Medicine for the Soul
St. Maria Gortetti lived in a small village 10 km (6.5 miles) to the north of Nettuno called Le Ferriere. After the stabbing and attempted rape, she was rushed the 6 miles over unpaved roads to the hospital in Nettuno, where she died a day later.
Her murderer, Alessandro Serenelli, was convicted and imprisoned. He remained unrepentant until one night where he had a vision of Maria giving him lilies. He became a model prisoner and, upon release, begged forgiveness from her mother. He died a Capuchin lay brother.
Maria Goretti’s body is now in her basilica in Nettuno, though it regularly tours the United States.
It’s easy to forget that Maria was 11 years old when she was martyred. Seeing her body drives that point home: she’s only around 4 feet tall by my guesstimate.
Only known photo of St. Maria Goretti
The Goretti’s home, which Fr. James saw but John Peter did not
St. Maria Goretti’s relics. She is not incorrupt; her bones are underneath the mask.
Pope Pius XII with the Goretti family at Maria Goretti’s canonization
Maria Goretti’s house is in the top right (Le Ferriere is literally only that intersection). In the bottom left, in Nettuno, are the Basilica of Our Lady of Graces and St. Maria Goretti and the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial.
Nettuno happens to be next to Anzio, where the Allied forces first invaded mainland Italy during the Second World War. The American cemetery for those who died in the Sicily and Rome campaigns is in Nettuno, about a 10 minute walk from Maria Goretti’s basilica.
The cemetery is American soil. When you walk in through the gates, it does feel like you’re back home.
The gates of the cemetery.
“Time will not dim the glory of their deeds.” - General of the Armies John J. Pershing
The message on the arch reads, “Here are recorded the names of Americans who gave their lives in the service of their country and who sleep in unknown graves.” The ceiling depicts the constellations and the planets Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn using classical imagery, and placed where they were in the night sky at 0200 hours on January 22, 1944, the time when the Allied forces landed on the beaches of Anzio.
One of the rooms in the memorial shows massive maps of the war. This segment of the wall shows the landing at Anzio and Nettuno.
