Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
On Jan. 14, the Chicago Park District held the “Arrigo Park History Slam” to help determine what statue would replace the one of Columbus that was removed from its pedestal in the Taylor Street neighborhood by the city of Chicago.
For more, click here and here.
Presentations were made by Amelia Ripepi, Donna Hughes, Ron Onesti, Mary Beth Howard and Terry Quilico, who all promoted Mother Cabrini, while Amy Bizzarri and the team of Kathy Catrambone and Ella Matarazza presented PowerPoint programs espousing Florence Scala.
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini was the foundress of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She and her order worked and lived in Chicago from 1899 until her passing. She established 67 orphanages, schools, hospitals across the United States and South and Central America, including two hospitals in Chicago. She died in her bed in the hospital she established in Lincoln Park and became the first U.S. citizen to be canonized as a saint in 1946.
For more, click here.
Florence Scala was a life-long resident of Little Italy who opposed Mayor Richard J. Daley in the 1960s when the city wanted to demolish the predominantly Italian and Greek homes in the neighborhood to make way for an urban campus for the University of Illinois. She organized sit-ins at City Hall and her own house was fire-bombed. Ultimately the city prevailed, but she never gave up her struggle against the Daley machine.
Other nominated candidates for a monument in Arrigo Park who were not vouched for on Jan. 14 are Amerigo Vespucci, Antonin Scala, Enrico Fermi, Maria Montessori, Phillip Mazzei and Renato Dulbecco.
Chicago residents can vote for their candidate for the Italian Heritage Monument until 11:59 pm on Feb. 1. Once the votes are tabulated, the Chicago Park District will announce who will be honored with a monument in Arrigo Park.
To vote, click here.
