Photo of the Week: Detail of the Portal of the Basilica di Santa Trofimena in Minori

Detail of the portal of the Basilica di Santa Trofimena, Minori, Salerno
Photo by New York Scugnizzo

Via Crucis – The Way of the Cross 2017

Bensonhurst’s Good Friday Procession of the Dead Christ

Statues of the Madonna Addolorata (Our Lady of Sorrows)
and the Dead Christ adorned with flowers

Carrying crosses and reciting prayers, nearly two thousand (predominantly Italian) Catholics marched through the streets of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, yesterday in the annual candlelight procession honoring Good Friday. 

Led by the Most Reverend Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, parishioners from Saint Athanasius, Saint Dominic, Regina Pacis, Saints Simon and Jude, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Saint Finbar, Saint Mary Mother of Jesus, Saint Bernadette and Saint Frances Cabrini took part in this hallowed tradition. They were joined by members from the Italian-American Apostolate, the Knights of Columbus, the Santa Fortunata Society, the St. Rocco Society of Potenza and the Associazione Culturale Pugliese Figli Maria SS. Addolorata, among others. 

Rotating between the churches, this year Saint Frances Cabrini Church (35 Bay 11th St.) had the honor of hosting the Benediction and prayer service. Bishop DiMarzio concluded the outdoor ceremony in English and Italian.

The Knights of Columbus served as Honor Guard for Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio

Devotees carry the statue of the Dead Christ through the neighborhood

Red Mike Festival Band

Members of the St. Frances Cabrini Society of Brooklyn

Members of Gruppo Italiano Sant'Atanasio (G.I.S.A.)

Members of the Associazione Culturale Pugliese Figli Maria SS. Addolorata

Members of the Holy Name Society of Saint Bernadette

Members of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church

Members of St. Dominic's Church

Members of Santa Rosalia Regina Pacis

Members of the Italian-American Apostolate of St. Mary, Mother of Jesus

Thousands gather outside St. Frances Cabrini Church for the prayer service

(L.) A look at the restored statue of the Madonna Addolorata
(R.) and the Sacred Heart of Mary

The faithful filed past the statue of Christ to venerate our Lord and Savior
Photos by New York Scugnizzo

Holy Thursday — Mass of the Lord's Supper, Church Visitation and The Altar of Repose

Earlier in the day, my friends and I delivered thirteen sepulcru to Rev. Msgr. Thomas Caserta, Pastor of the Shrine Church of St. Bernadette in Dyker Heights

After evening Mass at the Shrine Church of Saint Bernadette in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn last night, I joined my friends on their customary pilgrimage to Saint Francis Cabrini Church in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn and Saint Finbar Church in Bath Beach, Brooklyn for the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.*

Each church had its own beautifully decorated Altar of Repose, which represents the Holy Sepulcher, or Christ’s tomb. We lit a few candles, made our donations and said our prayers at all of them. My friends also made the traditional southern Italian offering of potted wheat sprouts grown in the dark. Called sepulcru, the pallid plants symbolize life born in darkness and the Resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday.

The Altar of Repose at the Shrine Church of Saint Bernadette

After "the watching," when the Eucharist is processed to the altar of repose, hundreds of parishioners lined up to light candles and say their prayers

The Altar of Repose at Saint Francis Cabrini Church in Bensonhurst 

Pietà inside St. Francis Cabrini Church

The Altar of Repose at Saint Finbar Church in Bath Beach

* For many the visitation of three churches on Holy Thursday has become the norm, however it was originally suppose to be seven, to correspond with the seven stops Jesus made on his way to Calvary.

Venerdì Santo (Good Friday)

Ecce Homo

"Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

On behalf of everyone at Il Regno, I want to wish all of our readers a blessed Good Friday. 

In commemoration, I’m posting a Good Friday Prayer. The accompanying photo of Ecce Homo ("Behold the man") by Antonello da Messina (Sicilian, c. 1425–1479) was taken at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Good Friday Prayer

O Jesus, Who by reason of Thy burning love for us hast willed to be crucified and to shed Thy Most Precious Blood for the redemption and salvation of our souls, look down upon us here gathered together in remembrance of Thy most sorrowful Passion and Death, fully trusting in Thy mercy; cleanse us from sin by Thy grace, sanctify our toil, give unto us and unto all those who are dear to us our daily bread, sweeten our sufferings, bless our families, and to the nations so sorely afflicted, grant Thy peace, which is the only true peace, so that by obeying Thy commandments we may come at last to the glory of heaven. Amen.

