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When the migrations from the Tyrol ensued, the clergy, the bishops,
Don Guetti all expressed their disapproval and concern fearing that
our relaties would lose` their aith by irtue o their remoal rom
their traditions and their interactions with Protestants of the new
lands. 1he clergy always eared that the 1rentino`s geographical and
cultural interaction with the Protestant to the north of their borders
would be a threat to their religiosity. They could not have been more
wrong. While destiny took them out of their villages and lands, their
spirituality and attachment to their religious traditions remained and
even flourished. When they came to our country, this religious
cultural was distinguishably different and distinct from that of the majority Southern Italians. What were the
substance and the distinctiveness of this faith tradition? The Filo hopes to explore and detail the elements of their
religious cultural traditions that so nurtured our people. For now, let us take stock of some of the elements that
contributed to their religious culture.

The Sud Tirol, the Trentino Alto Adige was a iedom.eudal lands under the
governance of the Bishops of Trento and Bressanone.or 800 years. It was
called the Principato of Trento. Religious culture was the very heart and soul of
these domains. But unlike the Papal States where the Pope was a temporal
leader, governor, tax collector, war lord, the Bishops had a distance from these
matters through aocati` or the Counts of the Tyrol that took care of these
temporal matters. While so much of the rest of the Italian peninsula had for
centuries been absorbed by the politics of the state and the church, the Trentino
had a comfortable distance from these internecine struggles. The Trentino was
extremely loyal to the church without the Papal politics that engrossed the
peninsula and prompted the Reformation. Hence, it was understandable that the
great Charles Borromeo, the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, the promoter of the Ecumenical Council, came to the
Trentino and shrewdly selected Trento as the location for the Council in 1565. It was an acknowledgement of
1rentino`s centrality.not just geographically but its neutrality that provided a safe haven for both the
Mediterranean and Catholic` south and the Protestant north.

Religious orders flocked to the Trentino to situate their seminaries and convents since it was one of the most
fertile areas for vocations to the priesthood and the religious life. In my very own family, I can boast of one aunt
and 6 cousins who became nuns. Religious living and the priesthood were held in high esteem and its missionaries
went throughout the world to the very court of Kublai Khan (Father Martini) and explored our Southwest (Fr
Eusebio Chini). In the 1800`s, Rosmini, a religious philospher and theologian became the conidant and the
consultant to the popes. At the time of the migration from the Trentino and times of great hardships, a priest,
Don Guetti did some spectacular things with farming cooperatives to assist the struggling communities. When
Fascism and the Italian nation collapsed after World War II, it was Alcide De Gasperi, a profoundly religious man,
from the Valsugana, that literally created the modern Italian democracy. He would often say that he was lent to
Italy. Finally, our very own boast, our fellow Trentino, Cardinal Bernardin who rose to not only lead the
Archdioceses of Chicago, headed the National Council of Bishops but
became the most distinguished clergyman that the Church produced in
the United States church history.

We will explore in future editions the customs, practices and mentality
o this land.and people o aith rom its liturgies, processions,
shrines, village feasts, its communal prayer, and their world view.
Council of Trent
Way Side Show-Capitello
Duomo of Trento
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