The Good Priest
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Recently, we learned of yet another sexual abuse scandal involving "predator priests" in a widespread case within the state of Pennsylvania. This time there may be as many as 1,000 children who were molested and hundreds of priests involved plus the usual cover-up. It's times like these when I'm forced to remember my childhood and my Catholic beginnings. My parish was that of St Anthony in Somerville MA. That Church was located in the eastern part of the city, which you might say, has always been an immigrant community.
Saint Anthony's Church in Somerville MA
(You can see a bit of the school behind the Church.)
What is Unique about this parish is that it was established before there was money for a Church or the convent and school which would follow later. In the late 1890's the Catholic Church found the need to provide a parish for the increasing number of Italian immigrants in east Somerville. In 1914, shortly after his arrival from Italy, the Reverend Nazareno Properzi was named Pastor. So there was a Pastor, yet no parish. However, this was no ordinary Priest, nor ordinary man. He rented a store and said his first Mass there in 1915. All monies raised went to the funding of a Church. A year later was able to purchase an empty lot on Vine street in Somerville and construction soon began on a Church. A year after that, the first Mass was celebrated in the lower portion of the building. There were eventually two levels in which a Mass could be celebrated. Those first Masses were performed in Italian.
"On February 4, 1918, Rose Maria Gnecco and Charles Ponzi stood before the marble tabernacle inside the basement sanctuary of Saint Anthony's Church on Vine Street, in the heart of Somerville's Italian district. As rays of winter sunlight angled through ground-level stained-glass windows, the Reverend Nazareno Properzi pronounced them husband and wife" .....from the book "Ponzi's Scheme"
In 1945 the Reverend Nazareno Properzi would perform the wedding ceremony for my parents. In 1952 he would baptize me into the Catholic Religion. By 1957 the parish was able to build a school. I was enrolled into one of the first classes. The classes were taught by nuns who lived in the convent and even had the luxury of a station wagon at their disposal. As for the good Reverend, he seldom used it, usually he walked to where he needed to be. I recall only one time that he used the station wagon. That was when I was sick with what turned out to be scarlet fever and he drove me home from school (I lived in the western part of the city) and placed me in the care of my grandmother who was always home. Although concerned about my condition, my grandmother was a little excited to see him since she hadn't been able to attend Mass in a few years.
Attending to the needs of the people of the Parish was always priority one with the good Reverend. As time went on there were other priests as well as the nuns to help with the Parish duties. The new priests would say the Mass in English. (By that I mean those portions that required another language. The Mass was still primarily said in Latin). However, there was a 10:30 AM Mass that was still performed in Italian and that is the Mass that was still performed by the good Reverend.
I was only 8 years old when he died, but I still vaguely remember him. I don't think there is a photo of him anywhere. He had a very small build and wore thick glasses, but he was a giant that is fading from memory along with his original Parish members. Vine Street was long ago renamed Properzi Way. It's times like these that I like to remember him.
As for the Church, that too has changed. For those who don't live in MA, there is a very large Brazilian population residing in the state and it is they who have become the new immigrant population of east Somerville. Today the Parish, once built by immigrants, supports and serves another group of immigrants.
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