Giovedì Santo (Holy Thursday)

Holy Thursday is the memorial of Christ’s Last Supper, when He established the Sacrament of Holy Communion and the institution of the priesthood. In celebration, I'm posting a prayer for Holy Thursday. The accompanying photos of sepolcri (lavureddi in Sicilian), potted wheat sprouts divested of their color, were taken in a friend’s basement. Traditionally in Southern Italy, people would grow wheat or legumes (lentils) in the dark to deprive them of their pigment. Symbolizing death, rebirth and heralding the Resurrection on Easter Sunday, the pale plants (sometimes decorated with silk ribbons and spring flowers) are brought to church on Holy Thursday and placed around the Altar of Repose, which represents the Holy Sepulcher or tomb of Our Lord.

Holy Thursday Prayer

O Lord Jesus, in order that the merits of your sacrifice on the Cross might be applied to every soul of all time, you willed that it should be renewed upon the altar. At the Last Supper, you said: 

"Do this in remembrance of me."

By these words you gave your apostles and their successors the power to consecrate and to the command to do what you yourself did. I believe that the Mass is both a sacrifice and a memorial- reenacting your passion, death and resurrection. Help me to realize that the Mass is the greatest gift of God to us and our greatest gift to God. Amen

A Prayer for the Church Bombing Victims in Egypt

Sant'Atanasio il Grande

Icon at St. Athanasius, Brooklyn

Photo by New York Scugnizzo

Our Heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the victims and families of the Palm Sunday terror attacks in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt. May Saint Mark, Saint George and Saint Athanasius of Alexandria watch over you.

Prayer for Victims of Terrorism

Loving God, welcome into your arms the victims of violence and terrorism. Comfort their families and all who grieve for them. Help us in our fear and uncertainty, and bless us with the knowledge that we are secure in your love. Strengthen all those who work for peace, and may the peace the world cannot give reign in our hearts. Amen.

Also see:
• A Prayer for Stockholm
• A Prayer for St. Petersburg
• A Prayer for Westminster
• A Prayer for Berlin
• Requiescat in Pace: Fr. Jacques Hamel
• A Prayer for Nice
• A Prayer for Brussels
• Solidarité

Photo of the Week: Votive Terracotta Figurines, Paestum National Archaeological Museum

Votive terracotta figurines on display at the The Paestum National Archaeological Museum, Salerno. Photo by New York Scugnizzo

Observing the Friday of Sorrows at Most Precious Blood Church in Little Italy, New York

Evviva Maria!

Photos by New York Scugnizzo and John Cordi

Members of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George joined about 40 pilgrims at Most Precious Blood Church (113 Baxter St.) in Little Italy, New York Friday evening to celebrate the Friday of Sorrows, dedicated to Maria Santissima Addolorata (Our Lady of Sorrows), before the start of Holy Week.

Prior to Mass, confessions were heard by Fr. Christopher Salvatori SAC, Parochial Vica at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in East Harlem, New York.

A new 1962 Missale Romanum, with insert for American Feast Days, was donated to the Church by the Order. Blessed in the sacristy by the Very Rev. Msgr. Cav. Joseph Ambrosio, Pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Newark, New Jersey and Chaplain of the Order, the exquisite Altar Missal was offered in memory of Jean Napoli.

Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form was sung by Celebrant and Homilist Msgr. Ambrosio, Deacon Fr. Salvatori and Subdeacon Teddy Thongratnachat. They were dutifully assisted by MC Lorenzo Tinio, thurifer Manny Albino, crucifer Cav. John Napoli and candle bearers Brian Mcguire and Mathew Wise. 

The Ordinary of the Mass and motets performed by David Adam Smith, Art Manabat and the rest of the schola were absolutely magnificent. It's always a blessing to hear them sing.

Led by our esteemed Delegate HE Cav. John M. Viola, Vice-Chancellor Cav. Patrick O’Boyle, Cavalieri Thomas Crane, Joseph Sciame, Anthony Schembri, Charles Sant'Elia and Vincent Gangone were in Attendance.

Mass concluded with the veneration of the True Cross.

Thank you Msgr. Donald Sakano, Pastor of the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, Bill Russo, John Amerise, Eddie, Emily and the rest of the Parish staff for your continued warmth and hospitality. It is an honor and a privilege to celebrate our faith and culture with you at Most Precious Blood. Evviva Maria!

After Mass, the Knights are joined by Annamaria and Salvatore Argenio
 visiting from Napoli for a commemorative photo

The new split leather 1962 Missale Romanum with gold stamping & gilt edges

Our friend Michael kindly lent us his statue of Our Lady of Sorrows for the Mass  

(L) The Altar Crucifix is veiled for Passiontide
(R) An icon from Jerusalem was placed at the foot of the dead Christ 

A Prayer for Stockholm

King Erik IX of Sweden

Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and families of the April 7th terror attack in Stockholm, Sweden. May Saint Bridget, Saint Lucy and Saint Erik the Lawgiver protect and watch over you.

