From Sept. 21 until Nov. 13, there will be a remarkable visit to the United States. The relics of St. Maria Goretti will be venerated in different cities in our country. Maria is a saint of chastity and of forgiveness.

In 1902, near Nettuno, Italy, just south of Rome, Maria lived a very difficult life. Her father had died two years earlier and as the oldest child, she was tasked with raising her five siblings while her mother worked the fields to scrape together an existence for the family.

A neighbor boy took an immoral liking to young Maria. One day, he attempted to violate her. But Maria would not give away her purity. Her attacker stabbed her and she died a day later offering forgiveness to the young man and expressing the hope that they would be together in heaven.

Her killer, Alessandro Serenelli reported that he was visited in prison by Maria in a vision or dream after her death. In that moment she expressly forgave him, which moved him to a conversion of heart and of his life. After 27 years in prison he went to Maria’s mother to seek her forgiveness. They then went to Mass together publicly and received the holy Eucharist side by side.

The tour of the relics of Maria Goretti is a needed reminder for our world. First and foremost, Maria gives witness to a virtue that is challenged, abandoned and even mocked in our society: chastity.

In our time, lost is the understanding of sexuality as a gift and sacred act uniting a married couple in imitation of Christ’s love for the Church. By its nature, sexuality is open to new life, seeking that way to share love with those yet to come.

Viewed from that deeply human and spiritual standpoint, we understand why Maria Goretti would stand firm when threatened for her virginity. We understand her cry to Alessandro as she was stabbed, “No, it is a sin.”

Consider how our society has defaced and cheapened sexuality by abandoning the appreciation of chastity. Think of how saturated our media discussions or news reports have become with discussions related to various elements of sexual encounters. Reports on celebrities, athletes and notables of all kinds routinely mention how many ex-spouses and temporary significant others have been part of their lives.

Consider as well the television and movie inundation on a nightly basis of unnaturally good looking people becoming sexually engaged without any commitment, fallout or qualm of conscience. In them, everyone is supposed to see themselves and not ask questions about heartbreak, pregnancy or God.

Alarming to nearly every parent are the reports and realities of the sexual conditions among students at our universities. And we cannot overlook the role of computer pornography that is so widespread.

How much strength and support our young people especially need in order not to fall in with the crowd!

More than 100 years ago, these same issues were present for Alessandro Serenelli. After his conversion he wrote, “My behavior was influenced by print, mass-media and bad examples, which are followed by the majority of young people without even thinking. And I did the same.”

Clearly, chastity in any age is not easy, for young people nor for adults. Our human weakness in this area is a result of the brokenness that comes from original sin.

Still, Maria Goretti, and the tour of her relics, reminds us that chastity is not simply an abstract rule. It is not some sort of teeth gritting test that God places in our lives. It is, rather, part of the freedom to follow Christ to which we are all called.

By being chaste, we locate sexuality in its rightful and beautiful place in creation and in our relations with each other. Chastity keeps relationships between men and women from being contaminated by pressures and the search for pleasure detached from responsibility.

For young men and women it fosters the self-discipline to get to know and respect each other. That same self-discipline strengthens marriages, especially when the tough times come.

Finally, chastity conditions our hearts and our prayer. It is no accident that in the midst of a world characterized by the good of marriage and child bearing, both Jesus and Mary were chaste. That is a sign that chastity whether before, within or after marriage, is a part of us by God’s design and it brings us into harmony with Him.

Pope Francis will be coming to the United States to talk to us about the family at the same time that the relics of Maria Goretti will be here. What a happy and needed coincidence. We will all be blessed by this reminder of why chastity is such a great good.