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.
