By John Moore, Columnist
The season of Lent is now upon us. For many it is a time of sacrifice, for others a time of renewal. I attended Church recently where the theme was love thy neighbor and love those who persecute you. The message was about how God wants us to be perfect and in order to attain that we need to forgive, be compassionate and be kind. It is the forgiveness part I will be dwelling on.
The priest announced he was about to tell a story that was heart wrenching and forewarned the congregation certain aspects of this story may trigger memories that are upsetting. If they wished to leave they should do so. I give the same caveat in the retelling of this story.
In 1902 a young girl of eleven was sitting on the front step of her house. The rest of her family were out tending the fields. The location is somewhere in Italy. The boy next door, who was eighteen, had an attraction for this girl. He had made advances towards her in the past but she always spurned him. He proceeded to make advances again only to be angrily rebuked again and this time he went berserk. He took a knife and stabbed her 14 times leaving her grievously injured. He fled the scene. When her family returned, they found the girl covered in blood. They rushed her to what would then have been a local hospital. The Doctors operated on her but couldn’t repair the damage that was done. She was then made as comfortable as possible as she laid dying. During this time, she told her family she forgave the boy and hoped to see him in heaven. A few days later she died. The boy was arrested and sentenced to 30 years in jail.
He was an incredibly angry prisoner and often would attack the other prisoners. For this reason he was put in solitary confinement. Sometime during his 6th year of incarceration he had a dream. In it the young girl, whom he had murdered, came to him and was dressed in a beautiful white dress. She had a beautiful smile and told him she forgave him. She then presented him with fourteen white lilies, one for each stab wound he had given her.
Upon waking up he began to weep and was so moved by this dream he became a changed person. He went from being angry and violent to peaceful and almost docile. As a result, he was released 3 years early for good behavior. Upon his release he went to the girl’s mother and asked for her forgiveness. She said she did because if her daughter could forgive him, she could as well. This story of forgiveness grew everywhere and reached the top echelons of the Vatican. After a few years of confirming this story, the girl was canonized in St. Peters Square in 1950. The man who had killed her was present for all to see to witness this announcement. She is known as Saint Maria Goretti and is one of the youngest Saints to be canonized. The next time we are looking for forgiveness or forgiving someone else hopefully this story will help.
Correction: In my last column I mistakenly referred to the Lady Slipper as the official flower of Nova Scotia. It is the official flower of Prince Edward Island. The May flower is the official flower of Nova Scotia. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused. Thank you to the loyal readers of Parkview News for pointing this out. Happy St . Patrick’s Day and Happy March.
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