Maria Teresa Goretti was an Italian virgin martyr of the Catholic Church, and one of the youngest saints to be canonized. She was born to a farming family. 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 while her mother and siblings worked in the fields.
Maria Goretti
La Cascina Antica (right), the Goretti home (currently under the care of the Passionist sisters)
The only known photograph of Maria Goretti, dated to early 1902
A statue of Maria in peasant garb holding lilies and a knife
The title Virgin is an honorific bestowed on female saints and blesseds, primarily used in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church.
Procession of virgin martyrs bearing both martyr's palms and wreaths as the crown of a virgin (master of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, 6th century)
Saint Euphemia with the crown of a virgin, a white lily and the martyr's palm (Andrea Mantegna, 1454)