Rewritten: The Story of Maria Goretti

Sister Margaret Kerry, FSP, reviews a short film recounting the radical forgiveness shown by Saint Maria Goretti toward her attacker.

Does Time Heal Everything?

At the maximum-security prison in Los Angeles, the answer is complicated. Time alone does not heal; it can just as easily harden. In the short film featured here, a reentry coach speaks to incarcerated men preparing to return to society. “We all have scars,” he tells them. “When we hang on to anger and resentment, it burns us.” In that setting, time does not erase wounds. Instead, it reshapes a person — often deepening shame, masking it through addiction, or releasing it through rage.

In this short film, the coach reminds the men that they still have choices. He offers them coffee; one man burns himself as it spills. This draws a parallel to the story of Saint Maria Goretti, who appeared to her attacker holding white lilies — flowers that burned his hand and awakened his conscience. Wounds us can harden us — or, by grace, transform us.

Forgiveness rarely makes headlines, yet it remains one of the most radical acts of love. Maria showed no hatred and no desire for vengeance. Her words still echo today: “I forgive you, and I want you with me in heaven forever.” Alessandro remained hardened for years, until Maria appeared to him in a dream offering lilies that burned his hand and stirred repentance. He turned to God, sought forgiveness, and after his release begged pardon from Maria’s mother.

The closing scenes retell the historical witness of Saint Maria Goretti. At eleven years old, Maria forgave Alessandro Serenelli, the man who stabbed her fourteen times, and prayed for his conversion as she lay dying. Alessandro’s life had been shaped by neglect, brutality, and addiction. Maria did not know his full story — but she knew how to love as Christ loves. Her forgiveness shattered the logic of revenge and eventually led her own mother to forgive the man who had taken her child’s life.

The film reminds us that forgiveness is not primarily about what others do to us, but about what we do with the wounds we carry. True forgiveness is not a single decision; it is a journey of faith — one that echoes Christ’s own prayer from the Cross: “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34).

Today, Maria Goretti’s home stands as a shrine, her hospital room as a chapel, and Alessandro Serenelli lived the latter years of his life as a religious brother. In a world saturated with blame and retaliation, this film offers a quiet but revolutionary truth: forgiveness does not erase the past — it redeems the future. What God can do with a wounded heart surrendered to mercy is nothing short of astonishing.

Rewritten: The Story of Maria Goretti is free to view on YouTube.

The Little Saint of Great Mercy

“While St. Maria is universally known as the Patroness of Purity, her greatest virtue was her unyielding forgiveness of her attacker even amid horrendous physical suffering, a forgiveness that would completely convert him and set him on a path to personal holiness.” (MariaGoretti.com)

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Copyright 2026 Sister Margaret Kerry, FSP
Images: (top) Saint Catholic Lifestyle, used by permission, all rights reserved.