Collection of books from the
Peirbattista home in Italy
Book written by Fr. Pamfilo
Father Pamphilus was born August 22, 1824 in Magliano dei Marsi. His family name was Pierbattista. When he was baptized, he was given the name John Paul.
On July 5, 1839, at the age of 16 he became a Franciscan and was given the name Pamphilus. As was customary he was then called Pamphilus a Malleano, or Pamfilo da Magliano. Malleano/Magliano refers to the place of his birth.
On December 18, 1846, he was ordained a priest at the age of 22. Immediately following his ordination, he began graduate studies in philosophy and theology.
He was awarded the title Lector Generalis (professor) at the young age of 18 and was called to Rome by the Order's General Minister to teach theology at the Collegio S. Isidoro.
In the three years Father Pamfilo spent at St. Isidore's he became fluent in English. He also particularly wished to go to America to do missionary work. He was offered the chance to go to Buenos Aires as a missionary, but turned it down because of his desire to go to the United States.
When Bishop Timon and Nicholas Devereux traveled to Rome to get permission from the pope to establish a community of friars in the new Buffalo diocese, the Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor directed them to the Irish College of Saint Isidore. He presented Father Pamfilo to Bishop Timon.
The Minister General knew that Father Pamfilo was fully capable of the job ahead of him and only sent the best priests to America. Father Venantius also chose Father Sixtus da Gagliano, Father Samuel da Prezza and Brother Salvator da Manarola to accompany Father Pamfilo. Fr. Venantius chose these friars because they had high scholastic degrees and a hardy missionary spirit.
Village of Magliano dei Marsi, 1904
On May 5, 1855, the 3 friars and Brother Salvator received Pope Pius IX's blessing and departed from Rome for the US, where they arrived in New York on June 20. They were met by Nicholas Devereux in New York City. He had graciously paid for their trip to America. They then traveled to Ellicottville by train where they stayed for a short time with Nicholas' son John. Soon after they moved to the home of Thomas McMahon. In the first two years that the Friars had been living in Ellicottville they had preformed baptisms in at least 15 different towns.
In the 12 years that Father Pamfilo was in the United States, he opened 12 friaries and built two churches. He also founded two schools, one seminary and five parishes. Father Pamphilus is also responsible for the founding the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis in Allegany. In Ellicottville, Allegany and the surrounding towns young girls and boys shared the same classroom in which the Friars prepared them for the sacraments of first Holy Communion and Confirmation. Bishop Timon did not approve of the mixed classrooms and asked Father Pamfilo to look for Sisters of the Third Order and so the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany was established. This was recorded by Bishop Timon in his diary on March 8,1856. Father Pamfilo also founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate in Joliet, Illinois and the Sisters of St. Francis of the Congregation of Our Lady of Lourdes in Rochester, Minnesota.
Due to misunderstandings between some members of the community and Father Pamfilo he was asked to returned to Rome. Father Diomede Falconio was then placed in charge of the college and seminary. Once back in Rome, Father Pamfilo stayed at the friary of San Pietro in Montorio and began writing the first of 3 books about the Order of Franciscans Friars. He published his first book entitled, The Greek Church and the Procession of the Holy Ghost, in Rome in 1870. He translated into Italian Cardinal Manning's work, The Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost, and then made alterations and added to, St. Francis and the Franciscans, which was written by a Poor Clare. In 1874 he published the first of his projected three volumes of History of the Franciscan Order. Only two volumes were published, one in 1874 and the other in 1876. The third volume was never published. While writing it he became seriously ill and never recovered. He died at the Convent of St. Peter in Montorio, Rome, November 15, 1875 at the age of 52. Although he had hoped to return to Allegany he was never able to return to Saint Bonaventure before his death.
Bibliography
Angelo, Mark V, O.F.M., Ph. D. The History of St. Bonaventure University.
Saint
Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute, 1961.
Buffon,
Giuseppe O.F.M. "Introduction". Magliano, Panfilo Da. A
Sketch of the Franciscan Order.
Bergamo, Italy: Stamperia Editrice Commerciale,
2001.
Callahan, Adalbert,
O.F.M. Medieval Francis in Modern America, The Story of Eighty Years.
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1936.
Hammon, Walter, O.F.M. The First Bonaventure
Men. St. Bonaventure: St. Anthony
Guild Press, 1958.
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Last edited: 02/27/2008 10:35:21 AM