St. Rita Roman Catholic Church: A Loving History

St. Rita ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

A LOVING HISTORY

presented by St. Rita Square, a Capri Community

St. Rita Roman Catholic Church Originally founded, 1925 Rebuilt, 2020

St. Rita THE HISTORY OF

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Religion is an integral part of the lives of Milwaukee Italians. Until the late 1890s when Sacred Heart Mission was opened in a former saloon at the intersection of East Clybourn and North Jefferson Streets, Milwaukee’s Italian community did not have a church of its own.

The mission increased in size, and in 1899 a small chapel was built in the 600 block of East Clybourn Street and was quickly outgrown. In 1904, a brick church was built at 427 North Jackson Street and named Our Lady of Pompeii. About 120 families were on the membership roster at that time. The church was vitally important to the Italian Community and the parish sponsored many elaborate street festivals honoring Italian saints. Third Ward streets were closed and colorfully costumed men marched through the streets carrying religious statues, recalling the similar festivals that had been held in their villages in Italy. Food vendors sold their Italian specialties on the sidewalks.

By the late 1930s, the city’s Italian population had grown to about 30,000 according to one estimate, but that number likely included many American-born Italians. As the Italian immigrant community grew and prospered, it sought better housing outside the dilapidated Third Ward, particularly in the First Ward on the lower East Side south of East Brady Street.

The new Italian neighborhood was bounded approximately by the Milwaukee River, East Ogden Avenue, North Farwell Avenue and East Brady Street. Italian churches originally founded in the Third Ward followed the migrating Italian community north to the First Ward near Brady Street. St. Rita Roman Catholic Church was originally founded in 1925 as a mission of the old Third Ward church, Our Lady of Pompeii, since the Italians did not feel comfortable worshiping at St. Hedwig’s Parish where mostly Polish immigrants attended mass.

Around 1932, Archbishop Samuel A. Stritch invited the Sisters of Charity from St. Joan Antida Thouret to assist him and the pastor of the Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church and St. Rita Mission in the religious instruction of children. The sisters moved into the former rectory next door to the Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church.

In 1934, The Sisters opened the kindergarten and social center at St. Rita Mission. The children had the opportunity to study the Italian language and the girls were taught embroidery. During the summer months more than 300 children ranging from 5-14 years of age attended the summer school.

On February 12, 1936, property was purchased for $12,000 at Van Buren Street and East Pleasant by St. Rita Mission for the future church to be built. The first St. Rita Church was a basement church. The basement church was blessed on April 25, 1937 with about 1,500 people in attendance. The school opened in September 1937, starting with only kindergarten and first grade. The classrooms were in the basement and were also used for parish meetings in the evening.

Nicknamed

the little pink church

for its rose-colored bricks,

it was the spiritual heart of Milwaukee’s Italian community for more than 60 years.

On April 25, 1938, the Archbishop granted St. Rita Church the rights to start construction on the new super structure of the church.

The new church was completed on March 12, 1939 and the first baptisms were held just one week later on March 19, 1939. On December 1, 1942, St. Rita Church became its own parish and assumed the mortgage for the new church. The school occupied the second floor of the church. The first class to graduate from St. Rita Church’s school was in 1945 with 45 graduates.

By 1940, according to the Federal Census, about 1,500 Italian immigrants lived in the vicinity of East Brady Street, as well as many more second-generation Italian Americans.

By that time, the Italians represented the largest foreign-born ethnic group in the entire area — outnumbering the Polish- and German-born population. The Italians continued their exodus out of the old Third Ward to the lower East side throughout the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s until the remaining residential portion of the old Third Ward neighborhood was finally demolished in the late 1960s for freeway construction.

The Italian community near Brady Street reached its zenith in the 1950s. The Italians had made Brady Street their own, almost totally replacing the Polish merchants that had dominated the street up into the 1920s. It retains much of its Italian commercial character today with many Italian restaurants, groceries and bakeries still in business.

