GOOD FRIDAY ON COLLEGE STREET: URBAN SPACE AND CHANGING ITALIAN IDENTITY M. VIENNA PAOLANTONIO A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN HISTORY YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO September 2020 © M. Vienna Paolantonio, 2020 Abstract This dissertation examines the relationship between urban space and minority ethnic identity. It makes extensive use of oral testimony and a variety of archival documents including personal correspondence and photographs, parish records, and newspaper records to reveal the way postwar Italian immigrants utilized traditional religious practices to nurture and express a feeling of belonging in the Toronto neighbourhood known as Little Italy. The Processione di Cristo Morto (The Procession of the Dead Christ or PCM) on Good Friday was part of a larger approach to religious devotion which included public processions for patron saints embedded in the premigration lives of southern Italian immigrants who settled in the College Street neighbourhood. Immigrants brought with them the assumption that public space was an appropriate location for nurturing and expanding dense networks of information and support connected to leisure activity and devotional practices. Although use of neighbourhood space for leisure appears to be a gendered practice among Italian immigrants, during the PCM women occupied and directed the use of public space on a scale equal to men. I argue the PCM was unique in terms of its appeal to Italian immigrants from all regions of Italy and became an important symbolic vehicle for publicly expressing the evolution of personal and communal Italian identity from Italian “immigrant” to Italian-Canadian “ethnic” over two generations. Urban space is an appropriate category of analysis for understanding the ways immigrant/ethnic minorities develop feelings of belonging in a new city. Sidewalks, roads, neighbourhood businesses and churches are the most visible site of encounter and negotiation between immigrant newcomers and the settled population. In these places, which were ii simultaneously the most easily accessible and most difficult to avoid, relationships of power and marginality were revealed at the individual and community level. This dissertation identifies strategies of negotiation for access to urban space employed by Italians in Toronto included, but were not limited to, nurturing relationships with religious, civic and political authorities. The grassroots evolution of the PCM is an example of the way sensual experience, memory and emotion were located and expressed in urban space. This study argues these elements deserve scholarly attention. They were central to how Italians understood the degree to which they were welcome in different urban places and important for understanding why this highly visible processional practice known as the Processione di Cristo Morto was established in the College Street neighbourhood after migration and endured well beyond the immigrant generation. iii Dedication For my mother, Dora Paolantonio 1933-2019 iv Acknowledgments As a child I didn’t know anything about the annual College Street procession. Instead on Good Friday I walked alongside my mother in a procession which began inside our suburban church and travelled around the outdoor parking lot before re-entering the church. There were no statues or musical bands and our group never walked along a sidewalk or entered a road. It was a simple, quiet and unobtrusive devotional practice. For decades I walked with her because my mother asked me to do so. With great disappointment she eventually accepted that religious devotion was not an experience we would share. When my mother learned the topic of this dissertation her hope was that I would finally understand why she chose to walk, pray and sing in so many religious processions throughout her life. I think I finally do. I would like to thank the members of my committee. Professor Gabriele Scardellato first suggested the procession on Good Friday as a topic. His boundless patience and encouragement allowed me to meditate on the kind of scholarship I wanted to pursue. His advice was invaluable for getting me back on track when I was buried in interview transcriptions. It is difficult to describe all that I have learned from his compassionate mentorship, but certainly editing is at the top of the list. Roberto Perin’s questions and prodding challenged me to think more deeply about the connections to be drawn between various texts and provided much needed advice during the final editing process. I am also grateful to Carolyn Podruchny for her thoughtful comments on the final draft. I am indebted to the members of the Immigration Historians Group for their helpful commentary on various parts of this work. The supportive and congenial environment during monthly meetings provided fertile ground to explore emotion and sensuality as part of the v historical record. Many thanks to fellow graduate student Patrice Allen for her friendship and support. Our many conversations about historical method and theory were invaluable. This dissertation would have been impossible without the generosity of the various individuals who spent hours talking to me. Men and women shared stories about the things they did to found and grow the procession on Good Friday. But they also shared deeply personal and sometimes painful memories. I hope I have treated these revelations with the respect they deserve. In particular Giuseppe Simonetta and Rosario Iori supported the project by sharing their life stories and personal archives. Photographs, letters and official correspondence filled crucial gaps and provided much needed context. Both men also kindly offered encouragement and support which extended far beyond our formal interviews and not so gently implored me to “hurry up and finish.” I am indebted to Ricardo Aleixo, Sacristan of St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church who kindly allowed access to the St. Francis of Assisi Parish Archival Collection and shared his extensive knowledge of parish history and Italian processional life. Erin Bienert helped to guide me through the collection of the Archive of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto and responded with endless patience to numerous email requests. I am grateful to Alexander Tabascio for creating the maps in this study. His suggestions and creativity helped to produce maps which enhance the text. Finally I would like to thank my family. It has been an absolute pleasure to be on the receiving end of enthusiastic support and encouragement from my daughters Alessandra and Via. Their interest in the content of this study and the process of dissertation writing has delighted and sustained me during the last difficult phase of writing. For twenty five years my husband Marzio vi Pozzuoli has been my greatest cheerleader. He eagerly embraced my return to graduate school and has supported me in every imaginable way through classes, comprehensive exams and the writing of this dissertation. Pursuing this PhD has been joyful in large part because I have shared it with him. vii Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... viii List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. ix List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. x Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Methodology and Sources......................................................................................................... 4 Historiography .......................................................................................................................... 6 Theory ..................................................................................................................................... 14 Chapter Overviews.................................................................................................................. 16 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 21 Chapter 1: Italian National Parishes and Processional Practice .................................................... 23 Chapter 2: Patron Saints Take to the Streets in Little Italy ........................................................... 55 Chapter 3: Origins, Memory and Place: Narratives About Cristo Morto and College Street .... 100 Chapter 4: Organizing for Growth: Immigrants and Ethnics Working Together ....................... 132 Chapter 5: “The Biggest Procession of its Kind in North America” .......................................... 186 Concluding Thoughts .................................................................................................................