Alessandro Serenelli
| Alessandro Serenelli | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June 2, 1882 Paterno, Italy |
| Died | May 6, 1970 (aged 87) Macerata |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Occupation | Farmhand, Prisoner, Gardener, Lay brother |
| Known for | The murder of Maria Goretti |
Alessandro Serenelli (2 June 1882 - 6 May 1970) was an Italian, who in 1902 attempted to seduce an eleven-year-old girl named Maria Goretti. Not succeeding, he attempted to rape her, and failing in that, he stabbed her 14 times, mortally wounding her. While serving 27 years in prison for his crime, he reported seeing a vision of his victim in which she repeated to him how she had forgiven him on her death bed. From this point he was converted and became a model prisoner. Upon his release, he worked as a gardener and porter in a convent of Capuchin friars in the Marches. Goretti was later proclaimed a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.
Serenelli was born into a peasant family. His father, Giovanni, is often portrayed as an alcoholic, although Maria's mother said he rarely drank to the point of drunkenness. His mother died in a psychiatric hospital when he was a few months old, apparently after trying to drown Serenelli when he was a newborn. A brother of the young man committed suicide while studying in the seminary. His father worked as a coachman and a laborer but was unable to keep any job for a long time and moved to Paliano to work as a métayage. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he attended school until the second grade, learning to read and write. Alessandro later worked as a longshoreman. At eighteen, his father called him to work with him in Paliano. Here, he knew the Goretti family with whom he established a relationship of cooperation and neighborliness.
In 1902, twenty-year-old Serenelli, a virgin described by all as a very shy and quiet young man, began to harass Goretti, then eleven. In testimony given by him about his thoughts before the brutal incident he related: "After the second attempt, in my mind was formed more than ever the intention to succeed in the vent of my passion and I conceived the idea to kill her if she continued to resist my cravings."
On 5 July 1902, Serenelli returned to the house and threatened Goretti with death if she did not do as he said; he was intending to rape her. However she would not submit, protesting that what he wanted to do was a mortal sin and warning him that he would go to hell. She desperately fought to stop him from proceeding. She kept screaming, "No! It is a sin! God does not want it!" He first choked her, but when she insisted she would rather die than submit to him, he stabbed her eleven times. She tried to reach for the door, but he stopped her by stabbing her three more times before fleeing the scene.
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