By Lori Anne Oliwa | Monitor Correspondent

While throngs of people flock to the area of Manhattan known as ‘Little Italy for what many regard as one of the best San Gennaro commemorations, local parishes, including three from the  Diocese, observed his Sept. 19 feast day in a big way with vibrant displays of Italian culture anchored by gestures of charity.

St. Gennaro is the patron saint of Naples and was a third-century Italian martyr and bishop. According to recorded history, he was beheaded after professing his faith under Emperor Diocletian.

Parishioners in St. John the Baptist Parish, Allentown, held an ‘Italian Fest’ Sept. 18-19, the very first of what festival chairman John Fiore hopes to be an annual event. “We have a large number of Italian parishioners and have hosted Irish cultural events in the past, so we thought it was time to hold an Italian festival,” said Fiore. The presence of Italian wines and foods, and the launch of an Italian parish cookbook created with the personal recipes of parishioners, brought smiles of pride to everyone’s faces.

“It is impossible to separate the love of God, the love of family and friends, and the love of food from the Italians,” noted Father Brian Patrick Woodrow, pastor.

"What is most important is that we are all Catholics and are showing and celebrating the diversity of one of the great Catholic cultures of the world. We are all here on church grounds together, a place to live and to breathe and to be joyful together,” Father Woodrow said. He also noted that funds generated would be used to assist the needy in the community.

A main highlight of the feast day celebration occurred on Saturday when parishioners, following the 5:15 p.m. vigil Mass, joined in a procession with a statue of the Blessed Mother around the parish grounds. It was noted that when towns in Italy celebrated the San Gennaro feast, most often the Blessed Mother was present in some way. The Allentown community kept with that venerable tradition by having a procession that included carrying a statue of the Blessed Mother.

St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Red Bank, observed the feast of San Gennaro by holding its first ‘Italian Night.’ The celebration not only generated funds to help replenish the parish food pantry, but also yielded 92 volunteers, enough food to feed close to 250 people, and the establishment of a new partnership formed between the parish social concerns outreach ministry and the Middletown Lions Club, a local club of an international service organization which helps disadvantaged populations such as the blind, hearing-impaired and hungry. Ticket sales for Sept. 19 fundraising dinner helped to replenish the coffers of the food pantry which assists more than 1,000 families each month, according to Father Alberto W. Tamayo, pastor.

“As Christians, we have an obligation to help. There are more and more homeless people in the area, not less, and we have to raise money to help them with rent, utilities and other basic needs such as clothing,” Father Tamayo said.

Middletown Lions Club members, led by Lions John Giordano, Larry Caminiti and Beverly Bova Scarano, prepared the food, staffed the kitchen and managed volunteers throughout the evening.

St. Rose of Lima Parish, Belmar, has a long history of honoring San Gennaro and hosted the fourth annual ‘Jersey Shore’ San Gennaro Festival Sept. 19-20 in conjunction with the Borough of Belmar. The event has evolved from small, humble beginnings in the parking lot of the church to a large regional event complete with sponsors and attendees from all over the state. “It has staying power. It’s really big now,” noted Father David J. Baratelli, chaplain to Newark Liberty International Airport, a parish priest for St. George Byzantine Catholic Church, Newark, and the ‘Son of Italy’ honoree at this year’s festival. 

The day of Italian culture at the Jersey Shore began with Mass celebrated in Italian in St. Rose of Lima Church by Father Anthony De Palma, chaplain of Georgian Court University, Lakewood. After the Mass and in keeping with tradition, a procession led by the statue of San Gennaro and the festival band moved down Main Street where a prayer service was held and the statue was enshrined for the duration of the festival. Funds raised were dedicated to the St. Vincent de Paul conference in St. Rose of Lima Parish.