Review: St. Maria Goretti: In Garments All Red

St Maria Goretti: In Garments All Red by Godfrey Poage, January 1, 1950. 129 pages. Published by TAN Books. Source: Borrowed.

The beautiful, true story of the 12-year-old girl who in 1902 died a martyr to preserve her purity. Describes her virtuous life, poverty, holiness, valiant resistance, heroic and lingering death, conversion of her murderer and canonization in 1950 with her mother, her murderer and over 500,000 present. This is the famous, popular, classic biography! This is a good book to read to children, so they have someone worthwhile to imitate. By having Maria put before them as a model, they will learn to appreciate the virtue of purity. For a child to imitate the saints, he or she must first love them -- which in turn requires knowing them. Get your children acquainted with one of the greatest saints of the twentieth century! 

First Sentence

"Assunta, I tell you, we'd do better to leave this place," Luigi exclaimed.

Thoughts

Almost two years ago, I had the opportunity to view the major relic of  St Maria Goretti during the Pilgrimage of Mercy when they made a stop in my state. It was truly an experience that is difficult to describe the feeling of being there; and of the chance to seek her intersession in prayer before her reliquary. The experience left me wanting to learn more about the young saint and the full story of how she died.

• In Garments All Red, is heart-wrenching and incredible. I really liked how Godfrey Poage built her story up from the beginning, before her parents moved their family, as it laid the foundation and helps the reader to understand the time in which she was born and the desperation of poverty in which her family lived. One of the reasons I was drawn to reading this book, other than learning the full story of her life, was that this book has been regarded as one of the best books about Maria Goretti. 

• Some of the hardships the Goretti family faced were the sudden sickness and death of Maria's father; preceded by the sharing of their house and the field work with the father and son of who would set Maria's story upon the path that would lead to her death. From beginning to end, this story is powerful because of Maria's love for God and Holy Communion, as well, as her purity. As I began to read her story, I could not help but find my heart bonding with her as she strove to learn about her faith and her ardent love for our Lord. Which made it all the more painful when tragedy befall her.

•  As a warning, Maria Goretti's death was preceded by Alessandro's attempted rape of her and ended with him stabbing her multiple times. I know, that was put rather bluntly, but I wanted you all to know what happened to her so as to decide whether or not you should read it. Yes, she fought him off, to protect not only her chastity but to also preserve him from the evil he was trying to do. What is most striking about this, is that even as she lay suffering in the hospital, after surgery with nothing to dull the pain, she readily forgive him for all the pain he caused her. My heart truly broke reading about how much she suffered before her death to the point that I was silently crying during her agony and death. 

My thoughts are all over the place with this book, so, I'm going to end this review here. 

Final verdict: St. Maria Goretti: In Garments All Red- Maria Goretti's story is powerful as not many people could find it within themselves to forgive their murderer. Godfrey Poage does a wonderful job bringing this young saints story to life within the pages of this book. 

St. Maria Goretti: In Garments All Red earns

A copy of this book was borrowed from my mom. All thoughts are my own.