“Maria Goretti, now a Saint, was my good Angel, sent to me through Providence to guide and save me. I still have impressed upon my heart her words of rebuke and pardon. She prayed for me, she interceded for her murderer.” — Alessandro Serenelli Many people are familiar with the story of Saint Maria Goretti and her grisly murder at the age of eleven. On her deathbed, she said of her killer, “I forgive him, and I want him to be with me in heaven.” But how did her incredible forgiveness affect her murderer? While it took years, Maria’s offer of mercy eventually transformed Alessandro’s life. Alessandro’s story has never been fully told — until now. Alessandro Serenelli: A Story of Forgiveness is a captivating story of mercy and forgiveness, both given and accepted. Learn about Alessandro’s difficult childhood, the murder of Maria, his prison sentence, his conversion as a result of Maria’s intercession, and the final years of his life with a Capuchin community. Through his life story, you’ll gain a new understanding of the nature of repentance and of God’s patience and unfailing love.

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!

St. Maria Goretti was only a child when she died a martyr’s death. Yet today, she inspires millions who find in her a perfect model of purity and holiness. Read here about her great holiness in the midst of tremendous suffering , how she died at the hands of a vicious murderer who tried to defile her purity, and how she visited this very same murderer years later in his jail cell to forgive him. Fr. Jeffrey Kirby examines the life of this little saint as he reflects on the Beatitudes and how she, along with her family, lived them each day. In a world where purity is corrupted in the darkness of the night and mercy is abandoned in the name of vengeance, let us turn to St. Maria Goretti and see her as the dawn of a new day, where the light of Christ shines on each of us and guides us into His Kingdom.

For more than two centuries, "Butler's" has been one of the best known, most widely consulted hagiographies. In its brief and authoritative entries, readers can find a wealth of knowledge on the lives and deeds of the saints, as well as their ecclesiastical and historical importance since canonization.

A cross-cultural encyclopedia of the most significant holy people in history, examining why people in a wide range of religious traditions throughout the world have been regarded as divinely inspired. The first reference on the subject to span all the world's major religions, Holy People of the World: A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia examines the impact of individuals who, through personal charisma and inspirational deeds, served both as glorious examples of human potential and as envoys for the divine. Holy People of the World contains nearly 1,100 biographical sketches of venerated men and women. Written by religious studies experts and historians, each article focuses on the basic question: How did this person come to be regarded as holy? In addition, the encyclopedia features 20 survey articles on views of holy people in the major religious traditions such as Islam, Buddhism, and African religions, as well as 64 comparative articles on aspects of holiness and veneration across cultures such as awakening and conversion experiences, heredity, gender, asceticism, and persecution. Whether exploring by religion, culture, or historic period, this extensively cross-referenced resource offers a wealth of insights into one of the most revealing—and least explored—common denominators of spiritual traditions.

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 death, conversion of her murderer and canonization. She saw everything through the lens of God's holy will. A wonderful example for the modern world. Impr. 33pgs, PB

"In Pietro DiDonato, the Master Builder, author Matthew Diomede explores the role of the immigrant Italian-American writer in twentieth-century American letters by examining the life and work of the novelist, dramatist, and essayist Pietro DiDonato. Diomede uses the text of two lengthy interviews with the writer to discover the themes of love, death, women, beauty, rebellion, and the mystery of life that can be found in DiDonato's works. He also touches on DiDonato's writing process." "Diomede then incorporates these concepts into a critical analysis of several of DiDonato's works, including his novels, This Woman, Christ in Concrete, and Three Circles of Light; a play, The Love of Annunziata; two biographies, Immigrant Saint: The Life of Mother Cabrini and The Penitent; and an essay, Christ in Plastic. Central to Diomede's analysis are two concepts of analyst Carl Jung - that dreams can prove valuable in understanding ourselves and that full human realization occurs when a person takes on a father (male) component and a mother (female) component. Diomede also explores the development of DiDonato's autobiographical character, Paul/Paolo, in three novels and a play. He then demonstrates the value of dreams by tracing Paul's dream/nightmare in Christ in Concrete through DiDonato's oeuvre to the character's fullest development in This Woman, the pinnacle of DiDonato's work. Besides exploring the Jungian concepts in DiDonato's biographies, Diomede demonstrates how love is the "concrete" that is central to the author's work."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved