By Adam Swift
The city council wants to ensure that the statue of Christopher Columbus located at St. Anthony’s Church at 250 Revere St. is nominated as a National Historic Landmark.
All 11 city councillors signed onto the motion last week that requests that the mayor ask state Representative Jeff Turco, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Historical Commission, to collaborate with the Archdiocese of Boston for the purpose of nominating the statue of Christopher Columbus located at 250 Revere Street as a National Historic Landmark.
The motion was initially introduced by Councillors Joanne McKenna, Angela Guarino-Sawaya, Anthony Cogliandro, and Paul Argenzio before all the councillors agreed to sign onto the motion.
The statue was initially sculpted and presented to the Archdiocese of Boston in 1892 by the Knights of Columbus. In 1925, Cardinal O’Connell gifted the statue in honor of the Italian residents of Revere and it was moved from Boston to the piazza in front of St. Anthony’s, McKenna said.
“My last name might be McKenna, but I am first generation Italian,” she said.
McKenna said her mother was 19 years old when her town in Italy was taken over by the German army and eventually bombed.
“My grandfather took my mother, my aunt, and my nonna to stay with a relative in Florence,” said McKenna. “From there, the bombing intensified into Florence. My grandfather, out after curfew, was taken by the Germans and put in a Polish concentration camp for three years to be used as slave labor.
“My grandmother, crossing a farm field to get milk and bread, stepped on a landmine and survived, but was in the hospital for over a year.”
McKenna said the bombs eventually destroyed her relative’s home in Florence and left her mother and aunt homeless. She said it wasn’t until the war was over and Florence liberated that her mother met her father.
“My mother came to this country with only a three-month-old baby, my brother Gilberto, which is Gilbert now, and landed on Ellis Island,” said McKenna. “For the longest time in this country, my mother was discriminated and not welcomed because she was Italian.”
McKenna said she spoke with leadership from St. Anthony’s about their concerns about the Columbus statue.
“Five years ago, an unnamed organization wanted to remove the station,” said McKenna. “The congregation never wanted to see this happen again.”
The statue has been on the church’s property for over a century and is a historical monument and landmark in the city, McKenna said.
“This is a tribute to my mother, and what the Italian immigrant people endured coming to the country endured to make a better life for themselves and their family,” McKenna said.
Guarino-Sawaya said that as a first-generation Italian-American, she sees the Columbus statue as an important part of the heritage for her and her family.
“I’m a proud second generation, Italian-American Cogliandro,” said Cogliandro. “Five years ago, there were threats to take that statue down, and now we’re here making it a landmark. This is a proud day and I am proud to be a part of it.”
Councillor-at-Large Anthony Zambuto spoke in support of the motion, noting that designating the statue as a landmark would ensure that the city’s heritage and history would not be erased.
Councillor-at-Large Michelle Kelley also spoke in support of the motion, stating that there is no doubt that the Columbus statue should be designated as a historical landmark.
