SW News: An Italian nun who was murdered by three teenage girls as part of a satanic ritual was beatified on Sunday after the Holy Father declared her a martyr killed in hatred of the faith.

Sr Maria Laura Mainetti was declared blessed in Chiavenna in northern Italy. She was beatified on the anniversary of her death.

Three girls who knew the nun as she had taught them catechism invited the sister to a park on June 6, 2000, claiming that one of them needed to talk to her as she had been raped and impregnated and was considering an abortion. The trio who were linked to a satanic sect made the nun kneel and shouted expletives at her and one of them beat her with a brick and another pushed her head into a wall multiple times.

They then took turns to stab her 19 times. Police said they intended to stab her 18 times, six times each, to form the esoteric number of 666 linked to satanic rituals. It is reported that the dying nun forgave the three girls.

Sr Mainetti was the superior of the Sisters of the Cross convent in Chiavenna and was well known in her small town for her charitable work and outreach activities.

Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, praised the martyred nun’s charity during the beatification Mass, noting that Jesus speaks of a “new wine” in St. Mark’s Gospel. He said: “The new wine is already enjoyed by the saints of whom it is written ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’”

“Among these guests today the Church recognizes the blessed martyr Maria Laura Mainetti. We all know the crucial hour of her life: while she was dying, she was forgiving. By forgiving, one is forgiven. At the end of her life, Sr. Maria Laura did so.”

“She, who loved young people more than anything, and who loved and forgave those same girls who were prisoners of evil, leaves us her life program: to do every little thing with faith, love, and enthusiasm. May the Lord give us all faith, love, and enthusiasm.”