Alessandro Signorelli, who murdered Maria, claimed she not only forgave him on her deathbed but appeared to him in visions in the prison where he was serving his life-sentence.
This led Alessandro to compose from prison a powerful Last Testament in which he repented and implored all who read it to follow the path of purity and truth.
The lesson, Bishop Nicholas suggested, is that, if we pardon unreservedly those who persecute us, they may be touched by our generosity to the point of repenting completely of their sin.