Italian immigrants valued heritage amid assimilation

St. Michael School was built in 1940 during the period when the immigrant children were being more fully exposed to the influences of the secular education opportunities that were part of the American system. The ethnic parishes were encouraged to create local schools that were more aligned to those in their countries of origin, where there was less distinction between church and state.

The school on New Haven’s Green Street, a neo Art Decofronted building, was adjacent to the original parish center, St. Michael Hall. With space for eight classrooms, it was designed to accommodate children right through their entrance to high school. The school was a source of pride for the parish, and considered by some residents to be a worthy investment in their child’s future.

The religious sisters who taught there were housed in a convent across the street from the school. Their order, which was dedicated to the Sacred Heart and was founded to support the educational needs of Italian immigrants, was based in St. Louis, Mo. Many of those who taught at the school were from the Midwest, and many of the nuns who were deployed to schools in the east to work with the children of Italian immigrants were themselves the children of Italians who came to build better lives.

So both the school and the parish itself, staffed by the Scalabrini fathers, an order of missionary priests from Italy, were engaged in efforts to support those newly arrived as they both acclimated to and transitioned into a new social order. Some of the priests who were Italian-born were learning the nuances of life in a secular society. The curates assigned to assist the pastor generally were young men who were responsible for organizing youth activities and, together with the nuns, provided preparation for the reception of the sacraments of Holy Communion and confirmation. Confirmation, usually received around age 12, was a highly anticipated milestone. The young person was expected to select a sponsor or godparent who would thereafter be connected to the family in a special bond, as the comadre or compadre to the child. These connections were taken seriously and generally created lifelong relationships. The godparents were to be respected and visited on important holidays and given a place of honor at the godchild’s wedding.

These sacramental rituals were rites of passage and were a combination of the old world traditions with some local variations.

The girls wore white dresses with veils and the boys dark suits. The ceremony, usually held on a Saturday morning for First Communion or Sunday afternoon for confirmation, generally was accompanied by a visit to a local photography studio, such as Emidio De Cusati located on Wooster Street, and later on Grand Avenue, for a permanent record of the occasion. Mr. De Cusati would come to be recognized as one of the areas foremost art photographers with a retrospective of his work displayed at Southern Connecticut State College in the 1970s.

Later, at home, family would gather for a special celebratory rum cake from the pasticceria and some coffee and cordials. This cake was an iconic, symbolic connection to the familiar celebrations that everyone remembered. As much as an object can create a link to the past, this cake was it. Sponge layers filled with pastry cream and fruit and Amarena cherries, frosted with buttercream and slivered almonds scattered on the sides.

In both cases the recipient also would be looking forward to the monetary gifts which traditionally were offered by family and friends. For confirmation, the godparent’s traditional obligation was to gift the godchild with a wristwatch, a much anticipated sign of entering the adult world where keeping track of time was a necessity.

In the first two decades of the 20th century, we find evidence of the ascending trend of the firstgeneration residents’ efforts to infiltrate the competitive business community. Some of this is well chronicled in a volume called “La Colonia Italiana Di New Haven,” edited and printed by Antonio Canelli.

In Wooster Square and the Hill neighborhood, the ever-increasing number of local businesses that were positioning themselves to provide commodities from wholesale fruit and produce to Italian imports and plumbing and contracting services was on the rise. The industrious and intrepid nature of the men, in particular, propelled them into business ventures that they had not believed possible when arriving in the city just a short time earlier. The astounding number of services being offered to the Italian-American community by their countrymen was limited only by their own ingenuity and entrepreneurship. It wasn’t just the small shops the daily shopper frequented, but wholesale enterprises and large distributors that provided goods and materials to the retail merchants.

And the list of men who studied for and were accepted into the professions was quite noteworthy. Medical doctors who graduated from Yale and other prestigious universities and men who passed the bar into legal careers were, once again, outstanding accomplishments for the children of immigrants who spoke another language at home.

The dichotomy between the drive to succeed in an American social structure and the desire to celebrate their national identity was profound.

In the year 1921, there were more than 20 social and religious organizations in New Haven, all of which were dedicated to the preservation of the Italian heritage. Groups dedicated to numerous regional religious figures,or patroni, and clubs dedicated to the likes of Victorio Emanuele, Garabaldi, Columbus, and the Sons of Italy all were popular and important outlets for pride of heritage, and as opportunities for political and literary discussions. The oldest of these groups still in existence is Societa Maria Maddalena, founded in 1898.

We should appreciate the sheer magnitude of these accomplishments as evidence of the immigrants’ desire to make their mark in a sometimes hostile environment, in which a darker complexion or an accent were considered unfavorable characteristics by many.