07 Works, Today, July 6th, is the Saint Maria Goretti's day, her story in art #187

Vivian Imbruglia

St. Maria Goretti

Icon Print

11 x 14

Private collection

Vivian Imbruglia is an iconographer from Rancho Cucamonga, CA. She has been writing icons since 2005, having completed nearly one hundred works Her original icons can be found in homes, churches, convents, and monasteries, as well as the Vatican. She also has prints made of all the originals.

Vivian discovered iconography had a profound impact on her faith walk, both in her practice of prayer but also in her learning. Each image begins with research, reading biographies and studying devotions. 


Icons are said to be “written” rather than painted, because it is the purpose of the icon to convey the word of God. Vivian’s mission, therefore, is to help others on their faith walks by giving them sacred images to meditate on. More on Vivian Imbruglia

Maria Goretti was born on October 16, 1890 in Corinaldo, in the Province of Ancona, then in the Kingdom of Italy, to Luigi Goretti and Assunta Carlini.

Giuseppe Brovelli-Soffredini

Maria Goretti, c. 1929

Oil on Canvas

Unknown location, "building of Divine Providence"

Giuseppe Brovelli Soffredini was born in Nettuno on August 18, 1867. He dedicates all his activity as a writer and painter almost exclusively to the landscapes, traditions and events involving Neptune. He first painted the effigy of S. Maria Goretti, above, based on the testimonies of people who knew her and on some photographs of the sisters of the Martyr.

Giuseppe tried to solicit the interest of fellow citizens for history, customs, traditions, famous monuments. He tried to fix images on canvas, to leave at least a memory, or rather a warning not to make the great traditions of the past fall into oblivion. Unfortunately with his death and especially with that of his brother Pietrantonio Brovelli Soffredini the entire cultural heritage of books, documents and paintings dissolves into almost general indifference.

Some pieces of his artistic life, revealed by the continuous research that we are carrying out on the character, say that he probably perfected with a well-known painter what at the beginning could only be his natural talent. A first interesting note we get from a data published by Don Vincenzo Cerri, namely the participation of the painter Andrea Monti of Genzano and two of his children in the restoration of the Collegiate Church of Neptune carried out in 1867. More on Giuseppe Brovelli Soffredini

By the time Maria was five, her family had become so poor that they were forced to give up their farm, move, and work for other farmers. In 1896, they moved to Colle Gianturco, near Paliano and Frosinone, with another family which included Giovanni Serenelli and his son, Alessandro. Soon, her father became very sick with malaria, and died when she was just nine. 

Unknown photographer

St. Maria Goretti with her family, 1902

I have no further description of this artwork at this time

While her mother and siblings worked in the fields, she would cook, sew, watch Teresa, and keep the house clean.

Unknown artist

 Alessandro grabs her violently by the arm and drags her into the kitchen

I have no further description of this artwork at this time

On July 5, 1902, eleven-year-old Maria was sitting on the outside steps of her home, sewing. Knowing she would be alone, Alessandro Serenelli returned to the house and threatened to stab her with an awl if she did not do what he said; he was intending to rape her. She would not submit, however, protesting that what he wanted to do was a mortal sin and warning him that he would go to Hell. She fought desperately and kept screaming, He first choked her, but when she insisted she would rather die than submit to him, he stabbed her eleven times. She tried to reach the door, but he stopped her by stabbing her three more times before running away.

I have no further description of this artwork at this time

When Assunta and Giovanni came to check on her, they found Maria on the floor bleeding and took her to the nearest hospital in Nettuno. She underwent surgery without anesthesia, but her injuries were beyond the doctors' help. Halfway through the surgery, she woke up. The pharmacist said to her, "Maria, think of me in Paradise." She looked at him and said, "Well, who knows, which of us is going to be there first?" "You, Maria," he replied. "Then I will gladly think of you," she said. She also expressed concern for her mother's welfare. The following day, 24 hours after the attack, having expressed forgiveness for Alessandro and stating that she wanted to have him in Heaven with her, she died of her injuries. More on Maria Goretti

From Genina's very successful film "Cielo sul palude", the scene of the arrest of Alessandro Serenelli, dragged towards the Carabinieri barracks, in the silent hostility of a dismayed crowd.

Assunta Goretti, the mother of St. Maria Goretti, prays at her daughter's canonization Mass in 1950.

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and 365 Saints, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

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