“This church represents

donated to the Pompeii Men’s Club. The men’s club donated the statue to St. Rita Church and it was placed on the church in 1969.

With the 1970s brought the effects of the Second Vatican Council and the new liturgy required a new setting in the church of St. Rita. Father Scola, the priest at that time, proposed a new sanctuary that allowed for

Americana,

” spokeswoman

Barbara De Brozzo said in a Milwaukee Journal story published Feb. 1, 1967. “…

Something precious in our backyard. ”

By the 1950s St. Rita Church needed room to expand, so the church purchased two homes and the button factory just north of it.

The church razed and graded the land for a parking lot and kept the rest of the land for future expansion. In 1953, a school addition was completed and in 1961 a new rectory and convent were completed.

In 1967, St. Rita Church’s original predecessor Parish, the Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church, was demolished to make way for the construction of I-794. The loss of the church was heartbreaking for the Italian Community.

The Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church had served as the heart of the 20th century Milwaukee Italians’ social and religious lives.

Many of the artifacts from the Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church made their way to St. Rita Church, which became the new hub for the Italian faith community. The Angel Gabriel statue that had adorned the top of the Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church was in the possession of Mr. Joseph Saggio until 1969 and was

the mass and the sacraments to be facing the assembly. In 1973, Father Scola was replaced by Father Joe Collova. During a radically changing neighborhood and church, Father Collova was charged with keeping the parish alive.

In 1986, St. Rita Church named Father Collova the eighth pastor of St. Rita Parish.

Having him as the pastor was special because he was a priest and son of the parish. It was unique for him to serve the community who baptized, confirmed and educated him. On December 14, 1986, St. Rita Parish celebrated its Golden Jubilee.

In July 2000, St. Rita Church joined with two other neighborhood churches, Holy Rosary and Saint Hedwig to establish the Three Holy Women Parish. Over the years, St. Rita Church, the convent and school fell into disrepair. The church building with exterior steps was not accommodating to people with disabilities. In 2006, the Sisters were asked to vacate the convent.

Three Holy Women Parish started exploring the possibility that the underutilized site might be able to serve a better use. In 2011, Three Holy Women Parish approached Tarantino & Company, LLC to determine whether housing for seniors would be a use compatible with the redevelopment of the St. Rita Church and campus. The goals of the project were to demolish the existing building on the campus, redevelop a new St. Rita Church using the artifacts of the original church and model the outdoor facade after the original “Little Pink Church,” the Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church and lastly develop apartment housing for 55+ residents.

The newly rebuilt St. Rita Church was completed in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. When officially open, guests and parishioners will discover that the church is filled with numerous artifacts from the original St. Rita and Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Churches.

The new building, with its vaulted ceiling, incorporates seventeen restored stained-glass windows, the bronze bell that once rang at Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church and ten statues of saints that watched over both churches. The highlight, however, may be the 8-foot tall bronze statue of the archangel Gabriel that was cast in 1904

by Italian Artist Gaetano Trentanove.

Gabriel stood atop the Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church for its entire lifetime and was moved to St. Rita Church in 1969. Christian lore says that Gabriel was the archangel who appeared to Mary with the news of Jesus’ birth. He represents, fittingly, new beginnings.

The new St. Rita Church aims to attract a cross section of students, millennials and nearby seniors, as well as its loyal Italian community, of course. The church was re-consecrated by Archbishop Joseph Listecki at a ceremony in September 2020.

The new St. Rita Church looks forward to celebrating many of the time-honored traditions of the Tavolata, spaghetti dinners and the blessings of animals. It is Father Timothy Kitzke’s hope that St. Rita Church and the newly revitalized Cass Street area will honor the tradition and heritage of century-old Italian American worshipers while also attracting new congregation members that represent the vibrancy and diversity of St. Rita Church’s surrounding community.

St. Rita Roman Catholic Church | 1617 N Cass St., Milwaukee, WI 53202 | 414-271-6577