[TI] Ken and Fr Anthony - My Visit with Fr. Anthony

Sun Feb 24 18:46:55 CST 2008

Ann Catalano,

I have alot of Catalano's on my tree.  We might have some connections if your family is from Cleveland.  My great grandfather's brother Sam Azzarello married a Rose Catalano.  They had four children Marianne, Ann, Frank, and Lucille. Rose's parents were Frank Catalano and Mary Rini.  Do any of these names ring a bell?   Also Frank's sister Augustina married my cousin Sam Teresi.  I am connected to all the Teresi's in Cleveland.

Tami Leanza
(researching Teresi, Marcellino, Lamantia, Sanfillippo, Geraci, Lupo)

----- Original Message ----
From: Ann Catalano <anncat1029 at roadrunner.com>
To: terminiimerese at comunesofitaly.org
Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2008 12:09:42 PM
Subject: Re: [TI] Ken and Fr Anthony - My Visit with Fr. Anthony

Ken -

I don't know you but certainly enjoy your writing.  You really ought to
write a book of your adventures.  You have a gift!

It is so neat that you can visit all these people from the Termini
listserve.  I enjoyed putting faces with names when I went to the reunion in
Rochester.  I'm looking forward to the reunion in Cleveland since many of my
ancestors settled there and I was born and raised in Lorain, Ohio just
outside of Cleveland.

Take care on your travels.

Ann Catalano

-----Original Message-----
From: terminiimerese-bounces at comunesofitaly.org
[mailto:terminiimerese-bounces at comunesofitaly.org] On Behalf Of Ken Geraci
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2008 5:55 PM
To: terminiimerese at comunesofitaly.org
Subject: Re: [TI] Ken and Fr Anthony - My Visit with Fr. Anthony

Dear Termini Cousins,

By a stroke of good luck, they assigned me a load of
freight last week going from Brownsville, Texas to
Atlanta, GA and then another load going back to Texas
and so I am back here in Austin today where I am
typing this letter (I will be delivering in El Paso,
TX on Monday).

As Fr. Anthony wrote, I was in Atlanta this past
Wednesday night through Thursday morning. I had tried
to reach Fr. Anthony on Wednesday night but got the
abbey's electronic switchboard and didn't know Fr.
Anthony's phone extension (I chuckled to myself at the
thought of modern voice mail meeting the lifestyle
that St. Benedict mapped out over 1,500 years ago!). 

The message system did however mention Mass times and
I decided I would attend the 7:00 am Mass in hopes of
being able to say hello to Fr. Anthony. I also called
my cousin, Ann Riggio, who forwarded my message to the
list in case Fr. Anthony was reading it that I might
be in the area.

Knowing I would be attending Mass, I had another
problem. I needed a shower but the main truck stop
company that provides showers for our company's
employees was the Pilot Truck Stop at exit 51 on loop
285 in southeast Atlanta. Unfortunately, located in an
area of urban blight, this particular Pilot truckstop
has the unfortunate reputation for being the most
dangerous truckstop in the entire United States as
several drivers have been shot and robbed there not to
mention a host of other notorious vices that I won't
mention that also unfortunately abound at this
location. Our company recently told us not to go there
or to do so at our own peril.

Instead, I left Atlanta that night and found a small
truck stop located near Conyers (Ellenwood,GA) to
sleep at that did not have showers but did have a
quiet men's room with a sink and so I washed my hair
and got a sponge bath at this location! Getting ready
in this way, I set out before dawn from I-675 over
Panola Rd taking what I thought was a shortcut to Hwy
212 South where the monastery was located. It soon
became apparent that I shouldn't have taken this
pre-dawn "shortcut" through Georgia's winding rural
roads which were mixed with new development and long
stop lights. I looked at my truck's clock with some
despair as it showed I was ever closer to Mass time at
7:00 am. The sun was just barely coming up and I
strained in the semi-darkness to see any monastery on
Hwy 212. It was now 7:05 am and I still hadn't found
the monastery but I saw a large evangelical church
with some people in the parking lot. The sun was
beginning to come out as I pulled in and they looked
at me a little oddly when I asked for directions to a
Catholic monastery but they told me I still had
another 4 miles down Hwy 212. 

