ONE OF A KIND, FATHER LOUIE HAD THE PATIENCE OF A SAINT
Father Louis M. Solcia, the associate pastor at Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Little Italy, was a kind and gentle soul, and he had the patience of a saint. He was a good listener and truly cared about what people said and was always compassionate and understanding. He was truly one of a kind!
I believe because of his personality many Italian families who didn’t even live near Little Italy came back to worship at Our Lady of the Rosary. Especially when he gave the noon mass once a month in Italian. My mother-in-law Cristina Busalacchi enjoyed going because Italian was her first language, and she could understand the mass.
My mother Madeline Crisci, who is 93, is still a parishioner and attends the annual spaghetti dinner and the Our Lady of the Rosary guild meetings. My grandmother Pauline Gumina also worshiped there and was a very active society member, too.
For our family and many others, the church is part of the fabric of the Italian community in Little Italy. And Father Louie was a big part of that.
I think because Father Louie was Italian, the community just gravitated to him more easily. They understood each other culturally and spiritually and, best of all, he spoke their language!
The church has many societies — groups of devoted parishioners — that operate within it to promote good work, and the priests are invited and attend all events (when they can). Most of the societies are tied to the little fishing towns that parishioners emigrated from Sicily and Italy, and our church allows them to continue their traditions. My husband Frank and I belong to the Addolorata Society, the Madonna Del Lume Society, the St. Joseph Society and the St. Thomas Aquinas Society. I am a member of the Our Lady of the Rosary Guild and my husband is a member of the Sons of Fishmongers Club. Many parishioners are or came from fishing families.
We live in San Carlos, but growing up every Sunday our four boys went to Our Lady of the Rosary in Little Italy for religious instruction. Father Louie also gave the 9 a.m. children’s mass. He told stories about his sisters and family growing up in Italy so the children could relate to the fact that he was once a kid, too. The children loved it. And at the end of the mass, he would always say, “Kids, may God bless you real good!”
When Father Louie was in better heath, he would walk over to India Street and break bread with some of the other priests. Once he became ill, he would call my husband Frank at our restaurant in Little Italy and order pasta and desert. His caretakers would come over and pick it up for him. We saw him less after a wonderful parishioner by the name of Tina Farace who had lost her husband devoted herself to cooking traditional Italian meals for Father Louie and the other priests at the church.
Father Louie had a special way of connecting with people. He was the people’s priest. One Sunday after mass, Father Louie asked my son Sal why he looked so sad. Sal told him that his young friend, Scott Delgadillo, had leukemia and was at Rady Children’s Hospital. He said Scott’s family was looking for a priest to bless the child. Father Louie went over to the hospital, and Scott’s mother was so appreciative and grateful. She couldn’t believe that Father Louie took the time to come see her son whom he had never met. Sadly, Scott passed away, but my son never forgot the kindness and compassion that Father
Louie bestowed on his young friend and his family.
Another time, my brother-in-law Joe Busalacchi, who was very good friends with then-Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, took him to mass on a Sunday before a ballgame. Joe took him to the 9 a.m. children’s mass at Our Lady of the Rosary. Father Louie presided over that mass where he took sometimes difficult theology and simplified it for the kids. Father Louie spotted Tommy in the church that day and at the end of the mass asked him to come up and say a few words to the kids. Tommy told the kids to “Play fair, strive to win, but most of all, always do your best!”
Generations later, my grandchildren are in catechism classes this year at Our Lady of the Rosary, and my grandson Nicholas will be receiving his First Communion in in May. All my children knew Father Louie.
Father Louie loved the church and his community.
He was a constant light for my family, my children and grandchildren, and to me that is what’s most important.
He is already dearly missed.
I think because Father Louie was Italian, the community just gravitated to him more easily. They understood each other culturally and spiritually and, best of all, he spoke their language!
Busalacchi is a retired administrative coordinator at San Diego State University who co-owns Nonna + Zucchero and Barbusa restaurants in Little Italy with her husband Frank and brother-in-law Joe Busalacchi. She is a parishioner at Our Lady of the Rosary Church and lives in San Carlos.