Novena to St Maria Goretti

The novena to St Maria Goretti is a nine-day prayer to the little Italian martyr who, not yet twelve years old, gave her life rather than surrender her purity, and forgave her killer as she lay dying. We pray it for the grace of holy purity, for the young, for victims of assault and abuse, and for the strength to forgive — and it is prayed above all in the nine days leading to her feast on 6 July, beginning 27 June. Below is the full novena: the daily prayer, the nine meditations, and the story of the saint whose intercession it seeks.

When to pray the novena to St Maria Goretti

The classic time is the nine days before her feast, 27 June through 6 July, so that the last day falls on the day the Church keeps her memory. But a novena is not chained to the calendar: this one may be begun on any day a soul needs it — before a hard temptation, for a child in danger, for a person carrying the wound of abuse, or for the grace to forgive someone who has done real harm. If you are new to the practice and want to know why it is nine days and how to keep it, see our short guide to what is a novena.

The full novena to St Maria Goretti

Each of the nine days follows the same simple pattern. Begin with the Sign of the Cross, say the opening prayers, read the day's meditation and its petition, say the main novena prayer (naming your intention), and close. The main prayer is the same on all nine days; only the meditation and the day's petition change.

Opening prayers (said each day)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory be to the Father…

The daily prayer to St Maria Goretti

This is the heart of the novena, said once on each of the nine days with your own intention named where marked:

O Saint Maria Goretti, who, strengthened by God's grace, did not hesitate, even at a young age, to shed your blood and sacrifice life itself to defend your virginal purity, look graciously upon the unhappy human race which has strayed far from the path of eternal salvation. Teach us all, and especially the youth, with what courage and promptitude we should flee for the love of Jesus anything that could offend Him or stain our souls with sin. Obtain for us from our Lord victory in temptation, comfort in the sorrows of life, and the grace which we earnestly beg of thee (here name your request), and may we one day enjoy with thee the imperishable glory of Heaven. Amen.

St Maria Goretti, pray for us.

Many keep the older custom of adding the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary after the daily prayer, since Maria was a child of deep Marian devotion, and closing with the Sign of the Cross.

The nine days: meditations and petitions

Day 1 — Purity. St Maria Goretti loved holy purity more than her own life. On this first day we ask her to obtain for us the courage to flee at once, and for the love of Jesus, whatever would stain the soul.

St Maria, model of purity, obtain for me the grace to guard my heart, my eyes, and my body for God alone, and to fly from every occasion of sin. (Say the daily prayer.)

Day 2 — Obedience to parents. Maria obeyed her widowed mother in all things and carried the burdens of a poor household without complaint.

St Maria, model of loving obedience, teach me to honour and serve those set over me, and to find Christ in the daily duties of my home. (Say the daily prayer.)

Day 3 — Daily self-denial. Her heroism at the end grew out of a hidden life of small sacrifices, cheerfully borne.

St Maria, obtain for me the grace of daily self-denial, that I may say no to myself in little things, and so be ready for God in the great ones. (Say the daily prayer.)

Day 4 — Contentment in one's state. Maria was poor, and knew hunger and hard labour, yet she was content, trusting her Father in heaven.

St Maria, teach me to accept my circumstances from the hand of God, without envy or bitterness, and to serve Him joyfully wherever He has placed me. (Say the daily prayer.)

Day 5 — Trust in God, not human approval. She feared to offend God more than she feared any man, and would rather die than sin.

St Maria, obtain for me the grace to seek God's approval above all, to fear sin more than suffering, and to stand firm when the world would have me yield. (Say the daily prayer.)

Day 6 — Love of the Faith. Maria treasured her catechism and longed for the day of her First Communion.

St Maria, kindle in me a deep love of the Catholic Faith, a hunger for its truths, and the courage to profess and defend it. (Say the daily prayer.)

