http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2015/03/26/al-capone-house-media-tour.php
Friday, March 27, 2015
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Uncle Al Capone - The Untold Story from Inside His Family: Al Capone's Florida Home gets a make over.
Uncle Al Capone - The Untold Story from Inside His Family: Al Capone's Florida Home gets a make over.: On March 18, 2015 there was an event at which I was invited where the press got a chance to tour the home where my uncle Al Capone l...
Al Capone's Florida Home gets a make over.
On March 18, 2015 there was an event at which I was invited where the press got a chance to tour the home where my uncle Al Capone lived and it was also the home where he died. Click any link below to view some of the coverage.
MSN
UK Daily Mail
Monday, March 16, 2015
St. Joseph's Day
St. Joseph’s Day
In America March 19 is always
celebrated as Saint Joseph’s
Day. (Saint Joseph
was the symbolic, but not birth, father of Jesus.) In Italy March 19
is also celebrated as Father’s Day. My Grandmother Theresa taught me the
customs of the Italian celebration of this Christian Feast Day.
Saint Joseph’s Day always falls during Lent,
so the food served on this day never has meat, and the food that is served
represents the harvest so no cheese is served. Therefore, the pasta which is
traditionally served is sprinkled with bread crumbs rather than cheese.
I remember Grandma asking me on one
Feast Day if I knew why bread crumbs were used on the food, instead of another
non-cheese seasoning
“No, Grandmacita,” I answered
wonderingly.
“Because the bread crumbs symbolize
the sawdust Saint Joseph
–and Jesus would-- create when they sawed wood to make furniture for their
customers in Nazareth,” she smiled.
Saint Joseph was also chosen the patron saint
of Italy.
One year, I think in the Middle Ages, there was a terrible drought in the
country and people fervently prayed to him to save their crops and restore the
virtually empty water wells. In an almost-mystical response to the ardent pleas
of the devout peasants, massive rain showers soaked the parched land. Like Saint Joseph, Saint
Patrick became the patron saint of Ireland when he was said to have
driven out all the snakes in the country.
Grandma Theresa taught me to always
wear red on Saint Joseph’s
Day. Italians wear red on that feast day in the similar religious-based
tradition that the Irish wear green on Saint Patrick’s Day!
There is another wonderful custom
that my Grandmother faithfully practiced and passed down to me: If you pray to Saint Joseph and he
answers your prayers, you must thank him by preparing a feast in his honor and
asking others to eat from a table we call a “Saint Joseph’s Table”.
Traditionally, the grateful
petitioner then opened their front door (only on the Feast Day?) and hung out a
red flag so that anyone could enter their home and eat at the Table until they
were satisfied. For obvious reasons, at 7244 S. Prairie Avenue, only invited
guests were able to dine at the Saint
Joseph’s Table.
This Feast Day was the one time my
family members could invite acquaintances outside the family to come and eat.
There were no chairs placed at the table. Diners would take a plate, fill it
and, after eating, put the plate in the kitchen and leave. Then Grandma, Aunt
Maffy and I would wash the dishes and place them back on the table for the next
guests.
“What are we celebrating this year,
Grandmacita?” I asked her one year.
“We are celebrating that your Uncle
Al is getting stronger and healthier every day,“ she replied solemnly. “I have
said nine novenas for him”, she added.
The nine novenas leading up to Saint Joseph’s Day is
another custom. A novena is a special prayer that you would say over and over
during the day for nine successive days. Each day you said a different prayer.
I prefer to think of myself as
spiritual rather than religious. But I do believe in the power of prayer, so I
offer you here the prayer to St.
Joseph that my Grandma Capone claimed brought
miracles.
O St. Joseph, whose protection is
so great, so strong, so prompt before the Throne of God, I place in you all my
interests and desires. O St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession
and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus
Christ, Our Lord, so that, having engaged here below your Heavenly power, I may
offer my Thanksgiving and Homage to the most Loving of Fathers. O St. Joseph, I
never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not
approach while He reposes near your heart. Press him in my name and kiss His
fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, Patron of
departing souls, pray for us. Amen
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