Memoir of Zi Prete—Bishop Edmund Dunne 1914 of his time at Holy Guardian Angel Italian Parish ca 1900 —below is a link to the full text. Beneath that link is the foreword and table of contents imperfectly scanned of one of the best accounts by a priest of the conditions among Chicago Italian Catholics circa 1900.
Bishop of Peoria 1909-1929
Edward M. Dunne, the second bishop of Peoria, was born into an Irish family that traced its history back to the 12th century.
From his early boyhood in Chicago, and all through his student years at Holy Name Parish, St. Ignatius College, Niagara University, and later in Belgium and in Rome, his training was always directed toward the priesthood.
And when, in September 1909, he was consecrated bishop of Peoria, succeeding Archbishop John Lancaster Spalding, there were those who said, “I could have told you so.”
His life, it has recorded, was a lesson in persistent endeavor. He worked in Chicago parishes and in the ethnic neighborhoods where his knowledge of Latin, English, Italian, Polish, modern Greek and French were valuable, and where his gift for music was recognized.
He gained many distinctions and a reputation for hard work, all of which served to influence Archbishop James E. Quigley of Chicago who chose him be chancellor of his diocese, a post he held until his appointment to Peoria.
Click for Full Text of Edmund M. Dunne”s Memoir of his time at Holy Guardian Angel Italian Church in Chicago
MEMOIRS OF ZI PRETE EDMUND M. DUNNE, D.D. Bishop of Peoria Copyright, 1914 FOREWORD The present booklet treats o£ a few doctrinal points unavoidably omitted in a former tract bearing the titíe of " Polemic Chat." When these Memoirs began to appear seríally in the .Peoria Cathedral Calendar, a friendly critic remarked : " The Bishop is utilizing his paro- chial experiences among the Italians ' to point a moral and adom a tale.'" Precisely. Our chief aim in the present chronology of events is >^ to instruct the people, "to preach the word in 0> season and out of season, reproving, entreating, rebuking in all patience and doctrine." Several anachronisms as well as changes in the names and occupations of the characters háve been purposely introduced, so that the ingenuity of even a Sherlock Holmes might be baffled should he attempt to identify them with certain individuals of the Italian colony. Some may deem Pasqualino too clever for his tender age. Unusquisque abundat sensu suo. Please consider, friendly or hostile reader, as the čase may be, that our youthful polemist had completed three years of classics with unusual success before encountering his adversary. The FOREWORD children of sunny Italy develop múch earlier than those of northern climes. Youthf ul prodi- gies bud f orth occasíonally in the realm of litera- túre, poetry, painting, music and mathematics. Why should they not blossom also in the field of polemics? Besides, were Pasqualino a youth of mediocre talent, his utterances would not be worth recording. At any rate it is úpon them and not úpon his personality that we wish to f ocus your attention. Pasqualino's father represents indeed no par- ticular individual, but rather the composite em- bodiment of reprehensible traits which Zi Pre' had ample occasion to reprove among the malé members of his flock. The exemplary Christian virtues of the mother háve not been overdrawn. The most elaboráte portrayal of maternal solici- tude and self-sacrifice falls, as a generál rule, immeasurably below the reality. The tactics of Evangelical zealots to wrest Italian children from the One True Fold, are melancholy facts familiar to the hundred or more Sunday School teachers of Guardian Angel Mission. The conversion of the proselytizer, his subsequent public reparation and edifying death are true in every detail. The Author. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I Italian Quarter I II Italian Customs 13 III Proselytizers 19 IV Pasquaulino 28 V Early Training 39 VI MlSNOMER FOR A SCHOOL 49 VII CONFIRMATION 6o VIII ScHooL Days 72 IX At THE Zoo 82 X PSEUDO REFORMERS ........ 92 XI UnITY 102 XII Sanctity 109 XIII Catholicity 118 XIV ArosTouaTY 125 XV ViSIBLE HeAD OP THE ChURCH .... I33 XVI Infalubility 143 XVII Veneration of Sacred I maces . . . .152 XVIII Veneration of Relics and Invocation of Saints 162 XIX Extréme Unction 171 XX Indulgences 178 XXI PURGATORY l8s XXII Immaculate Conception 194 XXIII The. Rosary 205 XXIV Fasting and Abstinence 212 XXV Christian Ethics 220 XXVI The Awakening 231 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRETE CHAPTER I ITALIAN QUARTER ON the south side of Forquer Street, Chi- cago, and nearly midway between Des- plaines and Halsted, there stands an unpreten- tious brick structure with a Romanesque faQade surmounted by a Roman cross. It is the Chiesa delľAngelo Custode. The mellow tints of sea and sky in the decoration of the interior f rom vestibule to sanctuary are unmistakably Italian. The stained-glass windows of St. Michael, St. Raphaely and of the Guardian Angel, carry the thoughts of the onlooker back to the basilicas of Rome and Florence and cause him to murmur the names of Italian masters. The statues of San Vito, Rocco, Lucia, and Sebastiano, recall vividly to mind those Christian martyrs espe- cially dear to the Italian heart, while Raphaeľs Madonna delia Sedia tenderly clasping her Di- M