In honor of this special little saint's feast day today, I'd like to share what St. Maria Goretti did for my family a few years ago, and why we consider her our family's patron saint. Five years ago I heard that her relics were coming to a nearby parish and we decided to go. As a child I'd always been in awe of her story, and when I met my husband we realized we'd both received sacraments in St. Maria Goretti parish (my first communion and his confirmation), so we had a special little connection through her. We spent a few hours that day in a long winding line outside in the heat with our then 4 year old son. Both my husband and I thought very carefully about what we wanted to pray to St. Maria Goretti for when we touched her relics. I decided on something very personal I needed spiritual help with. As we finally made it inside the doors, I noticed an older woman moving down the line saying a small prayer with each person who was preparing to approach the relics. As she got closer, I could hear that she was praying the same thing for each person: "May God bless you and your children." I felt a pang in my heart. I'd been trying for 3 years to give my son a sibling, and only one month ago, I'd finally conceived, only to lose the baby at 7 weeks. It had been a very hard blow, because this was now the 3rd baby I'd lost. Out of 4 pregnancies, I'd only managed to bring 1 to term. How I longed to have multiple children for this lady to ask God to bless! As she approached me, she took my hand, but when she said the prayer for me, she changed the words... She said, "May God bless you and your children...and all those yet to come." Then she gave my hand a squeeze and looked into my eyes very meaningfully for a minute before moving on. I was so surprised, and as tears sprang into my eyes, I listened to her continue down the line behind me: "May God bless you and your children." It had been a special message just for me, and it filled me with hope. When we approached the relics, I reminded myself what I was there to pray for, and prepared myself. My husband and I knelt down beside the glass encasement, and we touched the glass. The moment I touched it, I felt something like an electric current run through me, and I found myself blurting out in my head a prayer I hadn't thought of at all until that very moment. It wasn't what I'd planned to ask for at all. I said, "St. Maria Goretti, please don't let me have any more miscarriages." As we were driving home, my husband and I were both silent for a while. Then I decided to ask him what he'd prayed for. He said, "Well, it's kind of funny, because I had it all planned what I was going to pray for... But when I touched the glass, I said something totally different." "Oh?" I was very intrigued to hear this. "Yeah," he continued. "I said, 'Please don't let us have any more miscarriages.'" I was stunned. I told him the exact same thing had happened to me, and we were amazed. Now here I am pregnant with healthy baby #4, and we haven't had even one miscarriage since that day. My youngest son was even conceived on St. Maria Goretti's feast day. We don't know why St. Maria Goretti chose to help our family in such a special way, but she did..and we feel that she is the special patron of our children. She's a powerful little saint and I just wanted to share that with y'all.
I was there too PF! I was in Dallas that week visiting family and went to the St Monica Church. It was so special.
Purple Flower, I've been saving this thread that you started until I had time to savor it. I love Maria Goretti and knew your story would be powerful. I had just visited my newborn grandson who was born on July 5th, so I didn't get a chance to see your post until today. I love that your special favor involved more babies! My husband and I have four children, who have given us 6 grandchildren so far. Our lives revolve around those babies! I know God will continue to bless you, dear.
I forgot to mention that your posts remind me of my youngest daughter, Mary. I don't have time to post much lately but I always try to keep up with our younger Catholics. You give us older folks a sense of peace about the future of our faith. By the way, my daughter is crazy about everything purple too!
That is beautiful!!!my mother had a great devotion to st Maria Goretti and she died on July 6th her feastday.
Wow! What an amazing story! I absolutely love this, brought tears to my eyes! The Saints are such a beautiful gift to us from God.
Congratulations on your many grandchildren! Thank you for commenting on my story... It's always such a blessing to be able to share how wonderful God and His saints are--how active they are in our lives, and what they mean to us.
