• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Sister Maria Laura Mainetti, a 60-year-old member of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Cross, is beatified a martyr June 6 in the northern Italian city where she served. (Screenshot)

Nun slain by three teenagers in satanic sacrifice beatified as martyr

June 7, 2021
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, Saints, Vatican, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn
Sister Maria Laura Mainetti, a member of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Cross, was killed in 2000 in Chiavenna, Italy, by three teenage girls in a satanic sacrifice. Sister Mainetti was beatified as a martyr June 6 in the northern Italian city where she served and died. She is pictured at left in an undated photo. (CNS photo/courtesy Consorzio Turistico Valchiavenna)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A nun who was brutally stabbed in a satanic sacrifice was beatified a martyr June 6 in the northern Italian city where she served.

Pope Francis commended the beatification of Sister Maria Laura Mainetti, a 60-year-old member of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Cross, after praying the Angelus the same day with visitors gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

“She was killed 21 years ago by three young women influenced by a satanic sect. Cruelty. She, who loved young people more than anything, and who loved and forgave those same girls imprisoned by evil, leaves us her program for life: do every little thing with faith, love and enthusiasm,” the pope said.

The beatification ceremony was held in Chiavenna in the Diocese of Como where Sister Mainetti had been serving as a teacher, catechist and head of her religious community.

Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, presided over the beatification ceremony and Mass. On the altar was a reliquary holding a rock stained with Blessed Mainetti’s blood; the rock was found where she had been killed.

The cardinal said the nun prayed to God for the grace of “true charity,” which means loving God more than oneself and loving others as much as oneself.

Born Aug. 20, 1939, near Milan, she felt called to a religious vocation after a priest told her, “You must do something wonderful for other people.”

Sister Maria Laura Mainetti, a member of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Cross, was killed in 2000 in Chiavenna, Italy, by three teenage girls in a satanic sacrifice. Sister Mainetti was beatified as a martyr June 6 in the northern Italian city where she served and died. She is pictured with children in an undated photo. (CNS photo/courtesy Consorzio Turistico Valchiavenna)

She began teaching in 1960 at elementary schools run by her congregation in different cities in Italy. She dedicated her life to helping those excluded by society, particularly drug addicts, juvenile delinquents, the poor and sex workers.

Her killers were three teenage girls who knew Sister Mainetti from catechism class when they were younger. The young women wanted to sacrifice a religious person for Satan, according to their testimony in court, and chose the sister, rather than the parish priest, because she was slender and easier to attack.

The three girls had planned to stab her six times each to indicate the biblical “number of the beast” on June 6, 2000, the sixth day of the sixth month.

When they ambushed and attacked her, she prayed for the girls, asking that God forgive them.

The young women were found guilty of murder, but they were given reduced sentences because the court determined they were partially insane at the time of the crime. They have since been released from prison and given new identities, living in different Italian cities.

In June 2020, the pope recognized the martyrdom of Sister Mainetti as someone killed “in hatred of the faith.” While a miracle attributed to a candidate’s intercession is not needed for beatification as a martyr, a miracle is required for canonization.

Also see

The popes at Tor Vergata: From John Paul II’s vision to Leo’s witness

Pope calls for nuclear disarmament, real commitment to peace

Pope visits teen who fell ill during Jubilee of Youth, prays with family

Journey together, seek real encounters, pope advises young people

Pope offers prayers after shipwreck of migrant boat off Yemen

The three questions young people asked Pope Leo XIV — and his answers

Copyright © 2021 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Carol Glatz

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • St. Bernardine Choir celebrates 50 years of song, spirit and community

  • The Fantastic Four: First Steps Movie Review: ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’

  • The three questions young people asked Pope Leo XIV — and his answers

  • Sister Miriam Jansen, former director of international programs at Notre Dame of Maryland, dies at 86

  • Grillo Family Reflection Space Loyola University Maryland receives $1 million gift supporting aspiring educators, creation of reflection space

| Latest Local News |

Father Donio receives Knights’ highest award for work as chaplain

Mount St. Mary’s launches new physician assistant program

Radio Interview: The Vatican Observatory

Sister Rita Ann Naughton, I.H.M., dies at 88

St. Bernardine Choir celebrates 50 years of song, spirit and community

| Latest World News |

Pope calls for nuclear disarmament, real commitment to peace

Pope visits teen who fell ill during Jubilee of Youth, prays with family

Journey together, seek real encounters, pope advises young people

Indian nuns released on conditional bail; advocates, superiors call their arrest ‘unlawful’

Irish lay missionary, child among several kidnapped from orphanage in Haiti

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • The popes at Tor Vergata: From John Paul II’s vision to Leo’s witness
  • Pope calls for nuclear disarmament, real commitment to peace
  • Pope visits teen who fell ill during Jubilee of Youth, prays with family
  • Journey together, seek real encounters, pope advises young people
  • Indian nuns released on conditional bail; advocates, superiors call their arrest ‘unlawful’
  • Father Donio receives Knights’ highest award for work as chaplain
  • Irish lay missionary, child among several kidnapped from orphanage in Haiti
  • Faith’s family tree
  • West Virginia bishop warns on immigration: ‘The final judge of our actions is God’

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en