To great fanfare, San Leucio di Brindisi, a little-known 2nd-Century Italian saint — and a once popular devotion to him — returned to the diocese last week after a more than 40-year absence. Helping the diocese reclaim San Leucio — called a “saint for the 21st Century” — was a former member of St. Gerard Majella Parish in Paterson, during a quest to discover his Italian-Catholic roots.
For the first time since 1979, a Mass was held for the feast of San Leucio in the diocese by the reconstituted San Leucio Society of Paterson on Jan. 11 in Our Lady Queen of Peace (OLQP) Church in Branchville. Founded in 1928, the society was officially dissolved in 1987 because of a lack of interest. The liturgy, a Solemn High traditional Latin Mass, marked the relaunch of the society, once one of the largest Italian-Catholic organizations in the diocese.
The Mass featured the blessing of a new 39-inch-high statue of San Leucio, a gift from the society. The next event occurs in July, which will include Mass, a procession, and a festa — just like similar celebrations that were held decades ago.
In the pews of the well-attended Mass at OLQP was Jay Rattino, 35, who devised the idea of reviving the society, which is now trying to recruit new members.
“San Leucio converted thousands of people. As the founding bishop of Brindisi in Italy, he led his people through a pandemic like the one we had with COVID. He fought a spiritual battle like the one today. People are falling away from the faith,” said Rattino, whose ancestors came from San Salvatore Telesino, one of at least six Italian towns that claim San Leucio as a patron. Immigrants from that town started the celebrations in Paterson. “San Leucio can resonate with young people who are hungry to learn about the saints and how to venerate them. They want to know more about their Catholic traditions.”
Ironically, Rattino’s family did not know about or participate in the San Leucio celebrations even though they lived in Totowa, home to St. Michael’s Grove, where the feast was held on the last Sunday of July. Before each feast, St. Michael Parish in Paterson held a Mass and procession with the original San Leucio statue. Celebrations ended in 1979 after a fire destroyed St. Michael’s Grove and did substantial damage to the original statue, said Rattino, formerly of St. Gerard’s.
With local interest in San Leucio waning, devotees left with the destroyed statue and moved to New Haven, Conn. There, another society restored the statue and continued the devotion where it thrives today, said Rattino, a father of three who now worships at Assumption Parish in Emerson in the Newark Archdiocese.
Last year, his friend, Anthony Scillia, posted an image of San Leucio on his Instagram page. Scillia informed Rattino about the San Leucio devotion and the defunct society.
Then Rattino did more research on the society and enlisted a team of Catholic friends to help reconstitute it. He called around to parishes in the diocese to schedule the organization’s inaugural Mass for the feast of San Leucio and found a willing participant in Father Philip-Michael Tangorra, OLQP’s pastor, who also is of Italian heritage. He was the Mass’s main celebrant and homilist along with concelebrating priests and assistants, including a three-voice choir and the Knights and Dames of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George.
“Father Phil has the enthusiasm we need. He has the zeal that has gotten people excited about San Leucio,” says Rattino, who is now looking for an additional parish for the July celebrations and seeks to talk to anyone who is familiar with the specifics of the celebration.
Father Tangorra called San Leucio “a saint for our time” in his English-language homily during the Mass, celebrated in Latin. Born in Alexandra in Egypt, the saint moved to southern Italy. There, he asked thousands of pagans who were suffering drought to convert to Christianity. He prayed for rain, and the rain came, converting thousands. San Leucio also dealt with a pandemic, the priest said.
“San Leucio didn’t close churches or flee. He brought them the power of the sacraments and led them out of the pandemic as a bigger and stronger Church,” Father Tangorra said.
After the Mass at OLQP, the society held an Italian-style dinner in the parish hall. There, Scillia told The Beacon, “this obscure 2nd-Century saint is still bringing Italians together for faith, family, and food.”
Nathaniel Storaska, 18, who is studying at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., said, “Catholics can look to the saints like San Leucio to emulate them. They can bring us closer to God and deepen our faith.”
To contact the St. Leucio Society: email [email protected]. Also visit the group’s website at https://saintleuciosociety.org/ and visit it on Instagram at saint_leucio_society or on Facebook at saintleuciosociety.