This is the movement of the Holy Family, leading people to Jesus through friendship, good conversation, and the Rosary.

Today we'll be talking about St. Maria Gretti, a young martyr for chastity.

This is a hard-hitting meditation with mature content.

Listener discretion is advised.

Welcome to our realtor meditation.

Let's begin in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Let's call the mind all those we've promised to pray for, especially Steve White,

Gemma Campbell, Renee Garnett, Olivia Conelli, and Little Damien.

Now today, July 6th, is the feast of St. Maria Gretti.

She was born in 1890, the third of seven children.

Her father became very sick with malaria and died when she was just nine.

And while her mother and siblings worked in the fields, she would cook, sew, and watch

Teresa, her youngest sister, and keep the house clean. On July 5th, 1902, 11-year-old Maria was sitting on the

outside steps of her home sewing while watching her younger sister,

as her family worked in the nearby fields.

At the same time, 20-year-old Alessandro Serenelli was brushing beans in the barnyard.

Knowing she would be alone, he returned to the house and made sexual advances toward Maria, which she rejected.

Alessandro then threatened to stab her if she did not do what he said. He intended to rape her.

She would not give in, however, protesting that what he wanted to do was a mortal sin,

warning him that he would go to hell.

And she fought desperately and kept screaming, no, it is a sin that God does not want it.

Alessandro stabbed her 14 times before running away.

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