Untitled article by R. Calderone

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jul 22, 1915

From the Italian Home Foreign Field

By R. Calderone

I imagine that our friends and readers like once in a while to hear about the progress of the work in the Italian home foreign mission field. As the headquarters of the Italian work is at present located in Chicago, I shall briefly state a few interesting facts in connection with the work here.

On Sunday, June 13, we had the privilege of baptizing and adding three new believers to our church. There was a large attendance of those not of our faith at the baptismal service, which was followed by an interesting and inspiring testimony meeting.

During the first week of May we started a new effort among the Italians in Chicago Heights, Ill., a suburb of the city. There is a large settlement of Italians at that place, and it seemed as if the Lord indicated that something ought to be done among them at this very time. While Brother G. Sansonetti is permanently working in Chicago Heights, canvassing, visiting, and giving Bible readings, I have been holding public meetings there every Thursday and Sunday. We are having the privilege of using a Baptist church for our public meetings, which so far have been very well attended by interested listeners. We have met some opposition, but still we see from week to week the same eager and interested faces, and so we are hoping for a harvest of souls also at this place. We hope that by the end of the summer we shall be able to organize an Italian church here. Pray for the work and the workers at this place.

Sunday evening, June 6, the Italian church school held its closing exercises. The educational secretary of the Northern Illinois Conference, Miss Edith Shepard, was present, and spoke very encouragingly about the work of this school. This is its first year of existence, but we feel that the work that has been done by Miss H. Berg, who started the school but had to leave before the end of the term on account of ill health, and later that by Miss Amalia Eitel, have been a great blessing not only to the Italian children, but to the Italian church and the Italian work in this city. We sincerely hope we can have the services of Sister Eitel next year.

Sister Vesta Cash, our Bible worker, is kept very busy all the time, selling the magazine La Verita (The Truth), holding Bible readings, leading ladies’ prayer bands, etc. Sister Cash is getting command of the Italian language, so she will be of still greater help to the Italian work in Chicago.

Five of our young brethren are working at the Hinsdale Sanitarium, where they are having some splendid opportunities for getting a training. Dr. David

Paulson has been cooperating very kindly in this matter, and we are grateful to him and the institution for their assistance and interest in the Italian work. While these young men are receiving instruction in physiology, treatments, massage, etc., it has been my privilege by special invitation to go out to the sanitarium every Tuesday afternoon to give these brethren special Bible instruction. In this way we hope to develop some Italian workers. As we did not get the privilege of the contemplated Bible training school in Chicago this year, we are trying to do our utmost to train workers in other ways.

Our English and Scandinavian churches in the city have also been rendering us some assistance in the way of circulating our Italian magazine, La Verita. The South Side (Chicago) church took 30 copies, the Scandinavian church about 200; so in this way the members of these churches are also giving the truth to the thousands of Italians in this city. I have been wondering if our brethren in other places where there are Italian settlements would not do the very same thing. We are just about to issue the second number of the magazine, which is well illustrated and has an attractive cover. That it can readily be sold will be seen from the following testimony, taken from a letter just received from two of our sisters who belong to the Rockford (Ill.) church: “Inclosed please find $2.50 for the fifty Italian magazines (La Verita) which you sent us. Miss Butler and I took ten each this morning (Sunday), and went over to the Italian district, where we sold them all in about two blocks. So we went back and got the other thirty. All we had to do was to hand them around to the men, and they would hand us the money. We sold as many as seven at one place. Will you therefore please send us one hundred more as soon as possible? The cover itself is enough to sell them.”

This testimony speaks for itself, and this good work was done not by Italians, but by those who could not speak the Italian. Others could do the same, and now is the time to do it. We shall be glad to supply our brethren and sisters with this special Italian magazine at five cents a copy. It sells at ten cents. As our expenses in getting out this magazine are somewhat higher than the expenses of our publishing houses in getting out our English magazines, we cannot offer them at a lower price. All orders can be sent either to the undersigned, at 1419 W. Austin Ave., Chicago, Ill., or to the Northern Illinois Tract Society, 3645 Ogden Ave., Chicago, Ill.

R. CALDERONE.