Vera Grita – Salesian cooperator, Servant of God (1923-1969) – was described as ‘a true lady, always very generous’, despite the financial difficulties that had marked her life due to various circumstances. The daughter of a noblewoman, Maria Anna Zacco della Pirrera, and a photographer-portrait artist with a passion for beauty (Amleto Grita), she was also the sister of Giuseppina, who painted under the pseudonym ‘Casgrì’, even on gold leaf, and participated in national and international exhibitions, and Liliana, who published noteworthy poems. The Servant of God Vera Grita was a discreet woman, elegant in her simplicity, a bringer of joy and passionate about a beauty that gives light to life.
It is therefore a doubly valuable initiative – and one strongly desired by the Salesians of Don Bosco – to dedicate several events to Vera at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Rome as the solemnity of Don Bosco approaches: first of all, an exhibition directed by the Rector of the Basilica and Headquarters, Fr Francesco Marcoccio, SDB, was strongly desired and realised thanks to the passion of Ilaria Mondati, educator and artist. The exhibition will open in the Basilica on 24 January 2026, the feast day of St Francis de Sales, and will remain on display until 31 January, the solemnity of Don Bosco.
The exhibition will consist of eight panels explaining Vera’s life and her inner biography, each of which will be accompanied by a work of art created either by Ilaria herself or by other young artists Adriano A. Manzo, Noemi Tiranti, and Francesco Poddu.
In this way, the biographical account of the Servant of God is intertwined both with an in-depth study of the Eucharistic charism that strongly marked her – to the point of becoming, in the Church, the spokesperson for the Work of the Living Tabernacles – and with the language of the figurative arts that express Vera’s same passion for God and for the world, through their own style.
On 29 January, at the end of the Eucharistic Celebration presided over by Fr Marcoccio, in the presence of other Salesians, including the Postulator General Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, Lodovica Maria Zanet, collaborator of the Postulation, will introduce the figure of Vera and the exhibition.
This will be followed, again in the Basilica, by a dance performance entitled ‘Sacri Cuori Viventi’ (Living Sacred Hearts), by Sonia Nifosi’s company.
Sonia, a member of the National Academy of Neoclassical and Contemporary Dance in Rome (https://www.sonianifosi.it/biografia/), a ‘choreographer, scriptwriter, screenwriter and portraitist’ who has ‘studied and worked with master choreographers from all over the world’ and has also performed in the Sala Nervi in the Vatican, discovered the figure of Vera Grita and felt a deep connection to her, allowing herself to be challenged and moved by her testimony. She thus chose to dedicate a show to her, born out of an experience of faith and service and the desire to share it with others, to give praise to God.
Inspired by the image of the ‘Living Tabernacle’ with which Jesus helps Vera understand how those who receive him in Communion then become his ‘tabernacle’, communicating his Eucharistic Love to every brother and sister, Sonia Nifosi and her group will use dance to express the image of the ‘Living Sacred Hearts’ in which our own hearts become the dwelling place of the Eucharistic and merciful Heart of Jesus, and missionary hearts on the roads of the world.
For those present, retracing the exhibition can be a journey of discovery or rediscovery of faith, since the last panel – perhaps the most precious – will explain a ‘mandate’ for anyone who, through these initiatives (thanks to Vera, a humble instrument), has encountered a Jesus who desires to be welcomed and ‘brought’ into our lives, to everyone, beginning with families.
Everyone is invited: Salesians of Don Bosco and Daughters of Mary Help of Christians; other members of the Salesian Family; many young people; anyone who, perhaps waiting for a train, or in the frenzy of the capital’s rhythms, or marked by poverty and existential wounds, finds themselves crossing the threshold of the Basilica, allowing themselves to be surprised by a Living Jesus and friend, who gives himself completely and asks only to be made part of our daily lives, which are so desired, irreplaceable and precious to him.
