a sin on their part. IT’S NOT.

St. Maria deserves her title, but not because she wasn’t raped. She is a saint because she looked to God even in her darkest moments.
Any rape victims looking for comfort in faith should look to the tale of St. Wilfrida (who actually WAS raped, and as a result gave birth to St. Edith).

celticsaints.org/2008/0916b.html

I have to say when people are pressured into sin some think it is better to die fighting for the virtue. I am not sure if I would do that.

 

[adamhovey1988]

So the saint died defending her purity just like many other female saints, she was extremely brave in having surgery without anesthesia, and she forgave her attacker just as Christ did… that is not to mention that she was a little girl, not a full-grown adult!

St. Maria Goretti is a pure example of Christian virtue and a young innocent killed. How could there be controversy about someone such as that? Sickening!

The first thing I thought when I saw this was “Maria Goretti is controversial”? I quite love her story. We can all learn a lesson from her.