MARIA GORETTI was not yet 12 years old when she was faced with that momentous decision in July of 1902: Sin or death. Maria's answer to her assailant was clear: "No! No! It is a sin! God does not want this!" Alessandro stabbed Maria 14 times, and little Maria became another virgin martyr in the line of St. Agnes and St. Cecilia. Here is the beautiful true story of Maria's virtuous life that led to her heroic choice, of the Goretti family's terrible poverty, Maria's First Holy Communion, her great maturity in shouldering adult responsibilities, her forgiveness of her murderer, her lingering death, then finally her public elevation to sainthood in 1950—in the presence of her mother, her family and the largest crowd ever before seen at a canonization—over half a million people. A contemporary classic, this is truly a book for all—because people of any age will be inspired by St. Maria Goretti's purity and love of God—which triumphed over her love for life and even over the anonymity of death.