Holy Rosary
Catholic Church
Served by the Scalabrinian
missionaries since 1890
911 E. Missouri Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri
Holy Rosary has the largest number of statues of Madonnas and saints in the diocese. Since my arrival in the parish and the painting and restoring of the statues, I have expressed my desire to know the story of these statues and how they “marched in” to Holy Rosary.
St. Faustino
On Tuesday, May 22, 2007, I received a telephone call from
Washington, D.C., asking if Holy Rosary had a statue of St.
Faustino. Yes, we do, I answered. The caller, Stephen Binns,
told me that he had been in southern
Italy in April and 
visited the
town of Vaglio di Basilicata,
where his great-grandmother
came from. The town’s Patron
Saint is St. Faustino. Steve had
done some research into the records
of the Ellis Island Museum
and discovered that many of the
early Italian immigrants to Kansas
City had come from that tiny
hilltop village of Vaglio. Some of
the Vaglio–Kansas City names he
found were Albano, Gravina, Lasala,
Avigliano, Armilio, and Bisaccia.
He wondered if some of
those families had brought a representation
of their Patron to Holy Rosary.
I told Steve that St. Faustino went through an identity
crisis for several years at Holy Rosary. The statue stood in our
church as “St. Faustina”. In 2001 when we decided to paint the
statue, we could not find any reference of her in any library.
When the painter stripped the paint to the original coat he found
that it was not a woman, but a man dressed in Roman style. The
encyclopedia confirmed the information and we changed the
name to St. Faustinian. I told Steve that I just learned that
Faustinian is a saint of a different era and his name will be
changed to Faustinus. Steve and I have been communicating by
email and by phone. Here is the information he passed along
to me.
“My great grandmother, Faustina Evangelista, was
born in Vaglio in 1883 and came to Kansas City at the age of
nine,” Steve writes. “She married Pasquale George, (Anglicized
from Giorgio), who was born in Pugliano, Campania, southern
Italy. Their daughter Angelina, my grandmother, married Raymond
Pickarell (anglicized from Piccarelli). She lived in Columbus
Park all her life, and on Tracy all her married life. She
was the parish housekeeper at Holy Rosary and St. John’s for
many years, and a cook at Holy Rosary’s carnivals and St. Joseph’s
Table. She died in February 2002. My mother and father,
Pauline and Stephen G. Binns, still live in Kansas City. I was
born in Kansas City and was baptized at Holy Rosary. On my
trip, I made friends in Vaglio, and I have become very interested
in the Vaglio- Kansas City connection”.
According to official Church literature, Faustinus was
martyred in Rome in 362 during the reign of Julian the Apostate.
But how did Faustino end up in Vaglio? The legend says that his
body was being transported by chariot along the Appian Way,
perhaps to an Adriatic seaport, and when the chariot reached the
town of Vaglio the horse stopped and would not go any farther.
This was interpreted as a sign of God’s will. Faustino should stay
in Vaglio. The body of Faustino is still displayed in a glass case
embedded in the altar of the largest church in Vaglio. Like our
statue, he wears a blue toga and carries a scroll. How did Faustino
end up at Holy Rosary, in Kansas City?
Steve surmised that one or more of the Vaglio families
were responsible for commissioning the statue.
Steve came to visit Holy Rosary with his parents last
Monday and we exchanged information about his family and St.
Faustino. Neither Steve nor I knew that May 22, when our dialogue
began, is the actual Feast Day of St. Faustino. It seems miraculous!
The rest of the Story
Last Saturday I contacted Rosalie George, my neighbor,
and like a living encyclopedia, she knows the history of the
George family pretty well.
Faustina Evangelista married Pasquale George and they
had 13 children, eight of them lived to adulthood, five died as babies.
The oldest child was Mary who married Nick Fazzino. Both were very active in St. John’s parish and well known in the
community.
The fourth child was Angeline, married to Raymond
Pickarell, and we know her story. The fifth child was Anthony
who married Rosalie (Bonadonna), my informer. The sixth and
seventh children were Nick and Fannie who remained single,
were very religious and willed their house to the church. Rosalie
is pretty sure that Nick and Fannie donated the statue of St.
Faustino to Holy Rosary in honor of their mother Faustina, and
also paid for a beautiful stained glass window at church that has
the name of Pasquale and Faustina George. I have admired that
window many times and saw the name but I never made the connection.
Faustina had a special devotion to Our Lady of Mount
Carmel and she had a statue in her house that she willed to Rosalie
George who still treasures it.
Rosalie says that the George family was a wonderful
family. They were very active at church, enjoyed family gatherings
and parties and never had an argument. What a compliment!
Dear friends, let’s continue our search of the saints in our
church and enrich our parish history. Our “wireless” communication
reached beyond the Missouri border. The first two informers
were from out of town. Someone up there likes our project at
Holy Rosary.
--Fr. Joe, June 24, 2007