St. Maria Goretti In Garments All Red by Fr. Godfrey Poage is an impactful book describing the life of St. Maria Goretti. Fr. Poage brilliantly brings his readers into a real-life experience with this great saint of modern times. This book is much more than just a history book timeline of St. Maria Goretti. The book paints vivid pictures of landscapes of the time, as well as bringing its readers face to face with pure evil and pure goodness of the human condition.
All great works of literature, even works of fact like this one, have a way of removing its readers from their everyday lives into the world within their pages. When describing the living conditions of the Goretti family in their original homeland, in the mountains of Italy Fr. Poage dramatically explains, “The storm door slammed! A blizzard was at its height. Snow was falling heavily. Winters are severe in the neighborhood of Ancona, and though one might love that country for its pure air and steep pathways, when storms arise and fuel is low, it can become a land of misery.”[1] Fr. Poage artistically creates the setting in chapter eight, at their new home, by stating, “It is once more high noon. The sun from its zenith beats down on the Frerriere farm. A burning wind, storm-laden, sweeps across the swamps, licks the wall of the house and enters the kitchen by the open door.”[2]
Once his readers were set within the world of St. Maria Goretti, Fr Poage begins revealing his true purpose of writing this book - to show his readers what it means to be a saint. He does this by describing her extreme living conditions and by comparing good vs. evil and St. Maria’s imitation of Christ by conquering evil through mercy and purity. The hallmark of this book is just that; we all have a call to sainthood. For some, their call was in grandeur like being a great ruler of people or writing great texts of truth that would stand the test of time. St. Maria’s path to sainthood was by no means not grand, everyone’s path to becoming a saint is grand. But what this book reveals through the life of St. Maria is that all the paths have one thing in common: to become a saint. To do this one must be so focused on Christ, people see Christ through them like a mirror on the wall or a reflection in calm water. Often, like in the life of St. Maria this is not done through words, but in actions of living a life of purity and perhaps most importantly, self-sacrifice. That’s what makes this book special. It not only gives an accurate historical look at the life of St. Maria, but it also vividly opens the hearts and minds of its readers to look at their own lives and how they too can become saints. If it is possible for a little girl that has not even lived a life into her teens to achieve the greatest gift, the ultimate prize of being with God for eternity, anyone can. The readers will be able to take examples of their own lives struggles and convert them to doing the will of God, like St. Maria did. Though not all our garments will end in a red martyrdom like St. Maria and Our Lord Jesus Christ, but without doubt we are all called to carry our crosses and walk the Via Dolorosa.
Bibliography
Poage, Fr. Godfrey, St. Maria Goretti In Garments All Red (Charlotte: TAN Books, 2010).
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