Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
Jim Distasio hasn’t missed the Feast of Maria SS. Incoronata in what is now Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood since he was a little boy.
At first, it was top avoid incurring the ire of his grandfather, who expected every family member to be in attendance at the yearly tradition started in 1897 by emigrants from his ancestral hometown in Italy.
“We had to make sure we were all there at the feast — cousins, aunts, uncles,” Distasio recalls. “If you didn’t show up, you better have a good reason why, because that was my grandfather’s day.”
Nowadays, the longtime president of Club Maria SS. Incoronata e San Cristoforo di Ricigliano says tat he wouldn’t dream of missing the feast, dedicated as he is to carrying forward his grandfather’s efforts to preserve this 128-year-old tradition.
This year’s edition of the feast will take place on Sept. 7. Per tradition, it will feature an 11 a.m. Mass at St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Parish in Chicago, followed by a three-hour procession through the neighborhood accompanied by the Sicilian Band of Chicago, then a benediction, and wrapping up with a reception in the church hall.
When the feast began and for decades afterward, the parish was made up largely of Italian immigrants and the church was named in honor of Santa Maria Incoronata. As the neighborhood morphed into Chinatown, the church was renamed the St. Therese Chinese Catholic Mission. It was renamed St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta a couple of years ago.
The procession features a replica of the statue of the Virgin Mary in Ricigliano, near Salerno, the ancestral home of many of the original parishioners and current club members. The 600-pound carved-wood statue used to be carried by eight members, men and women, four in front and four in back. Nowadays, it is still carried but also rests on a cart during parts of its journey, to make the effort less taxing on aging club members, Distasio says.
“It’s a big tradition,” Distasio says. “It was brought to my family by my grandfather and it meant a lot to me and my whole family. I just try to keep the tradition going on his behalf. Also, all of us in life have some sickness, so you pray for that and for everyone else.”
Born in the neighborhood, Distasio graduated from De La Salle Institute and attended DePaul University for a couple of years before deciding to fully focus on business.
His father’s parents emigrated from Ricigliano, while his mother was of Irish descent. “My siblings and I grew up with the Italian tradition. My mother was an excellent Italian cook: she made spaghetti, meatballs, eggplant, neck bones, and my aunt and her used to make pizza together.”
Distasio started his career at Edwards & Deutsch Lithographing Co., which printed catalogues for major clients like Avon. When the company decided to move its operations from suburban Cicero to Baraboo, Wisconsin, newly married Distasio declined and began to grow his own business.
Starting at first as a landscaping company, M&J Asphalt Paving Company grew into an asphalt business whose clients include numerous fast-food chains, Fortune 500 companies, factories, churches and funeral homes. “We kept on growing and growing,” Distasio says. “We started with about 12 people and now we have hundreds of employees.”
Distasio is semiretired, as is his wife, Maryann, another lifelong club member, who worked in accounting for the company. Their sons, Nick and Jim, now run the business.
In a sweet coincidence, Distasio and his wife, who met through his best friend’s brother, discovered they were baptized an hour apart, on the same day, at the Church of Santa Maria Incoronata.
Back in the old days, Club Maria SS. Incoronata e San Cristoforo di Ricigliano numbered hundreds of members, he says. “Today we have maybe 175 people” Distasio says. “The older generation, a lot of people have passed away. We are trying to get more young people, but it’s hard. I think (many other clubs) have the same problem.”
Meetings used to take place monthly at St. Jerome’s Church in the Bridgeport area, but nowadays they are less frequent. Many members moved out of the old neighborhood, making regular meetings more difficult, explains Distasio, who took on the role of club president after the retirement of his uncle, the late Mike Rubino, who served as president from 1974 to 1998.
Besides growing the club’s numbers, Distasio says his other priority is taking care of the statue, which recently underwent a full restoration. “I am very adamant about getting her repaired all the time.”
Distasio is assisted in his efforts to run the feast by his son, Jim, who oversees the Mass, and Nick, who oversees the procession. His mother-in-law, Lucille Salerno, now 94 years old, remains active in the organization as president of the Ladies Auxiliary.
Outside of preserving Italian traditions, Distasio says his great in life is spending time with his family, which includes four grandchildren: 11-year-old twin boys, another 11-year-old boy, and a 7-year-old girl.
For more, visit smichicago.com or facebook.com/groups/smichicago or leave a message for Distasio at M&J Asphalt Paving Co, Inc. at 708-222-1200.
