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''I ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS (f IN THE ARCHIVES I II> OF THE APOSTOLIC '"- I a: 0( DELEGATION OF THE ! z °1 ! UNITED STATES U II> SCALAB1'IINI !,AI?) l / By Claudio De Dominicis Occasional Papers: Pastoral Series 12 BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR Claudio De Dominicis, born in Rome in 1956, is presently employed by the Secret Vatican Archives. Having received his degree as an archivist from the Scuola Vaticana in 1978, he worked for the historical section of the archives and with the Social Communications Office in Rome Vicariate, the Vatican Radio, and other Catholic agencies. Made a counsellor of the Ecclesiastical Archival Association in 1984, he was involved in the organization of archives of various entities and gave courses in historical-genealogical research. He was also involved in preparing the indexes and inventories of archival sources and has written articles of a journalistic nature for "Avvenire" and "L'Osservatore Romano" and of an historical nature for "Bollettino dell'unione storia e Arte," "Archivio della Societa Romana di Storia Patria," and others, soon to be published in the "Enciclopedia Italiana" and in the "Gruppi Archeologici d'Italia." ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS IN THE ARCHIYES OF THE APOSTOLIC DELEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS 1:-\ THE ARCHIYES OF THE APOSTOLIC DELEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES CIa udio De Dominicis 1992 Center for Migration Studies New York The Center for Migration Studies is an educational nonprofit institutefounded in New York in 1964, committed to encour age and facilitate the study of sociodemographic, economic, political, historical, legislative and pastoral aspects of human migration and refugee movements. The opinions expressed in this work are those of the author. ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS IN TIlE ARCHIVES OF THE APOSTOLIC DELEGAnON OF THE UNITED STATES Pastoral Series: Occasional Paper #12 Copyright © 1992 by The Center for Migration Studies of New York, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this monograph may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. The Center for Migration Studies of New York, Inc. 209 Flagg Place Staten Island, New York 10304 ISBN 0-934733-55-4 Printed in the United States of America CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION 7 II. INVENTO RY ... 9 Sez. I - Delegazione Apostolica 9 Sez. II-StatiUniti 9 Sez. \'JI - Isole Filippine 9 Sez. IX - Diocesi . 9 r\lbany, NY 9 Alton,IL .. , 10 Altoona, PA . 10 Baltimore, MD 10 Boston, MA . 10 Brooklyn, NY 10 Buff,'lo,:\Y . 11 Burlington. \'T 11 Che\'enne. CO 11 Chic,ISo, IL , . 11 Cincinnati,OH 12 Cle\'eland.OH 12 Culumbus,OH 12 D.lll"S. TX 13 Demer, CO 13 Dt'trCIit, ),[J , 13 Duluth, ),1:\ 13 Erie, PA. , , . .. 13 Fall Ri\'er, \1'\ 13 Fort \\'ayne, IN 13 Gal\eslon, TX . 14 Grand Rapids, MI 14 Great Falls, MT 14 Harrisburg, PA . 14 Hartford, CT .. 14 Helena, MT ... 14 Indianapolis, IN . 14 Kansas City, MO 14 La Crosse, WI .. 15 Leavenworth, KS 15 Little Rock, AR 15 Los Angeles, CA 15 Louisville, KY . 15 Marquette, MI . 15 Milwaukee, WI 15 Mobile, AL . 15 Monterey-Los Angeles, CA . 16 Nashville, TN . 16 Ni1tchez, MS . 16 New York, NY - (vecchia serie) 16 Nevv York, NY - (nuova serie) . 16 t\ewark, NJ . 17 f\'ew Orleans, LA . .. 18 J\Jorth Carolina e Belmont Abbey (North Carolina) 18 Oklahoma, OK . 18 Clmaha, NE . 18 Oregon City, OR . 18 Peoria,lL ..... 18 Philadelphia, PA 18 Pi ttsburgh, PA 19 Portland, ME 20 Providence, RI 20 Richmond, VA 20 Rochester, NY 20 Sacramento, CA . 20 St. Augustine, FL 20 St. Louis, MO 20 St. Paul, MN ... 21 Salt Lake, DT 21 San Antonio, TX 21 Santa Fe, I\M .. 21 San Francisco, CA 21 Scranton, PA . 21 Seattle, WA 22 Sioux Falls, SD 22 Spokane, WA 22 Springfield nel, MA 22 Superior, WI .. 22 Syracuse, NY 22 Trenton, NJ .. 23 Wheeling, WV . 23 Wichita, KA .. 23 Wilmington, DE 23 Sez. X - Diverse . 23 Sez. XII - Societa Segrete . 28 Sez. XlII - Societi'l . 28 Sez. XIV - Societil Cattoliche 29 Sez. XVI - Stravaganti ., 29 Sez. XIX - Istituti Religiosi 30 III. INDEX . 33 I. INTRODUCTION Pontificial representation in the United States of America was first established in Washington by His Holiness Leo XIII on January 21, 1893. It began at the level of delegation and depended first on the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fidei and then in 1910 on the Consistorial Congregation. Recently, in 1984, it was raised to the level of nunciature. The first delegate was His Excellency Francesco Satolli (1893--1896), titular archbishop of Lepanto. He was followed by His Excellency Sebastiano Martinelli (1896--1902), a member of the Hermits of St. A.ugustine and titular archbishop of Ephesus; His Excellency Diomede Falconio (1902--1912), a member of the Friars Minor and titular archbishop of Larissa; His Excellency Giovanni Bonzano (1912--1922), titular archbishop of Melitene; and