 Hello, Father James Kubicki here with the story of a 12-year-old hero, Maria Goretti, whom the Church honors today as a martyr of chastity. On July 5, 1902, in a poor village in Italy, a 19-year-old man named Alessandro tried to rape this 12-year-old girl named Maria. She resisted him, and in anger, he stabbed her 14 times. She survived for 24 hours, and in the hospital, she forgave him.