L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D ear Readers, Nov- ember begins with "All Saints Day." S i n c e t h i s f e a s t , w h i c h h a s i t s b e g i n n i n g s i n t h e C h r i s t i a n churches of the fifth and sixth centuries, celebrates all those saints, canonized or not, who e n j o y t h e h a p p i n e s s o f t h e K i n g d o m o f H e a v e n , l e t u s c e l e b r a t e a l l r e l a t i v e s a n d friends, who once enriched our lives and of whom it was said "era una santa" or "santo. *** All Souls Day is on Novem- ber 2nd. The early Christians, l i k e t h e i r p a g a n a n c e s t o r s , remembered their dead on cer- tain days of the year. The pre- sent date for our yearly com- memoration of the dead was established in the tenth century. *** Father Efrem Trettel, OFM left us in January 2017. Francis- can Father Efrem Trettel, is best remembered for his television Masses on Apostolato Radio Christiana which he personally created and produced for 43 years. He was 96 years old and served 77 years professed and 73 years ordained. A t t h e s e r v i c e s s p e a k e r s from the Trentini nel Mondo Association stated: "We partici- pate with sadness and emotion at the sorrow for the death of Father Efrem. An extraordinary person. Father's artistic talents are almost too numerous to count. He wrote music, the life of St. Francis and many other books of prose and poetry. He loved to paint and take photographs. He enjoyed playing the piano, vio- lin and accordion and always entertained at every luncheon. Many members supported ARC financially to keep his programs o n t h e a i r a n d a r e a l l r i c h l y rewarded. Fr. Efrem was a friend and confident to hundreds in the I t a l i a n C o m m u n i t y f o r o v e r sixty years and will remain in out memory always. *** Fr. Larry Lorenzoni, S.D.B. left us peacefully the night of Sept. 5, 2017, while asleep. For the past several years he had been suffering with a weak- ened heart and was under the care of his cardiologist. He was born May 12, 1923 in Marosti- ca, a quaint, medieval walled city where for centuries, during even numbered years, the world famous living chess game is re- e n a c t e d o n t h e g i a n t m a r b l e chessboard of Piazza Castello. In 1939, in the United States, he joined the Salesians of St. John Bosco, did his undergradu- ate philosophical studies in New Jersey and his theological stud- i e s i n C a l i f o r n i a . H e w a s ordained a priest June 17, 1951. A s a S a l e s i a n p r i e s t , h e taught in several schools of Cal- ifornia. He had an advanced d e g r e e i n m a t h f r o m N o t r e Dame University, 1966-1971, and was Director of Documen- tation for Caritas Internationalis in Rome, Italy from 1985 to 1990. Upon completion of his Vati- can service Father Larry was honored by Pope John Paul II with the Pro Ecclesia et Pontif- ice medal ("for the Church and for the Pontiff"). His heart was always in San Francisco. Whether teaching in Illinois, assigned in Rome, or visiting in Venice, he always returned to the Bay Area. *** F a t h e r L a r r y w a s t h e Catholic priest most often men- tioned by the late Herb Caen in his San Francisco Chronicle col- umn. Here are some samples: *** GOOD FRIDAY SIGHTEM: Father Larry Lorenzoni handing out ballpoint pens that display his favorite saying:"Work for the Lord. The pay isn't much but the retirement plan is out of this world." *** Father Larry Lorenzoni, late of the Salesian order here and now a big wheel at the Vatican, is sending local friends photos o f h i m s e l f w i t h t h e p o p e , inscribed: "The pope is the one i n w h i t e . " W h y i s t h e p o p e laughing? Because the irrepress- ible Larry had just said to him "After 46 years in the USA, I have been condemned to the V a t i c a n " t o w h i c h t h e p o p e replied: "Me too." *** CAENECDOTAGE: Murphy Sabatino, cbm. of the Casa Ital- iana fundraising project at U. of Santa Clara, went to Rome to meet with Father Larry Loren- zoni, the ex-S.F. priest who is now a wheel in the Vatican's worldwide charity operations. As they were talking business, Larry signed, "I'm so homesick f o r S a n F r a n c i s c o f o o d ! " s o Murphy did the next best thing: he took Larry to the Nanchino, a Chinese restaurant near the Vat- ican... *** S a l e s i a n F r . L o r e n z o n i ' s passing reminds me that back in the late 1800's the American Bishops had what they called an "Italian Problem." It seems that in 1880, only 44,000 Italian immigrants lived in the the United States howev- er, as the nineteenth century drew to a close by 1900, that number had risen tenfold, to m o r e t h a t 4 8 4 , 0 0 0 . W i t h i n another decade, it would multi- ply yet again to 2.1 million. The bishops problem, however, had less to do with numbers that it did with the fact that most Ital- ians spoke little to no English and came to America proclaim- ing the anti-clerical opinions that dominated late-nineteenth- c e n t u r y I t a l y . F e w a t t e n d e d church, and crime and poverty plagued their neighborhoods. The American clergy, largely made up of Irish-Americans, were confounded. They simply didn't know how to reach Italian Catholics. But they knew some- one who did. As early as 1884, American bishops began plead- ing with Father John Bosco to s e n d S a l e s i a n p r i e s t s t o t h e United States. Bosco's order had m a d e t r e m e n d o u s p r o g r e s s w o r k i n g w i t h d i s a d v a n t a g e d young people in Italy. and the American bishops trusted the Salesians would make similar progress in New York, Boston, a n d S a n F r a n c i s c o . B o s c o believed the same. He just didn't have priests to spare, and asked the bishop to wait. Eight years later, On November 23, 1896, his order signed a contract with Archbishop Patrick Riordan to send four Salesians to San Fran- cis co . Th e p r ies ts ar r iv ed in early 1897. They did not receive a warm welcome. Instead, as the S a l e s i a n s w a l e d t h r o u g h t h e streets, Italian children threw rocks at them. While the Sale- sians slept, grown men defaced t h e i r c h u r c h e s a n d n a i l e d obscene cartoons to the parish's doors. When they offered Mass, fewer than 10 people came. History repeated itself two years later, when more Salesians arrived in New York. But in both cities, the order persevered and, in due course, thrived. By 1920, the Salesians had flourish- ing parishes and schools in most major American metropolitan c e n t e r . A n d t h e b i s h o p s n o longer had "an Italian problem."

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