CSBA President's Message


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Posted by Chris Caravella on 25 NOV 2013 15:56:23

This is the third CSBA President's message for 2013.

Happy Holidays!

The CSBA board will try to meet before the end of the year. From that meeting I plan on compiling a financial review of both the successful Feast Day celebration this past August, as well as for the entire year. Stay tuned for more on that. We have no events planned for the rest of this year but I would like to encourage everyone in the New Orleans area to attend the St Lucy's mass at St John the Baptist church on Saturday, December 14th, 4pm (aifed.org/events). It's a great Italian-American tradition in an incredibly beautiful church. If you can make time out from the holiday bustle, it's a great tradition to work into your celebration of the season.

Please welcome our newest CSBA members:
Frank Achary (famiglia Calderaro), Paul Baroco (famiglia Barraco), Thomas LaRose (famiglia LaRosa)
Remember, CSBA members can run the Cousinator report to see how they are related to our newest members, as well as all CSBA members.

In a recent conversion with my friend Reggie Scolaro (famiglia Giuffria), he reminded me that his grandfather had served in the society and was wondering if he appeared in any early membership roster. I had totally forgotten about some photo-copied documents that CSBA member Barbara Picone DeSoto had given me a while back. I actually used these documents to pattern the current by-laws but because they were all in Italian, I guess I figured they wouldn't be much use to the general membership. They did, however, have a membership list from 1915. That's not exactly early (the society was founded in 1879) but it's the earliest known to exist. Not only is Reggie's grandfather, Giuseppe Giuffria, listed, I found that he also served as 1st Vice-President in 1915 and his signature is included on the 1904 re-incorporation. This is great stuff, so I have written an article on the photo-copied document and it is now available at the St Bartolomeo Society Homepage (www.ustica.org/san_bartolomeo) under 'The Ustica Connection" section. The article is a great summary of the first 40 years of the society and it presents a pretty good snapshot of that time, considering there are so few society documents that survive today. The article is written for a wider audience because I will also submit it for publication in the periodical, "New Orleans Genesis" produced by the Genealogical Research Society of New Orleans (my other pet project www.grsno.org). Also included with the article is the entire document, plus the 1879 and 1904 incorporations in English and with actual signatures.

Also don't forget that there is a "Christmas Baking" page at the San Bartolomeo Society site which has recipes and instructions for those Usticesi classics, Casateddi and Gigi. If you've got the time and the skills, why not interject a little Ustica pride into your holiday feasts!

Again have a great Holiday Season!

Chris Caravella
President, Congregazione di San Bartolomeo Apostolo


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