book chapter

Celebration, conflict & reconciliation at Saint Anthony's

melting pot and beyond: italian americans in the year 2000: proceedings of the xviii annual conference of the american italian historical association held at the biltmore plaza hotel, providence, rhode island, november 7-9, 1985 • Staten Island, New York • Published In 1987 • Pages: 249-258

By: Caro, Edythe Quinn.

Abstract

This the story of the rise and fall of an ethnic parish. It reveals the importance of the FESTA, the annual part-secular, part-sacred celebration surrounding a saint's birthday, in the makeup of Italian-American identity and community. It also discloses the conflict between Italian and Irish Catholics over control of church ritual. Silver Lake is a hill community north of New York City, which in the 1920s was three-quarters Italian-American. In 1922 the New York Archdiocese established a mission church in the town in response to the evangelical success of the local Baptist chapel. The Mission offered the sermon, gospel, and announcements in Italian and also began to celebrate the feast day of Saint Anthony with a festa, which became more elaborate over time. Unfortunately in 1952 the Archdiocese assigned to the Mission a Catholic Irish priest who immediately ceased the Italian liturgy and festival. This led to dissent in the community and in the 1970s the Mission revived a more modest festival and an Italian-language mass.

HRAF PubDate

2000

Region

North America

Sub Region

Regional, Ethnic and Diaspora Cultures

Document Type

book chapter

Evaluation

Creator Type

Indigenous Person

Document Rating

4: Excellent Secondary Data

5: Excellent Primary Data

Analyst

Ian Skoggard ;1999

Field Date

1982-1985

Coverage Date

1922-1952

Coverage Place

Silver Lake, N.Y., United States

Notes

Edythe Quinn Caro

Includes bibliographical references (p. 258)

LCCN

87022170

LCSH

Italian Americans