By John J. Henry
The first significant settlement of Italian immigrants in Massachusetts, and subsequently in Revere, began to occur in the late 1890’s. Upon their arrival in Massachusetts, many Italian immigrants took residency in the tenement districts of Boston’s North End, West End and East Boston. After securing steady jobs and saving enough money many of the Italian immigrant families began to move out of Boston’s urban setting and into areas like Revere which were less congested where more suburban living space was plentiful. Revere was particularly attractive to the new arrivals inasmuch as it offered them houses accompanied with enough land to cultivate their own small backyard vegetable gardens as well as to plant their own fruit trees and grapevines. Revere was a place where Italian culture could survive in America-a place where an Italian ethic community could grow to become a vital sector of American society.
During the early 1900’s the Italian population of Revere had grown significantly enough that local records identified it as the fasting growing ethic group in the town. During those early years, nearly 60 percent of births in the Town of Revere were to foreign-born parents, the majority of whom, 18 percent, were of Italian decent, becoming one of the largest single immigrant groups in Revere at that time. Additionally, statistics from the early Federal census also show a heavy Italian out-migration from the North End, West End and East Boston into Revere.
Italian households in Massachusetts and in Revere were multigenerational during this era and were notably large, often averaging 12 residents. This came about as a combination of high birth rates and the common practice of “ chain migration” where extended family members or boarders from the same Italian village, immigrated to Revere, and shared the same household.
As the Italian population in Revere grew and Italian immigrant neighborhoods began to form, particularly in the Revere Street area, Italian commerce began to emerge providing a wide variety of Italian oriented goods and services.
The first generation of Italian immigrants to Revere faced and overcame many obstacles in their struggle to adjust to life in their new location. The one most difficult problem was the lack of an Italian-speaking church. By 1903 the need for an Italian Catholic priest to provide for the religious needs of the Italian community grew so great that the Italian residents of Revere banded together and petitioned the then Archbishop of Boston, John Williams, for a priest who could speak their language. In response to the petition from Revere’s Italian Catholics, Archbishop Williams in 1904 authorized the establishment of a mission church in Revere specifically to care for the religious needs of Revere’s Italian Catholics. The Archbishop designated a priest from the Sacred Heart Church in Boston’s North End to come to Revere to establish a mission for Revere’s Italian immigrants’ and to help establish an Italian-speaking church. By 1905 land was secured on Revere Street to build an Italian-speaking church under the name of Saint Anthony of Padua. In the spring of 1905 ground was broken for the building of the basement of the new red brick church on Revere Street, the present site of the Friendly Gardens Senior Citizen Housing building. During the construction of the new church a temporary chapel was established in a home located on the corner of Revere Street and Elmwood street where the first mass in the Italian language was celebrated in Revere by an Italian Catholic priest on August 27,1905.
On April 1, 1906 the basement of the first Italian Church in Revere was completed, consecrated and an Italian language Mass was celebrated before a throng of Revere’s Italian Catholics.
In August of 1910 Cardinal Williams installed Father Ernesto Rovai, a young priest, educated at the theological seminary near Florence Italy, as pastor of Saint Anthony’s church. Being the only Italian Catholic church outside of Boston, Saint Anthony’s was designated as an “Italian National Church” established for the purpose of attending to the spiritual welfare of Italian immigrants and their families. As pastor of the “Italian National Church”, Father Rovai was obligated to respond to the religious needs of Italian Catholics living in Revere as well as the nearby communities of Chelsea, Malden, Medford, Everett, Lynn, Saugus and Winthrop.
The large influx of Italians into Revere and the inadequate facilities of the original Saint Anthony’s small basement church necessitated the building of a new church, one larger and more spacious. Father Rovai embarked upon a program to construct a new church large enough to accommodate a parish population, which by 1920, was made up of ten thousand parishioners.