others, all of whom later became cardinals. The delegates, with the exception of the one who ,vas in between 1973-1980, were all Italians. As a result, they often found themseh'es representing in the States, not only the religious and political interests of the Holy See, but also those of the Italian emigrants. \\'e discern from their acti ons that notwithstanding the repeated attempts on the part ofthe delegates to maintain an impartiality above all sort of nationalism, which has always gripped the Americas, the amount of material contained in the diplomatic archives in reference to Italy and the Italians surpasses that of any other nation, ThIS is due, apJrt from the strong migration phenomenon, to various factors such as the repercussion from the anticlericJl political events on the Italian peninsula which had effected a good number of Italian emigrants. It was also due to the dubious caliber of several members of the Italian clergy, especially from religious orders who were so to speak "unloaded" away from their homeland, Oftentimes, Italian emigrants, lay or ecclesiastical, reverted to the delegate as a form of appeal against the local bishop, either to seek financial advice, to ask for help, or to calumniate him. The historical archives of this representation, made up of 931 boxes, containing about 15,000 folders, was fom'arded to the Secret Vatican Archives in 1979. The inventory of these folders, compiled by me, main tains their original order; that is, using the same subdivision and classified progressively according to sections, The portfolios, which contain documents covering a span of time up to several decades, ha\'e been placed in chronological order from their opening dates. Notwithstanding the fact that material up to 1939 had to be sent to the Vatican archives, the folders contain many documents after that date up to the very year of their expedition (1979). The 22 sections that constitute the archive were catalogued in roman numerals, after being given a certain logical sequence. The first three are of an institutional and diplomatic nature in reference to the hosting nation (I - The Apostolic Delegation, II - The United States, III - The United Nations). Thefourth section regards the nomination of bishops for the dioceses of the United States (IV - Episcopal Lists). The fifth to the eighth sections refer to questions concerning foreign political matters (V - External Affairs, VI - Canada, VII - Philippine Islands, VIII - Mexico; this lastsection is subdivided in two because the second part consists of archival material accumulated by the other delegation). The ninth section concerns the internal affairs of various dioceses in the United States (IX - Dioceses; this one is subdi vided into 118 localities, placed in alphabetical order). The tenth and eleventh sections are of various topics (X - Different, XI - Varia). The sections between the twelfth and fourteenth contain material which deals with various organizations (XII - Secret Societies, XIII - Society, XIV - Catholic Societies). Sections fifteen to twenty-one contain topics which concern arguments of a particular nature (XV Greek Orientals, XVI - Eccentrics, XVII - The Catholic University, XVIII - Ruthenians, XIX - Religious Institutions, XX - Finances, XXI - The Pontifical College Josephinum). The twenty-second section includes a collection of documents of various kinds which have been put together (XXII - Accumulated Documents); it is not certain how sections X, XI, and XXII were put together, but while the first two have enumerated folders, as are all the other sections, the last is a result of a reorganization for which yearly folders have been established. When the material follows a regular sequence, the chronological extent in the folder is indicated by a hyphen (e,g., 1919-21). The lacunae are indicated instead by a virgula (e,g., 1919/1921). The archival -8 material is presently opened for consultation up to the death of His Holiness Benedict XV, which took place on January 22,1922. For all practical purposes, this would mean up until the end of 1921. If in the inventory a folder renders the last chronological extent after that date, upon request, only the part opened for consultation will be furnished to the researcher. The present inventory is limited to presenting the titles on the folders, from which referrals to the Italian immigrants can be found. Excluded, however, is everything that refers to persons and events which, even though Italian, are in the mother country, as long as they did not have repercussions in the community where the emigrants came from. Certainly, in the same archive, other material regarding the same subject can be found under the general title "Varia." Specific subjects, such as "Protestant Propaganda" and material from various sources such as "Christmas Greetings" are items which by their very nature have not been detectable from any inventory. To enter into a more detailed study, which researchers know only too well, would mean consulting the documents one by one.