Purity

Most people familiar with the name Maria Goretti recall only the basic facts: she was an eleven-year-old Italian girl, stabbed fourteen times in 1902 while resisting a sexual assault, and canonised in 1950 as a martyr of purity. Her story is frequently invoked to illustrate a single lesson about chastity. However, when her life is considered in its entirety, particularly the events following her death, it reveals a narrative far more complex and instructive than the simplified lesson often presented.

St. Aloysius Gonzaga is commonly depicted as a pale young man holding a lily and a crucifix, with downcast eyes, who died at the age of twenty-three. He is frequently remembered as the patron of "purity," respected yet often overlooked. However, Aloysius was a far more complex figure.