In the fall of 1923 Father Rovai entered into discussions with the Mayor and City Council of the City of Revere to acquire City owned land on Revere Street to build the new Saint Anthony’s Church. On November 19,1923 the City of Revere approved the sale of a parcel of land on Revere Street, to be conveyed to Saint Anthony’s Parish for the sum of twelve-thousand dollars in 1923 dollars (equivalent to two-hundred and twenty-two thousand in 2026 dollars.) Upon the purchase of the land for the new church and with thirty-eight thousand in 1923 dollars raised from Saint Anthony’s parishioners (equivalent to nearly seven-hundred and twenty-thousand in 2026 dollars) Father Rovai commissioned architect Edward Graham to design plans for the construction of the new church which Father Rovai stipulated be in the Italian Tuscan style reminiscent of the style of churches in Toscana, Italy. Mr. Graham estimated that the construction cost of the new church would be one hundred thousand in 1923 dollars (equivalent to nearly two million 2026 dollars.) Before construction of the new church could proceed Father Rovai first had to secure permission from the then Archbishop of Boston, William Cardinal O’Connell. The Cardinal advised Father Rovai in 1923 that the Archdiocese of Boston could not give permission for the construction of the new church that would cost one hundred thousand dollars until “ a goodly sum of money was on hand.” On August 16,1923 Father Rovai again wrote to the Cardinal stating, “in less than one year the parishioners of Saint Anthony’s parish had contributed fifty-one thousand in 1923 dollars (equivalent to nearly one million dollars in 2026 dollars) for the new church, and the raising of this huge sum had meant untold hardships for his parishioners who are poor people.” After a few months of deliberation the Cardinal granted permission to begin the construction of the new church on November 2, 1924. Finally, in 1925, the ground was consecrated and the foundation was laid for the new church of Saint Anthony of Padua, or as Cardinal O’Connell often referred to it in 1925 as, “ The Basilica on Revere Street.”
On June 6,1926 with more than two thousand people in attendance, Father Rovai celebrated the dedication of, “ The Basilica on Revere Street” as well as the silver jubilee of his ordination into the priesthood. The exterior of the church was completed at a cost of five hundred thousand in 1926 dollars (equivalent to nine million five-hundred thousand in 2026 dollars) far over the architect’s original estimate of one hundred thousand dollars.
Encumbered by a huge debt in excess of four hundred thousand in 1926 dollars (equivalent to seven million five-hundred thousand dollars in 2026 dollars) Father Rovai halted the completion of the interior of the church until the debt could be liquidated. Unfortunately, the Great Depression of 1929 brought such severe financial hardships that the parishioners of Saint Anthony’s church could no longer afford to give the generous donations that in the past had sustained the construction effort. Father Rovai would struggle hard in the coming years to try to chip away at the enormous debt, but would never see the easing of the parish’s financial woes. Though the parish was in serious debt during the 1930’s hope seemed to be just over the horizon, when Father Rovai, the beloved pastor whose dream made Saint Anthony’s church a reality, died on August 21,1943 after having served his parish for thirty-three years.
On October 3, 1943 Father Guido L. Pallotta was appointed as Administrator of Saint Anthony’s Parish, the largest Italian Catholic parish in Massachusetts. Father Pallotta immediately undertook the awesome task of liquidating the substantial debt that had been consolidated by Cardinal O’Connell, from four hundred thousand dollars to one hundred thousand dollars. In addition to Father Pallotta’s debt liquidation efforts, Father Pallotta undertook the restoration and completion of the church interior, which by that time, had not been completed for nearly twenty years. In 1943 Father Pallotta commissioned Architect, John Guarino to serve as church architectural renovator. In addition Father Pallotta retained Charles H. Pizzano an amazing sculptor to serve as church ecclesiastical sculptor. It was Mr. Pizzano, often referred to as the Michelangelo of Saint Anthony’s, who created most of the hand carved beautiful life-sized wooden statues and artwork that adorns the interior of the church to this day. (Mr. Pizzano’s father was the the contractor who built the original red brick church in 1905.) The beautiful interior of Saint Anthony’s Church is a lasting monument to the artistic collaboration efforts of Father Pallotta, John Guarino, Charles Pizzano and Carmine Carbone, who was responsible for church murals.
In July of 1951 Father Pallotta celebrated the silver jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood and in 1955 in recognition of his extraordinary abilities and genius in fulfilling his sacred and worldly responsibilities to Saint Anthony’s Parish, Father Pollatta was elevated by Pope Pius XII to the rank of domestic prelate, bearing the title of Right Reverend Monsignor. Monsignor Pallotta was the first Italian American to achieve the rank in the Archdiocese of Boston and the first Revere Pastor ever to receive that designation.
Monsignor Pallotta’s accomplishments as Pastor of Saint Anthony of Padua Church were many; among the most prominent of which was in eliminating the church debt; the raising of a substantial amount of money with which he improved all of the church grounds; the completion of the renovation and refurbishment of the massive interior of the church; and construction of a new church rectory and the reconstruction of a new church bell tower. Monsignor Pallotta amazingly completed Saint Anthony’s Church that justified what Cardinal O’Connell often referred to Saint Anthony’s Church as, “ The Basilica on Revere Street.”
John J. Henry served as City Clerk of the City of Revere for 32 years from 1977 to 2009. He has written numerous articles about Revere and its people.