L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 20 L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2018 LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D ear Readers, Ameri- canizing of Italian names is my focus for the month of M ay becaus e of Mother's Day (May 13th this year). After the baby is born, and sometimes long before, picking out a name for the little new- comer is often one of the first parental decisions. In years gone by it was easy, the first bambina or bambino was named after the paternal grand parents the second after the maternal side. For example, my tw o girls w ere named Angelina and Caterina, the old- est being named after her pater- nal nonna. Now, this worked well if everybody  was on board, however, if there were hostilities with the maternal in laws, the new mother would often say she wanted to select an American name and not budge or go with the old fashioned system, no matter if she bore one bambina or a dozen. As to the original source of names, back in "the old coun- try," it was the saints' calendar, where every day was dedicated to a specific saint. So in May for example, a bambina born on the 24th might be named Joanna (Giovanna), the female form of John. A bambino born May 26th, Philip (Filippo). In August you could have bambini named Lorenzo (St. Lawrence's Day, August 10th), Assunta or Maria (Assumption of the Virgin Mary, August 15th) In some cases, the babies were named after the town's patron saint. For example, back in the days, when people had ice boxes (no refrigerators) the Bari, Italy emigrants in New York City seemed to have a monopoly on carrying the ice blocks up the stairs in summer and the coal downstairs to the cellars in win- ter. Since the patron saint of Bari was San Nicola, chances were good your ice man's name was Nick. Americanization or changing of Italian names into American equivalents was done at Ellis Island or other ports of entry and much of it happened in schools or workplaces. Since Italian names were hard to pronounce to those unfamiliar with the lan- guage, they were often disrup- tive in the clas s room, w hen pupils laughed at the strange sounding names. Italians were normally named after saints or religious events s uch as Eas ter (P as quale), Christmas (Natale), Annuncia- tion (Annunziato), Epiphany (Epifania) and Rosary (Rosario). It was common to have both a feminine version and a mascu- line version of a name normally noted by "o" for masculine and "a" for feminine. Many names had no English counterpart so more American sounding names were chosen, often the names had little or nothing to do with the original name. My father Vincenzo became Jimmy in New York and his "peasano" Pasquale became Patsy. Some of the translations that became common were Rosario - Ross or Sal for Salvatore and a Biagio became Ben. *** Altruism on the part of Mag- gie and Reg Green continues to benefit young people throughout Italy. Their story and charitable deed should never be forgotten, so others will be encouraged to emulate their actions for many years to come. A s you may recall, Americans Reg Green and his wife Maggie held no grudge against the people of Italy for the tragic loss of their son Nicholas 7 and even gave the second grad- er' s organs to s even Italians whose lives were transformed. Now a monument to Nicholas stands in his hometown Bodega Bay, California, adorned by bells given by the people of Italy ... including one that was blessed by the Pope. "When Nicholas died, he lit a s park of love in millions of hearts - and that love still lives on." The astonishing saga began on Sept. 29, 1994 when Reg, his w ife M aggie then 35, their daughter Eleanor, then 5, and Nicholas were vacationing in southern Italy. Reg was behind the wheel of their car when two masked men pulled up alongside on a high- way and ordered him to pull over. Fearing for his family, Reg tried to race aw ay - but the maker men fired and blasted out several windows in Reg's car. It wasn't until Reg sped 10 miles down the read an saw a police car that he stopped and learned the heartbreaking truth - Nicholas had been shot in the head in the backseat. He lay in a coma for two days before he died. Reg and Maggie were dev- astated. But they immediately decided to donate the boy' s organs for transplant. "Nicholas had lost his future. It seemed important to us that it could be given to others" said Reg. Reg and Maggie had a tearful meeting with all the recipients and their families.  *** St. Pio of Pietralcina was born Francesco Forgone in the Italian village of Pietralcina on May 25, 1887. His parents, Giuseppa and Grazio Forgione, were peasant farmers. At the age of 15 he entered the novitiate of the Capuchin F rancis can F riars and w as ordained a priest in 1910. On S eptember 7, 1910, w hile at prayer in Piana Romana, where his family's farmhouse was locat- ed, he received the invisible stig- mata. On September 20, 1918, w hile praying in the F riary Chapel in San Giovanni Roton- do, Padre Pio received the visible stigmata, the five wounds of Christ: a wound on his left side, and bleeding w ounds in his hands and feet, which he bore for fifty years. Padre Pio was also blessed by God with the gifts of discern- ment of spirits, prophecy, heal- ing, bilocation A mong P adre P io' s mos t important works is a hospital, La Casa Sollievo Della Sofferenza, the Home for the Relief of Suf- fering, dedicated in 1956. This was Padre Pio's dream come true. It is situated on the moun- tain in San Giovanni Rotondo, next to O ur Lady of G race Church and Friary. He died September 23, 1968 and was canonized a Saint by J ohn P aul II J une 16, 2002, which is a rather fast track in the Catholic Church. The Cause for Beatification opened in 1969 and was enthusiastically promoted by thousands of Americans who had personally met him. In fact even the canonized Saint ceremony was presided over by Pope john Paul II, who himself once turned to Padre Pio s eeking a cure for an ailing friend. Pio was raised to sainthood on Sunday, June 2002 in Rome, to the cheers of some 200,000 pil- grims sweltering in the square as temperatures neared 100 degrees.

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