Prayer for Victims of Terrorism

Loving God, welcome into your arms the victims of violence and terrorism. Comfort their families and all who grieve for them. Help us in our fear and uncertainty, and bless us with the knowledge that we are secure in your love. Strengthen all those who work for peace, and may the peace the world cannot give reign in our hearts. Amen.

Also see:
• A Prayer for St. Petersburg
• A Prayer for Westminster
• A Prayer for Berlin
• Requiescat in Pace: Fr. Jacques Hamel
• A Prayer for Nice
• A Prayer for Brussels
• Solidarité

The Search for our Ancestry (XXXV)

AncestryDNA Revisited

By Angelo Coniglio

Several years ago, for about $100, I purchased a test kit for autosomal DNA analysis by Ancestry.com DNA (AncestryDNA). After sending in a sample of my saliva, I received a message from AncestryDNA saying that ‘not enough genetic material’ was found in it, and they would send another kit. After that sample, and then a third, could not be interpreted by AncestryDNA, I asked for and received a refund. 

Then I purchased a test from the venue 23andMe, which was successful in extracting my ‘genetic material’. I previously reported those results, with which I was satisfied.  I know from my ‘paper genealogy’ research of Sicilian records of  birth, marriage and death, that my ancestry back six generations to the mid-1700’s is pure Sicilian, with all my ancestors back to that time from just two Sicilian towns, Serradifalco and Marianopoli. 23andMe showed an expected distribution of my ethnic/geographic ancestry, with clear displays and diagrams and easy procedures for contacting other 23andMe participants who share portions of my ‘genome’ (that is, other users whose DNA shows they are related to me at some level).

Though my previous AncestryDNA tests had failed, I am still a subscriber to Ancestry.com for access to its genealogical records. Several months after my AncestryDNA test failures, while logged onto Ancestry.com, I received a ‘pop-up’ message that said I had previously had AncestryDNA tests that had failed, and they offered to send me a free test kit for a free re-analysis.

The price was right.  I agreed, and I received a new test kit in a week. I again followed the directions: spit about a tablespoonful of saliva into a plastic tube, seal the tube, shake it to release a preservative, then place it in a pre-paid mailer and return it to Ancestry.com (Ancestry). I then registered the kit number on line with Ancestry, and was advised to wait ‘six to eight weeks’ for results.  In only four weeks, I received an e-mail saying that my results were ready. Here’s a brief comparison of the two venues.

DNA testing alone can’t give you a family tree of your direct ancestors, regardless whether the venue is 23andMe, AncestryDNA, or any other service.  It can’t give ‘names and dates’, but it can give a broad picture of where your ancestors lived at some time in the distant past. I found that AncestryDNA and 23andMe results were roughly comparable:

23andMe says that its estimates are for the period ‘before the widespread migrations of the past few hundred years’. Ancestry.DNA says its estimates reflect your genetic ancestry ‘thousands of years ago’.

To extend knowledge of your family tree and find names of ancestors you may not have been aware of, it’s necessary that others who have compiled that information have also had their DNA tested by the same venue. Then you can identify ‘DNA matches’ (i. e. relatives), contact them privately through the testing service, and compare their ‘paper genealogy’ to yours. 23andMe allows users to submit a ‘profile’ that gives the important surnames in their heritage, and the names of ancestral towns. From a list of ‘relatives’, I can select those that have surnames or towns in common with me, ask them to ‘share genomes’, and see a ‘chromosome map’ or bar chart of the portions of each of my 23 chromosomes that theirs match exactly. I can then communicate with them (if they care to respond) to share family tree information, allowing expansion of our ‘paper’ family trees. 

Ancestry.DNA gives a list of ‘relatives’ and the degree of the estimated relationship, but no chromosome map.  Users may ‘attach’ their DNA results to their Ancestry family trees, so that information on surnames and ancestral towns entered in their public trees is viewable. For this reason, and because AncestryDNA has more than twice the number of participants as 23andMe, I prefer AncestryDNA. Many relatives who have not ‘attached’ their DNA still have viewable family trees.  Ancestry DNA has features called ‘DNA Circles’ and ‘Shared Ancestor Hints’ which identify participants whose DNA matches yours and whose trees have common ancestors with yours. The venue has recently added ‘Genetic Communities’ which identify your ethnicity with a finer stroke, for example ‘Sicilians’ rather than the broader ‘Italians’.

Coniglio is the author of the book The Lady of the Wheel, inspired by his Sicilian research.  Order the paperback or the Kindle version at http://bit.ly/SicilianStory Coniglio’s web page at http://bit.ly/AFCGen has helpul hints on genealogic research.  If you have genealogy questions, or would like him to lecture to your club or group, e-mail him at genealogytips@aol.com

Feast of San Vincenzo Ferreri

O' Munacone

April 5th is the Feast of San Vincenzo Ferreri, Dominican Friar and Miracle Worker. He is the patron saint of builders and one of the 52 co-patrons of Naples. In celebration, we're posting a Prayer to Saint Vincent Ferrer. The accompanying photo of the winged saint, known as the "Apocalyptic Angel" for his fiery sermons, was taken at St. Francis of Paola Church (219 Conselyea St.) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The Statue depicts San Vincenzo with flames above his head, symbolizing his divine gift of tongues. San Vincenzo Ferreri, ora pro nobis.

