St. Maria Goretti Parish - Toronto

12/16/2021

Saint Maria Goretti's Story

One of the largest crowds ever assembled for a canonization—250,000—symbolized the reaction of millions touched by the simple story of Maria Goretti. She was the daughter of a poor Italian tenant farmer, had no chance to go to school, never learned to read or write. When Maria made her First Communion not long before her death, she was one of the larger and somewhat backward members of the class.

On a hot afternoon in July, Maria was sitting at the top of the stairs of her house, mending a shirt. She was not quite 12 years old, but physically mature. A cart stopped outside, and a neighbor, 18-year-old Alessandro, ran up the stairs. He seized her and pulled her into a bedroom. She struggled and tried to call for help. “No, God does not wish it,” she cried out. “It is a sin. You would go to hell for it.” Alessandro began striking at her blindly with a long dagger.

Maria was taken to a hospital. Her last hours were marked by the usual simple compassion of the good—concern about where her mother would sleep, forgiveness of her murderer (she had been in fear of him, but did not say anything lest she cause trouble to his family), and her devout welcoming of Viaticum, her last Holy Communion. She died about 24 hours after the attack.

Alessandro was sentenced to 30 years in prison. For a long time he was unrepentant and surly. One night he had a dream or vision of Maria gathering flowers and offering them to him. His life changed. When he was released after 27 years, his first act was to beg the forgiveness of Maria’s mother.

Devotion to the young martyr grew, miracles were worked, and in less than half a century she was canonized. At her beatification in 1947, her 82-year-old mother, two sisters, and her brother appeared with Pope Pius XII on the balcony of St. Peter’s. Three years later, at Maria's canonization, a 66-year-old Alessandro Serenelli knelt among the quarter-million people and cried tears of joy.

07/06/2021

BE IN THE KNOW | IS SAINT MARIA GORETTI'S BODY INCORRUPT?

Today, we are celebrating the memorial St. Maria Goretti's. If there's one misconception about her that people thought was true, it would be the idea that her body is incorrupt. St. Maria Goretti’s body is not incorrupt. It experienced natural degradation when it was interred in the cemetery of Nettuno, Italy, following her murder. Inside the casket is a wax statue within which repose her skeletal remains. The skeleton is complete, save for small amounts of bone that have been placed in reliquaries, and her right arm, which was donated by her mother to the Church of St. Nicholas (now known as the Sanctuary of St. Maria Goretti) in her birth town of Corinaldo. It was with her right arm that Maria defended her purity and prevented Alessandro Serenelli from ra**ng her.

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Sources:

(1) The Body—Maria Goretti (Retrieved on July 5, 2021);

(2) The Catholic Travel Guide (Retrieved on July 5 ,2021)

(3) 📷 St. Maria Goretti in Chicago

07/06/2021

6 FACTS ABOUT ST. MARIA GORETTI

Let's get to know more about St. Maria Goretti with these 6 facts about her:

📌 AFRAID THAT HER FATHER'S SOULD WILL REMAIN IN PURGATORY
— Maria Goretti was afraid that her father’s soul would remain in Purgatory for too long, so she prayed constantly. This habit of prayer led to long, practiced meditation on the Paschal Mystery. The rosary was constantly tied around her wrist since, and she could not go long without praying it. Maria was a diligent daughter who cared for her mother and helped with the other children.

📌 BECAME A PARENT FOR HER SIBLINGS AT 9
— With their father gone, it was up to Assunta to work the fields. Maria, only nine years old, cooked and cleaned as a mother would. When there was work to do, she would not go and play, but would rather stick to the chores of the home. We also know that this was not done begrudgingly but rather in a spirit of zealous love for Christ Jesus. It was from Assunta that Maria learned never to sin “at any cost.”

📌 A WOMAN OF STRONG WILL
— Maria was also a woman of strong will. The age for reception of first communion was eleven in those days, and Maria insisted on receiving. Her mother, however, was dead set against it since there was no time for preparation, no money to pay for the proper dress and veil, and no way that Maria could read or write well enough to learn her catechism. Undaunted, Maria found a way and received first communion in May 1902 just a few weeks before her martyrdom. The whole town pitched in to get her the proper attire.

