The Old Ways and the Holy Ways: Part 4

Finding My Roots Through Sicilian Folk Catholicism

A SEVEN-PART SERIES

Part IV

The Sacred in Everyday Life

Folk Catholicism engages the senses, making faith something experienced through sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. Incense during prayer, candlelight before an image of Mary or a saint, rosary beads moving through your fingers, bells during Mass, flowers before sacred images, and foods prepared for feast days all bring faith into everyday life (Classen, 1993; Orsi, 1985). For me, faith has a smell, a sound, textures, colors, tastes, and physical objects connected to memory.

Sacred Objects

Religious objects were an important part of everyday Catholic life in many Sicilian and Italian immigrant families. Rosaries, saint cards, medals, candles, crucifixes, and blessed palms were kept in homes or carried by family members.

The rosary was especially connected to home prayer and devotion to Mary. Families could pray the rosary together, and the beads themselves became familiar objects of Catholic life, held during prayer and passed through families.

For immigrants, these objects also provided a connection to the religious traditions they had known in Italy. Robert Orsi’s research on Italian Catholics in New York shows how rosaries, crucifixes, images of Mary, and candles were part of religious life in the home (Orsi, 1985). The people who carried these traditions to America had their own stories of migration, separation, and family, including people connected to my own family history.

Canonici (2014) describes the story of Rosa Colotta Restivo, a Cefalù woman who left her husband in Sicily in 1912 to travel to America with her three unmarried daughters and join her other children who had already settled there (p. 215). Her youngest daughter later married into the Greenwood branch of our family (pp. 215–216).

A crucifix belonging to my grandma Fran and my late grandpa Phil Correro, displayed in her home with blessed palm leaves saved from Palm Sunday.

The Catholic Home

In many Italian and Sicilian families, Catholic practices continued at home as well as at church. Prayer, religious objects, and family traditions were part of everyday life (Orsi, 1985).

Sicilian and Italian immigrants brought these customs with them to the United States, where they became part of Italian American and Sicilian American family life.

Some traditions were simple. Sicilian children were taught prayers to say before going to sleep. One traditional Sicilian bedtime prayer describes four angels surrounding the bed, with two at the feet, two at the head, and Saint Michael in the middle (Martinengo-Cesaresco, 1886).

Sicilian:

Nta stu lettu mi vaju a cuccari, Cu quattru angili unni a attruvari: Dui a li pedi e dui a capizzu, E ’mmezzu c’è San Micheli Arcagnulu.

Standard Italian:

In questo letto mi vado a coricare, Con quattro angeli che devo trovare: Due ai piedi e due al capezzale, E in mezzo c’è San Michele Arcangelo.

English:

In this bed I go to lay me down, With four angels to find there: Two at the feet and two at the head, And in the middle is Saint Michael the Archangel.

The Sign of the Cross was also part of everyday life outside church. Making the Sign of the Cross when passing a Catholic church is a long-standing Catholic custom, particularly associated with Italy. It has also been associated with passing cemeteries or seeing an ambulance or fire engine, as a brief prayer for those in need (Doyle, 2014).

My Aunt Lucy, my dad Andy Correro, and my Aunt Sally praying together before bed in Hampton, South Carolina, circa 1965, shortly after Grandpa Philip Oliver Correro left the Marine Corps.

Food, Devotion, and Community

Food is another part of Sicilian Catholic tradition.

The Saint Joseph’s Table, or Tavola di San Giuseppe, became especially important among Sicilian immigrants in Louisiana. On March 19, families and Catholic churches create altars decorated with breads, pastries, seafood, fruits, vegetables, candles, religious objects, and remembrances of the deceased. The celebrations often conclude with a communal meal (Juneau, 2021; Lafayette Travel, n.d.).

From the 1870s through the 1920s, more than 300,000 Italians, primarily Sicilians, immigrated to Louisiana, many traveling directly from Palermo to New Orleans. Sicilian immigrants worked as farmers, introduced crops such as tomatoes, garlic, artichokes, and fava beans, and formed social and benevolent organizations often centered around the Catholic Church (Lafayette Travel, n.d.).

A Sicilian St. Joseph’s Altar in Louisiana, featuring traditional foods and religious objects. Photo courtesy of Lafayette Travel.

