St. Maria Goretti - Portland, OR
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 45° 33.189 W 122° 34.262
10T E 533482 N 5044490
This sculpture is in the Chapel of Mary at the Grotto- a Roman Catholic sanctuary in Portland, Oregon.
Waymark Code: WMNF8V
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 03/04/2015
Views: 3
The sculpture is smaller than life-sized and made from marble. It depicts the saint standing and holding a few flower stalks...perhaps lilies. Under her name in the engraving is included:
"VIRGIN AND MARTYR".
See the Grotto's website about the artwork in the Chapel (
visit link) which unfortunately does not mention this work however.
Wikipedia's article about the saint (
visit link) informs us:
Maria Goretti (October 16, 1890 – July 6, 1902) is an Italian virgin-martyr of the Roman Catholic Church, and she is one of the youngest canonized saints.[1] She was born on the eastern side of Italy to a farming family, but increased poverty forced the family to move to the western side of the country when she was only six. Her father died when she was nine, and the family had to share a house with another family, the Serenellis. She took over household duties from her mother, while her mother and the rest of her family worked in the fields. One afternoon, Alessandro, the son of the Serenelli family, made sexual advances to her, but when she refused to submit to him because that would be a mortal sin, he stabbed her fourteen times. She was taken to the hospital, but she died after forgiving him. He was promptly arrested, convicted and jailed. After three years he repented, and when eventually released from prison, he visited her mother begging forgiveness, which she readily granted. He later became a lay brother in a monastery, eventually dying peacefully in 1970. She was beatified in 1947, and canonized in 1950. Her mother attended both ceremonies."