Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1894-07-27
AN ITALIAN CHURCH.
A HOUSE OF WORSHIP CALLED
"CHuRcH OF THE RAGPIcKERs."

try-There Sons and Daughters of Italy
Combine Religion and BUSINESS.
Not many New Workers have ever
heard of the ''Church of the Ragpick
ers." In the neighborhood of Roosevelt
street, where it is located, this is the
familiar name of the Roman Catholic
church of st. Joachim, of which Father
Vincini is the pastor. The members are
Italians exclusively, inhabitants of the
densely populated district roundabout,
and as some of them are ragpickers and
have rented the lower half of the church
for the storage of their goods the nick
name which designates the church as
the peculiar place Of worship of this
class came into use.
Years ago, when Roosevelt street was
not so squalid and as overlooking with
human beings as it is today, this church
belonged to Methodist Episcopal con-
gregation. There were merchants, solid
men of down town New York, living
there, and the neighborhood was emf
nently respectable.
Now the church stands with a cheap
lodging house on one side and typical
slum grocery store on the other. A nest
of tough saloons are near by, up and
down the street. Organized in 1883, the
Italian population thereabouts grew SO
rapidly within radius of a mile that
the church has now one of the largest
congregations in the city.
;1 -
and dirty. 1t is only by standing across
the street that you can see a small cross
on the roof, the only thing about the
edifice that suggests its religious charac-
ter. Looking in on the first floor, you will
witness curious spectacle. The whole
depth and breadth of the floor is filled
with rags. Rags loose, rags in piles and
rags in bales ready for shipping are all
about. Big cranes and chains for hoist
ing purposes run here and there. Half
buried in these piles of rags are men,
women and children-the men and wom-
en- busy asserting rags and the fat, brown
youngsters tumbling about in play OR
sleeping, as the case may be.
1t is the biggest ragshop in this city.
1t is wholesale and retail in the sense
that here the individual ragpickersa of
the town dispose of their wares, which
are assorted and baled and sold for man.
ufacturing purposes. The pastor of ST..
Joachim's rents this lower floor to the
company that conducts this rag business
at a good rental, and indeed were it not
for that the mission would suffer.
Italians are very practical about their
religion, when they care for it at all, and
they are very slow at contributing to the
support Of the church and expect q good
deal Of religion for very little money.
The church proper is on the floor over
the ragshop, and this in itself gives an
odd character to the services at times.
On weekdays the men are at work in the
basement when services are going on up
stairs, and one can plainly hear them
joining in the responses and chants dur
ing the celebration of the mass. While
a reporter was there the other day one
of the ragpickers in the basement sang a
hymn to the Virgin while the services
sweetness and purity.
At certain hours Of the day laborers
will come In. set their picks and shovels
in a corner, and then join in the devo-
tons. The peanut vendors and fruit
stand keepers in the neighborhood al
ways attend The services for at least a
few minutes each day. Bootblacks wan
der in with boxes on their backs and say
a few brief prayers, and the Italian pop
ulation generally comes and goes.
Six masses are said in St. Joachim's
church every Sunday, and from 1900
to 1900 persons attend every mass, SC
that some 5000 or more people wor-
ship in the little church every week.
Father Morrill,, who established this
mission, and who conducted it for
years, has been sent to New England
to organize Italian churches there.
His place has been taken by younger
priest, Father Vincini. The position of
parish priest of ST. Joachims is that Of a
patriarch, Not only does he marry his
parishioners, baptize their children and
bury their dead, but is their constant
adviser in other matters. He settles
their disputes of all sorts, from business
differences to lovers quarrels.
One trouble the priest has to contend
with is the manner in which his charges
get married. Coming from Italy, where
civil marriages are the proper thing, the
Italians believe that the same laws OBJ
tain here. AS result the Italian quar-
ter is filled with professional marriage
brokers and matchmakers.
They bring couples together for fee,
then steer them to the city hall, where
two men have for years done a steady
business securing aldermen to marry
couples, in getting certificates for them
and arranging all the details of city hall
weddings. Father Vincini tries to i'm
press upos his people that he will marry
them for nothing at all, but they still
flock to the city hall. Some of them buy
pictures Of the building and send them
to Italy so that their friends may see the
palace in which they were married.
New York World.