Martyrs for purity.
Death rather than rape.
That sounds like a pretty dumb idea these days - sacrificing one’s life to avoid being raped. Well, at least that is the opinion of secular culture. Up until recently, popular culture led us to believe a girl’s virginity was a source of embarrassment to many teenagers. Thankfully things seem to be changing as far as guarding one’s purity, and many teens are once again coming to value and practice chastity and abstinence.
Having said that, I am not at all implying any girl or woman would be open to losing her virginity to rape! Rape is a horrible crime of violence against women. Although it is obviously a sex crime, it often has less to do with lust and seems to have more to do with the perpetrator’s issues of control, domination, and some sort of hatred or vengeance against women. I am sure most, if not all, parents and counselors would advise a woman to fight off her attacker, to never allow herself to be abducted, and so on - all very good advice. And nearly everyone would advise, if all else fails, go along with the rapist in order to save your life.
The splendor of virginity.
Which may be one reason why the designation, “martyrs for purity” can sound so foreign to contemporary ears. Yet three new saints stand out as signs of contradiction in our age of contraception, abortion, and morning after abortafacient remedies for unwanted pregnancy and rape. These “conveniences” seem to present chastity as an option a bit more negotiable, yet these martyrs for purity understood their virginity on a more supernatural level.
Like St. Maria Goretti, the following three martyrs preferred to die rather than lose their virginity. However, in some respects these ‘new’ martyrs may offer a deeper, more sympathetic understanding for women and girls who have been raped - despite their efforts at resistance. Rape, like the molestation of children, is never the victim’s fault, because no one has the right to violate another human being. Therefore, the victim must never feel diminished or “unworthy” because she has been unable to avoid sexual assault.
When resistance is not successful.
Likewise, the saints, especially these new martyrs of purity, are not presented to us in order to guilt us about our inability to have resisted a rape or any form of sexual abuse. Rather, the Church presents them to us as helpers, intercessors, and examples to support us in recovery, as well as our protection against such things happening in the first place. Yet happen it does, even to these new martyrs.
Each of these martyrs were brutally murdered because they resisted their attacker. Each was violated to some degree, yet forfeited her life in the process. This seems to make their sacrifice all the more poignant, and indicates to me, their intercession, made luminous and more powerful by their martyr’s blood, is all the more urgent before the throne of God.
Who are these ‘new’ martyrs?
What follows is a brief profile of each of the ‘new’ martyrs for purity, presented as special intercessors for victims of rape, sexual exploitation and abuse.
Karolina Kozka, Lay woman, Polish (Wal Ruda, Poland, 1914), killed by a Russian soldier at the age of 17, while defending her virginity. The soldier dragged Bl. Karolina into the forest, brutally murdering her. Her body was found nearly a month later on December 4, 1914.
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Pierina Morosini, lay woman, (+ Fiobbo di Albino, Bergamo, 1957), aged 26. After returning from Rome, where Pierina attended the canonization of St. Maria Goretti, she continued to work as a seamtress. On her way home from work on April 4, 1957, she was attacked by a man who stoned her to death for refusing to comply with his evil desires. Beaten unconscious, she died two days later in hospital.
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Antonia Mesina,lay woman (+ Orgosolo, Nuoro 1935). The second of ten children born to a peasant family. She received only four years of school, quitting to take over housekeeping from her mother, Grazia, who was bed-ridden with a heart condition. Joined Catholic Action at age ten, becoming an active and lively member and recruiter. At the age of 16, while gathering wood, she was killed by a prowler who tried to rape her.
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Biographical sources: Patron Saints Index and Vatican Website.
