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.

The title Virgin is an honorific bestowed on female saints and blesseds, primarily used in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church.