By Chris Parker
Gloucester Daily Times, 
Gloucester, MA 
March 19, 2002
 
 
 
 
 

Gripping her rosary beads in her hands, Tonianne Piscitello, 11, prayed with 
ease as she looked up from her crossed-legged position to the 4-foot statue 
of St. Joseph before her.

City spotlight

The statue of St. Joseph, the patron saint of orphans and foster father to 
Jesus Christ, sat atop a 14-foot tall altar in a room entirely devoted to the 
saint at the Ferrante family's home at 11 1/2 Proctor St.

Piscitello joined a half dozen other people Thursday night to say the rosary 
and sing hymns to honor the saint as part of a local religious tradition that 
began nine days ago with the prayers and ends today with a celebration that 
will take place in homes throughout the city.

"It took forever to learn the rosary," said Piscitello, a fifth-grader at 
Fuller Elementary School, "and sometimes you feel my Nonni in the air."

Piscitello's Nonni, or grandmother, Margaret Giacalone, who died when 
Piscitello was in kindergarten, was one of a core group of devout Italian 
women who brought the tradition of honoring St. Joseph to Gloucester from 
their homes in Sicily.

It is one of the holiest days in the Sicilian community and is a day for 
families, friends and complete strangers to feast and pray together to St. 
Joseph.

For many, today is a day of thanksgiving for pleas answered and a chance to 
ask the saint for help with problems such as illness, for world peace and the 
safety of families.

This year, with the local fishing fleet's future in question following new 
regulations, many are petitioning the saint for the success and safety of 
fishermen at sea.

In her first novena, the traditional nine days of prayer, Margaret Giacalone 
prayed to St. Joseph to help her son Gaspar, 7, through a period of 
convulsions doctors couldn't explain.

When he recovered, Giacalone promised to keep an altar with fresh flowers 
each year to honor St. Joseph.

And she did, until her death in February 1997, a month shy of her 50th-year 
celebration.

Her children and grandchildren are now keeping Giacalone's promise.

Giacalone's daughter, Frances Ferrante, 54, said her mother's dying wish was 
for her to continue the tradition.

"She looked at me and she pointed to me and said, ~'You do St. Joseph,'" 
Ferrante said.

The family did better than simply carry on. They constructed a 
cathedral-like, arched addition to their home, specifically for St. Joseph 
with a permanent altar in honor of the saint.

It took about a year and a half for Joseph Ferrante, Frances' husband, to 
build the $10,000 room, and the family started holding novenas at their home 
last year.

The Ferrantes recently purchased the 4-foot tall statue of St. Joseph that 
replaced a 32-inch statue Margaret owned.

"He'd get lost in there, so we got the statue that was 4 feet so it would 
stand out," said Margaret's granddaughter, Ann-Margaret Ferrante, 29.

The St. Joseph statue stands on the top of the three-tiered altar and is 
holding Jesus in one arm and a stalk of lilies in the other.

It is surrounded by yellow, pink, purple and white flowers as well as a 
statue of Mary, a number of saint figurines, angels, candles and lights. A 
navy blue satin cape covers the base front.

Next to the altar is a photograph of Margaret in front of an equally 
impressive altar she designed.

The Ferrantes' altar will be admired today as they open their doors to 
friends and neighbors for the traditional feast that follows the novena.

Meals typically consist of homemade spaghetti and sauce and may also include 
fish, scallops, shrimp, calamari, salad and zeppoli, an oversized strawberry
or cherry creme puff, for dessert.

Before the cooking begins, priests visit different houses to bless the flour 
to be used in the pasta. Legend has it that once blessed, the food and fruit 
won't spoil.

Many believe the open-door feast around the city recalls St. Joseph's pursuit 
of feeding the poor and orphaned.

Each guest is given three gifts before he or she leaves -- a small loaf of 
bread, representing life, an orange for the sweetness of life and a lemon to 
represent for the bitterness of life.

Yesterday, the Ferrantes gave out the bread, oranges and lemons following a 
rosary and altar blessing by Rev. Timothy Harrison of St. Ann Church.

Today, the family's altar room will hold two large tables with a cornucopia 
of food as the Ferrantes host a crowd for the St. Joseph's Day feast that 
drew 200 last year.

"Sometimes it's so crowded, I have to stay out in the other room," said 
Tonianne.

The Ferrantes said that a number of people in the community offered them food 
for the feast.

One fisherman, despite having not caught much fish in the past year, donated 
two huge buckets worth and said he figured St. Joseph really wanted the fish. 
A New Bedford resident donated 40 pounds of scallops.

"It has been unreal this year," said Frances.

The first night of the novena drew 35 people and Tonianne has been at the 
Ferrantes' every night since.

Vito Piscitello, Tonianne's father, said he's celebrated St. Joseph's novena 
for all of his 41 years.

"It's more of a hand-me-down tradition," he said, adding there are about 30 
altars in the city.

Around the city, other groups have been gathering for the past nine days.

At Katie Fontana's home at 71 Washington St., about 15 older women gathered 
to sing songs and reminisce on past histories of celebrating St. Joseph's 
novena.

Across the street, Katie's sister, Antoinette, 79, and her husband, Gus 
Piscitello, 81, have a slightly smaller altar, but have it up year-round in 
their living room.

Particularly powerful this year was a Mass held at 26-year-old Gus 
MacIntosh's home on Summer Street Saturday night. It was a ceremony in memory 
of Gus' cousin, Jimmy Sanfilippo, 36, who died aboard the fishing boat Starbound 
last summer.

The Rev. Eugene Alves from Our Lady of Good Voyage Church said Mass in the 
house with about 50 local residents, some of whom had been at other novenas in
the city.

Alves can't help but notice a difference in the feast that has meant so much 
to Gloucester's Sicilian community. "Things are different today," he said. 
"They don't do it like they used to."

Some agree, saying the tradition of St. Joseph is fading.

Joseph Virgilio of Virgilio's Italian Bakery said the store used to take 
orders of 6,000 to 7,000 bread rolls, but now it's a tenth of that at between 
700 and 1,000.

Virgilio, 58, said about 80 percent of the families that celebrated don't 
anymore because their children have moved out of the area and some of the 
strongholds have passed away.

"I don't think it's dying," he said, but added while older generations 
continue the celebration, only a handful of children are continuing the 
tradition.

"It's something that's been instilled in us all our lives," he said. "It's a 
tradition that's been going on in the family."

While there are some signs the tradition is passing, there are also many 
reminders that St. Joseph's celebration is still very much alive.

During Mass at St. Ann Church on Sunday, a group of junior high students 
performed a skit titled "St. Joseph, this is your life."

A male playing St. Joseph was seated and nearly 20 of his friends shook his 
hand in a light ceremony that received the congregation's applause.

"I don't think Joseph had it so good," said Harrison, smiling.

Ann-Margaret Ferrante said that even today, she can feel the presence of her 
grandmother around St. Joseph's Day.

"She had such a love for God and such a belief in him all of us got her love 
of Him and her undoubting, unquestionable belief there is a God," she said. 
"You can know when she's around. You can't hear it, you can't see it, you 
can't touch it, but you know it's there."