Why not spend a little time learning about this remarkable young girl? Maria was very holy and loved God. Her parents were her role models and they passed the beautiful gift of faith to their children. Maria grew up in that faith, knowing that she must always do what pleases God and avoid sin. At her canonisation Pope Pius XII appealed to parents to pass on the faith to their children. He said, “Let fathers and mothers learn that they should bring up the children given them by God, in a truly holy and steadfast manner and bring them up in the tenets of the Catholic faith; so that when their virtue is endangered they may, by the grace of God, emerge from the struggle unconquered, pure and unsullied”