Day 7 — Love of the Holy Eucharist. She had received her First Communion only shortly before her death, and hungered for our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

St Maria, obtain for me an ardent love of the Holy Eucharist, that I may draw all my strength from our Lord truly present, and receive Him worthily and often. (Say the daily prayer.)

Day 8 — Forgiveness. As she lay dying, Maria forgave Alessandro, her murderer, and desired that he be with her one day in heaven.

St Maria, who forgave the one who killed you, obtain for me the grace to forgive from the heart those who have wronged me, and to desire their salvation. (Say the daily prayer.)

Day 9 — Joy and serenity of a pure heart. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Maria died in peace, her heart undivided.

St Maria, obtain for me the deep joy and serenity that belong to the pure of heart, and bring me at last to see God with you in the glory of heaven. (Say the daily prayer.)

The novena to St Maria Goretti for victims

One of the most-sought forms of this devotion is the novena to St Maria Goretti for victims — for those who have suffered assault, abuse, or violence, and for their healing of body and soul. It is a fitting prayer, for Maria was herself the victim of a violent attack, and yet her last act was mercy. Pray the nine days above for a particular person who carries such a wound, naming them in the daily prayer, and asking St Maria to obtain for them what she obtained for herself: peace, purity of heart, and the grace, in God's time, even to forgive. This intention pairs well with the intercession of St Josephine Bakhita and St Dymphna, both invoked for the abused and the deeply wounded.

A short novena and the daily prayer alone

If the full nine meditations are more than your day allows, the novena may be kept in its shortest sound form: the daily prayer to St Maria Goretti above, said once each day for nine days with your intention, framed by an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be. This is the essential novena; the meditations are a help, not an obligation. What matters is the nine days of faithful, trusting prayer.

How to pray this novena well

Choose a fixed time each day and keep it for the nine days — a set hour steadies the soul. Name your intention plainly in the daily prayer, and, where you can, join the novena to Holy Mass or Communion, or to a decade of the Rosary. Above all, pray in submission to God's will: a novena does not compel heaven, and to treat any prayer as a formula that forces an outcome would be superstition, which the Church condemns. Ask for the grace you need, ask it through St Maria's intercession, and leave the rest to the Father who loves you. Beginning on 27 June brings the ninth day to her feast on 6 July, but any nine days will serve.

Who was St Maria Goretti?

Maria Goretti was born on 16 October 1890 at Corinaldo, in the March of Ancona, Italy, the third of the many children of Luigi Goretti and Assunta Carlini — a devout and desperately poor farming family. Seeking a living, the Gorettis moved south to the Pontine marshes near Nettuno, sharing a house and their work with a widower, Giovanni Serenelli, and his son Alessandro. When Maria's father died of malaria, her mother took to the fields, and the little girl of nine took charge of the house and the younger children, cooking, mending, and minding the home while the others laboured.

She grew up pure, obedient, and prayerful, longing for the day of her First Communion, which she received in the spring of 1902 with great fervour. She was, by every account, a cheerful and hardworking child, with an instinctive horror of sin.

On 5 July 1902, when she was eleven, Alessandro Serenelli — then twenty — found her alone, mending at the top of the stairs, and tried to force himself upon her. Maria resisted, crying out that it was a sin and that God forbade it, and warned him he would go to hell. Enraged, he seized an awl and stabbed her fourteen times. She lingered in agony for some twenty hours at the hospital in Nettuno. Before she died, on 6 July 1902, she forgave her murderer freely, saying she wished him to be with her in heaven, and died with the names of Jesus and Mary on her lips. She was not yet twelve years old.

Her forgiveness bore its fruit. Alessandro, imprisoned, was for years unrepentant, until Maria appeared to him in a dream, gathering lilies and offering them to him. He was converted, made public repentance, and after his release knelt before Maria's mother, Assunta, to beg her pardon — which she granted, saying that if her daughter had forgiven him, she could not do otherwise. He ended his days as a lay brother, a porter and gardener in a Capuchin friary, and was present, a penitent, for her glorification.