One of the things I especially love about the St. Joseph’s Table tradition is the bread. Sicilian families make special breads for the altar in shapes connected to Saint Joseph, the Holy Family, and Catholic symbolism. Some are shaped like crosses, ladders, staffs, saws, hammers, sandals, fish, or other religious symbols. The bread becomes part of the altar itself (Juneau, 2021; Louisiana Folklife Program, n.d.).

Some of these breads are also given to visitors. In parts of Louisiana, pieces of St. Joseph bread have traditionally been taken home and kept as a blessing or protection. One tradition involves saving the bread and, during a storm, throwing a small piece outside while praying for the storm to pass (Louisiana Folklife Program, n.d.).

A St. Joseph’s Altar featuring the Holy Family at the former Mater Dolorosa Church in Independence, Louisiana. Photo courtesy of the Louisiana Folklife Program.

Christmas Eve had its own food traditions. La Vigilia refers to the Christmas Eve observance and meal, which traditionally involved abstaining from meat and preparing fish and other seafood. Foods varied by region and family. In New Orleans, these traditions continued among Italian and Sicilian American families. One Sicilian American woman interviewed by the Clarion Herald described attending Midnight Mass and then going to her grandparents’ home near St. John the Baptist Church for a Christmas Eve meal (Bordelon, n.d.).

The “Feast of the Seven Fishes” is one version of this broader Italian American tradition. I didn’t grow up hearing about the Seven Fishes, which I found interesting when I started learning more about Italian and Sicilian traditions.

Christmas Traditions

Across Sicilian and Italian Catholic communities, Christmas celebrations blended church traditions with family meals, nativity scenes, religious images, and household customs surrounding the birth of Christ (Orsi, 1985).

In my own family, attending Christmas Eve Mass was a cornerstone of our holiday. We went to Mass at St. William Catholic Church in Millington, Tennessee, near where my grandparents, aunt, and cousins lived. I remember the dark church, the candles, and everyone gathered together. I remember my Aunt Lucy singing with the choir and all of us children sitting at the priest’s feet to listen to a children’s version of the Christmas story.

After Mass, I remember staring out the window on the way to my grandparents’ house, watching the Christmas lights blur past and dreaming about Santa.

One of the most special parts was a letter from Santa with muddy reindeer hoof prints stamped onto it. Years later, I learned it was actually my grandpa Phil. He was an incredible calligrapher and had taken the reindeer decoration from the front door, dipped it in dirt, and pressed it onto the page.

The Presepe

The presepe, or nativity scene, holds an important place in Italian Catholic tradition. Inspired in part by the nativity tradition associated with Saint Francis of Assisi in the thirteenth century, nativity scenes allowed families to create a physical representation of the Christmas story in their homes (Butler et al., 1995).

In many Italian communities, including Sicily, these displays incorporated familiar landscapes, village scenes, and everyday occupations alongside the Holy Family (Orsi, 1985).

In my own family, this tradition has continued beyond Christmas. Several of my relatives keep their nativity scenes displayed throughout the year.

A traditional Italian presepe, or nativity scene

Food as Cultural Memory

Sicilian food traditions developed around the island’s Mediterranean climate and agriculture, including citrus fruits, almonds, nuts, dried fruits, honey, and pastries. Sicily’s cuisine also reflects the many cultures that influenced the island over centuries (Norwich, 1989; Simeti, 1989).

One of my favorite Christmas memories is finding an orange and nuts in my stocking every year. At the time, I never thought about why those foods were there.

As I’ve learned more about Italian traditions, I’ve found a possible connection. In Italy, La Befana visits children on the night of January 5 and traditionally leaves sweets, fruit, and other treats in their stockings or shoes. The specific foods vary by region (Italia.it, n.d.).

I don’t know if the orange and nuts in my stocking came from an Italian tradition, something my grandparents started, or something else entirely. I may never know.

Sicily’s long tradition of citrus makes me wonder if there was a connection.

My pink Murano glass murrina rosary, personalized by my grandma, Fran Correro. Made in Italy.

________

A Note on Sources

Because this essay is presented as a seven-part series, the complete reference list for sources cited throughout all seven parts will be included at the end of Part VII: Between the Old Ways and the Holy Ways.