📌 STABBED BY A GUY SHE REJECTED
— When the Goretti family had first moved to Ferriere, Luigi Goretti, Maria’s father, had partnered with Giovanni Serenelli to help share the cropping labor. Giovanni had a son named Alessandro and lived with him next to the Goretti’s. Although they had separate apartments, they shared a common kitchen. Luigi Goretti was soon to regret this partnership with the Serenelli’s as Giovanni was a drinker and prone to loud and immodest language.

Alessandro was the typically depressed young teenager. His mother had died in a psychiatric hospital while he was young. Following his father’s footsteps, he drank too much. Although he was once Catholic, he had fallen away. Alessandro became quickly attracted to eleven year old Maria Goretti and but was unhappy that she did not feel the same way about him. Despite his persistence, Maria did not give in to temptation. This angered Alessandro and one day, on July 5th 1902, his anger got the best of him and he stabbed Maria then ran away.

📌 CHANGED THE GUY WHO VIOLATED HER
— When Maria was found, she was taken to hospital in Nettuno and watched over by the parish priest there, a Spanish noble woman, two nuns, and her mother. In the remaining hours of her life, Maria could only think of where her mother would stay and how she would make out. She forgave Alessandro saying, “Yes, I forgive him and want him to be in Paradise with me some day.”

Alessandro was taken to prison and and sentenced to thirty years in prison. For eight years of his thirty year sentence he was unrepentant. However, one night he had a dream about Maria in which she handed him 14 white lilies. Then she said to him “Alessandro, as I have promised, your soul shall someday reach me in heaven.” And with those words, Alessandro lost the bitterness of soul that had plagued him since youth. He now hoped. He awoke a completely changed man.

Alessandro remained in prison for twenty-seven of the thirty year sentence. He was released early due to good behavior. When he left, he traveled to Corinaldo to see Assunta and begged her forgiveness. Following Maria’s example, Assunta forgave him and took him into her home.

📌HER MOTHER WAS PRESENT ON HER CANONIZATION
– On June 24, 1950 Pope Pius XII canonized Maria Goretti and she became a saint. It was the first time in history that a mother of a saint was present at her child's canonization.

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Sources:

(1) Saint Maria Goretti — Franciscan Media

(2) The Life of St. Maria Goretri — St. Maria Goretti Catholic School

(3) Saint Maria Goretti — Catholic Org

04/17/2021

04/06/2021

Mercy is an unmerited, unwarranted love that continues to work even in the face of rejection. God, who is love Himself, not just brings justice but mercy to us all. As we approach the feast of the Divine Mercy, let us encounter the mercy of our Lord more deeply in order to live as full witnesses of His love and joy. Let us take a review of the seven corporal and spiritual works of mercy, which will help us strive to grow in our understanding of being merciful like our Father.

"The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead." (CCC 2447)
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Sources (all available online):

(1) The 7 Spiritual & 7 Corporal Works of Mercy — Catholic Diocese of Forth Worth

(2) The Corporal Works of Mercy — United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)

(3) The Spiritual Works of Mercy — United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)

(4) Works of Mercy: Corporal and Spiritual — Catholic Apostolate Center

Credits to the rightful owners of all the photos incorporated in this infograph.

