Maria Goretti Kicks @$$ in Philly

One of the most well-known saints among Catholic schoolchildren is Maria Goretti, a young teenager who chose death by stabbing over giving in to the passions of a local hired hand. While in prison, she appeared to him with a garland of roses, one for each stab wound, and forgave him. He later entered religious life, and was present in Rome for her canonization.

Closer to the present, on the wires of the Associated Press, is what may be an unusual example of her intercession.

In Philadelphia (a city already well-established by this writer as a haven for nice Catholic girls of all ages), a man with a habit of exposing himself in public was chased down by a group of young ladies from the nearby St Maria Goretti High School for Girls. They caught up with him, kicked him and otherwise knocked him around, then subdued him until the police arrived. After being treated at the hospital for his injuries, authorities expect him to face a number of criminal charges.

St Maria Goretti, ora pro nobis. You go, grrrl!!!