Prayer to St. Vincent Ferrer

O almighty and eternal God, you bountifully enriched St. Vincent Ferrer, your holy servant, with many graces and merits, and through his intercession have given a return to health to so many sick and infirm. Grant, we beg you, that by following his example and aided by his prayers, we may obtain the grace to despise the things of this world and to look to those of heaven, and thus be cleansed of our sinfulness. Grant that through his powerful aid we may be freed from all evils of body and soul. Amen.

A Prayer for St. Petersburg

Russian Byzantine Catholic icon
Photo by New York Scugnizzo

Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and families of the April 3rd terror attack in St. Petersburg, Russia. May Blessed Xenia, Saint Peter and Saint Andrew protect and watch over you.

Prayer for Victims of Terrorism

Loving God, welcome into your arms the victims of violence and terrorism. Comfort their families and all who grieve for them. Help us in our fear and uncertainty, and bless us with the knowledge that we are secure in your love. Strengthen all those who work for peace, and may the peace the world cannot give reign in our hearts. Amen.

Also see:
• A Prayer for Westminster
• A Prayer for Berlin
• Requiescat in Pace: Fr. Jacques Hamel
• A Prayer for Nice
• A Prayer for Brussels
• Solidarité

Revelers Pig-Out at the Annual Sagra Del Maiale (Pig Festival) in Hoboken, New Jersey

Carmine, Andrew, Marco and John enjoying the festivities
Photos by New York Scugnizzo

My friends and I hogged it up Saturday night at the Monte San Giacomo Club’s Annual Sagra del Maiale (Pig Festival) at the Hoboken Catholic Academy (555 7th St.) in Hoboken, New Jersey. Joining over two hundred other guests, we were treated to an array of delectable pork delicacies, including a phenomenal stuffed pork tenderloin and melt-in-your-mouth spareribs. 

While I enjoyed everything, hands down the star of the show was the whole roasted pig. Perfectly cooked, the meat was succulent and the skin was crispy. With a side of polenta, green peas and a couple of glasses of Fortissimo, it was absolutely delicious.

After dinner, revelers worked off the meal on the dance floor, while the kids enjoyed a raucous magic show and some playful face painting.

Many thanks to President Carmine Percontino and all the members of the Monte San Giacomo Club for your warmth and hospitality. We greatly appreciate your hard work and dedication to our community. It was an honor and a privilege to celebrate our culture together and be a part of this wonderful tradition. Evviva San Giacomo!

Chefs Franco Spina and Ralph Accetta working hard in the kitchen 

Guests enjoy a "little" antipasti before the main course

Franco presents the mouthwatering whole roasted pig

Over two hundred revelers packed into the gymnasium for the charity dinner

Servers piled the pork delicacies high on my plate

Carmine and Marco dance the tarantella

(Above and below) After dinner, partygoers trip the light fantastic

Feast of Santa Fara (Burgundofara)

Santa Fara, ora pro nobis

April 3rd is the Feast of Santa Fara (also Burgundofara or Fare), Virgin and Abbess. Patroness of Cinisi, a town and commune in the Province of Palermo, Sicily, she is invoked by those suffering from eye ailments. She is also venerated on December 7th. In celebration, we're posting an invocation by Prof. Plinio Correa de Oliveira (1908-1995), Brazillian intellectual and Catholic activist.*

"We ask [Santa Fara] to imbue our souls not only with nostalgia for that past era of faith, but above all with a hope for this future. An ardent hope should inspire us to do everything that we can to accelerate this future so that the Reign of Mary will come as soon as possible. Making penance for our faults, maintaining our desire for a complete victory for Our Lady, and completely rejecting the present day abominations in the Church and society are the backdrop for this prayer. By our suffering, work, fight, and dedication, by the risks we are willing to face, we should help in the restoration of Christendom and the implantation of her glorious Reign.  

"Let us ask St. Fara to confirm us in these sentiments on her feast day."

The accompanying photo of Santa Fara was taken at Saint Athanasius Church in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Evviva Santa Fara!

* Quoted from "St. Fara, April 3" by Prof. Plinio Correa de Oliveira at traditioninaction.org

Photo of the Week: Metope showing Herakles Slaying the Giant Alcyoneus, Paestum

Metope showing Herakles Slaying the giant Alcyoneus, Paestum National Archaeological Museum, Salerno. Photo by New York Scugnizzo