04/03/2021

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐋𝐄
The Paschal candle represents Christ, the Light of the World.
The pure beeswax of which the candle is made represents the sinless Christ who was formed in the womb of His Mother. The wick signifies His humanity, the flame, His Divine Nature, both soul and body.
Five grains of incense inserted into the candle in the form of a cross recall the aromatic spices with which His Sacred Body was prepared for the tomb, and of the five wounds in His hands, feet, and side.
During the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night the priest or deacon carries the candle in procession into the dark church. A new fire, symbolizing our eternal life in Christ, is kindled which lights the candle. The candle, representing Christ himself, is blessed by the priest who then inscribes in it a cross, the first letters and last of the Greek alphabet, (Alpha and Omega `the beginning and the end') and the current year, as he chants the prayer below; then affixes the five grains of incense.
The Easter candle is lighted each day during Mass throughout the Paschal season until Pentecost Sunday, or in some traditions, until Ascencion Day.
Source: The Paschal candle: Catholic News Agency (Retrieved on March 27, 2021)

04/03/2021

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 '𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋':
by Fr. William Saunders
In approaching this question, we must examine the word hell. Usually, when we hear the word hell, we immediately think of the place of eternal damnation for those who have rejected God in this life and have committed mortal sins without repentance.
However, in the Old Testament, hell (or sheol in the Hebrew texts or hades in Greek texts) referred to “the place of the dead.” (Interestingly, our English word hell is derived from a Germanic name for the place of the dead in Tuetonic mythology.) This hell was for both the good and the bad, the just and the unjust. It was the nether world, a region of darkness. In the later writings of the Old Testament, a clear distinction is made between where the good resided in hell versus where the bad were, the two being separated by an impassable abyss. The section for the unjust was named Gehenna, where the souls would suffer eternal torment by fire.
Our Lord attested to this “land of the dead” understanding of hell: Recall the parable of Lazarus, the poor beggar, who sat at the gate of the rich man, traditionally called Dives (cf. Lk 16:19ff). Lazarus dies and is taken to the “land of the dead” (the original Greek text uses the word hades) and is comforted at the bosom of Abraham. Dives also dies and goes to the “land of the dead”; however, he finds eternal torment, being tortured in flames. Dives sees Lazarus and cries out to Abraham for relief. However, Abraham replies, “My child, remember that you were well off in your lifetime, while Lazarus was in misery. Now he has found consolation here, but you have found torment. And that is not all. Between you and us there is fixed a great abyss, so that those who might wish to cross from here to you cannot do so, nor can anyone cross from your side to us.”
Our Lord also emphasized the “eternal punishment” of hell: When Jesus spoke of the coming last judgment and the separating of the righteous from the evil, he will say to the latter, “Out of my sight you condemned, into that everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (cf. Mt 25:31ff). Jesus also spoke of “risking the fires of Gehenna” for serious sins, like anger and hatred (Mt 5:21ff), and adultery and impurity (Mt 5:27ff).
Given this understanding, we believe that the sin of Adam and Eve had closed the Gates of Heaven. The holy souls awaited the Redeemer in the land of the dead, or hell. Our Lord offered the perfect sacrifice for all sin by dying on the cross, the redemptive act that touches all people of every time — past, present and future. He was then buried. During that time, He descended among the dead: His soul, separated from His body, joined the holy souls awaiting the Savior in the Land of the Dead. Remember St. Paul wrote, “‘He ascended’ — what does this mean but that He had first descended into the lower regions of the earth? He who descended is the very one who ascended high above the heavens, that He might fill all men with His gifts” (Eph 4:9-10). His descent among the dead brought to completion the proclamation of the Gospel and liberated those holy souls who had long awaited their Redeemer. The Gates of Heaven were now open, and these holy souls entered everlasting happiness enjoying the beatific vision. Please note Jesus did not deliver those souls damned to eternal punishment in hell nor did He destroy hell as such; they remained in that state and place of damnation begun at the time of their particular judgment.
The Catechism highlights the importance of this event: “This is the last phase of Jesus’ messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ’s redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption” (No. 634).
An “Ancient Homily” of the early Church for Holy Saturday captured this event: “The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and He has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began…. He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, He has gone to free from sorrow the captives of Adam and Eve, He who is both God and the Son of Eve…. ‘I am your God, who for your sake have become your Son…. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead.”
Source: The Meaning Behind ‘He Descended into Hell’—Catholic Exchange (Retrieved on April 3, 2021)

10/20/2017

“Bitter-Melon” fruit that has been used for health benefits in countries all over the world for a long period of time. It grows well in...