Maria Goretti was beatified by Pope Pius XII on 27 April 1947 and canonized by the same Pope on 24 June 1950, in the presence of her aged mother — the only canonization at which a saint's own mother has stood. Pius XII called her the "St Agnes of the twentieth century," setting her beside the ancient virgin-martyrs of Rome. Her feast is kept on 6 July, the day of her holy death.

Because she is a saint of the twentieth century, some who follow the older books will note that her cause is modern; but she was raised to the altars by Pius XII, and belongs fully to the traditional treasury of the Church's virgin-martyrs — a Roman child in the true line of St Agatha, St Agnes, and St Philomena.

What is St Maria Goretti the patron saint of?

St Maria Goretti is the patroness of purity and chastity, of young people and especially of teenage girls, of children of Mary and youth sodalities, and of the poor. Because of the manner of her death and the mercy of her forgiveness, she is invoked as a patroness of victims of assault and abuse, and as a model of forgiveness for those struggling to pardon a grave wrong. Her intercession is sought by parents for their children, by the young against temptation, and by any soul seeking the grace of a clean and undivided heart — a grace close to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to whom she was devoted.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you pray the novena to St Maria Goretti?

Pray it once a day for nine consecutive days. Each day, make the Sign of the Cross, say an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be, read that day's meditation, and then say the main prayer beginning "O Saint Maria Goretti, who, strengthened by God's grace…," naming your intention where marked. Many add the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Keep the same intention through all nine days.

When do you start the St Maria Goretti novena?

To finish on her feast, begin on 27 June, so the ninth day falls on 6 July. But the novena may be begun on any day of the year for a pressing need — it does not have to be tied to the feast.

What is the novena to St Maria Goretti prayed for?

It is prayed chiefly for the grace of holy purity and chastity, for the protection and holiness of young people, for victims of abuse and assault, and for the strength to forgive those who have wronged us. It is also prayed for growth in the virtues Maria showed — obedience, self-denial, love of the Faith, and love of the Eucharist.

How old was St Maria Goretti when she died?

She was eleven years old — born 16 October 1890 and killed on 6 July 1902, some three months short of her twelfth birthday. This is why Pius XII and the tradition marvel at her heroism at so tender an age.

What did St Maria Goretti say before she died?

Asked whether she forgave her murderer, she said that she did, that she wanted him with her in heaven, and that she forgave him for the love of Jesus. She died invoking Jesus and Mary. Her dying forgiveness is the heart of her holiness and of this novena.

When is St Maria Goretti's feast day?

Her feast is 6 July, the anniversary of her death in 1902. The novena is traditionally prayed in the nine days leading up to it, from 27 June.

Is there a PDF of the St Maria Goretti novena?

The complete text — the opening prayers, the daily prayer, and the nine meditations — is given in full on this page, so it can be prayed straight from your screen or copied out for the nine days without a separate printout. The Iter Fidei app also carries the whole devotion with daily reminders and audio, so nothing need be printed at all.

Why is St Maria Goretti called a martyr?

She died defending her purity and refusing to consent to sin, choosing death rather than offend God — the mark of a true martyr. Pius XII declared her a martyr and a saint, ranking her with the ancient virgin-martyrs of the Church, and she is honoured, like St Cecilia and St Agnes, as one who "loved not their lives unto death."

Pray this novena with day-by-day reminders and audio in the Iter Fidei app — the daily prayer, the nine meditations, and the Litany of Our Lady, in Latin and your own language. Download it here.

Sources. Holy Scripture (Matthew 5:8; Apocalypse 12:11); Butler's Lives of the Saints and the traditional accounts of the life, martyrdom, and forgiveness of St Maria Goretti (Corinaldo, 1890 — Nettuno, 1902); the acts of Pope Pius XII beatifying (1947) and canonizing (1950) St Maria Goretti, and his homily naming her the "St Agnes of the twentieth century"; the traditional novena prayer O Saint Maria Goretti, who, strengthened by God's grace and the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as carried in Catholic prayer-books.