The Georgia sunrise was finally coming into its full
splendor as I saw the small sign on the right side of
the road that read: "Monastery of the Holy Spirit"
with an arrow pointing to the left. With great relief
I came around a slight bend in the road and was
mesmerized as I saw the beautiful abbey site shrouded
in morning mist with the new sunlight gently filtering
through an arching canopy of orchard trees that lined
the pathway to the abbey. Fr. Anthony had previously
told me that it was OK to bring a tractor truck on the
property although it felt somewhat surreal as I left
the highway and drove the Freightliner through the
arching trees with the top of my truck almost touching
the lower branches.

I parked and got out and with rapid strides I made my
way into the abbey church hoping I hadn't missed too
much of the Mass. I entered an impressive sanctuary
that was both long and spacious with beautiful stained
glass windows of various geometric shapes. The
sanctuary had a high vaulted ceiling. The church's
stone architecture was simple and solid with an air of
permanence and yet it avoided any taint of
ostentatiousness. The heavy stone interior gave the
church the deep echoing accoustic properties that made
it ideal for chants.

There appeared to be about 15 to 20 monks sitting up
close to the altar. They were dressed in their white
habits with black scapulars (similar to aprons) and
most of them were quite lean, even gaunt, reflecting
their dedicated ascetic lifestyle. I had seen many
pictures of Fr. Anthony over the years but because I
had walked in late I stayed in the back and couldn't
quite recognize which monk might be Fr. Anthony from
the long cavernous distance of the sanctuary.

I had unfortunately missed the readings and even the
Gospel but I came in time for the Homily and the
Eucharist although I did not think I was eligible to
receive it since I was late for Mass. So I went to the
Communion line just for a blessing and an older,
slightly olive-complected monk with a kindly face gave
me a blessing as I approached with my arms crossed.
Was this Fr. Anthony, I wondered?

After Mass was over the monks began filing out and I
hesitantly walked up to the area they had been sitting
in and managed to get the attention of one of the last
monks who was then leaving. I was a bit worried that I
was doing something improper as I know that some of
them are not supposed to talk at certain times. I
inquired of him whether it would be possible to meet
with Fr. Anthony DeLisi. 

"Let me see if I can catch him" was the reply and the
monk hurriedly disappeared off down a long hall. A few
minutes later he reappeared along with the same monk
who had given me the blessing! We greeted each other
warmly and I apologized for being late to Mass
explaining that this was why I hadn't taken Communion.
Fr. Anthony informed me that this rule only applied
for Sundays and offered to administer Communion to me
which I gladly accepted, especially coming from his
hands.

As many of you have undoubtedly found, Fr. Anthony is
a very kindly and wonderful man who immediately made
me feel very much at ease with his gentleness and
hospitality. He inquired whether I had had breakfast
and led me into the retreat center cafeteria where
they still had some coffee, juice, hard-boiled eggs
and various coffee cakes. 

We sat and talked for a little bit as I ate and I
asked him questions about the monastery and it's
origins and Fr. Anthony asked me questions about the
trucking life. We discussed the history of the
Cistercians and of the monastery. I explained how I
got trucking loads and where I travelled. We also
talked a bit about my personal life from a spiritual
perspective as well as Fr. Anthony's entrance into the
monastery 60 years ago. When Fr. Anthony mentioned 60
years, I of course did some mental calculations and
was amazed because I realized that Fr. Anthony was
probably around 20 when he entered making him a good
deal older than the 60-something he appeared to be.
Reluctant to mention his age (a true Sicilian!) Fr.
Anthony mumbled something about the number "80"
similar to the way I often mumble something about the
horrible number "45"!

Fr. Anthony gave me the grand tour around the abbey
with all of its beautiful artwork. Fr. Anthony showed
me one work of art in which the artist had sincerely
wanted to accurately draw Christ and so he prayed for
help and in answer to his prayer, Christ appeared to
the artist revealing his appearance so that the artist
could accurately render his features. Another work I
was very impressed with was a stunning and enormous
copy of a painting of St. Michael the Archangel,
powerfully holding in his angelic hand, the Latin
inscription "Quis Ut Deus", meaning "Who is like God?"
- St. Michael's response to the devil and his
arrogance as he triumphs over the devil as described
in the book of Revelation. This remarkable piece of
artwork is in one of the front rooms near the front
reception area and I recommend its viewing to all who
might visit in the future. There were also copies of
other religious art by many artists including
Rembrandt, Da Vinci and El Greco.

Fr. Anthony led me into the cellar under the church
and unlocked a door and led me into a small room that
serves as his office. The office contained a computer,
a filing cabinet and many, many books. In front of Fr.
Anthony's computer is a large reproduction of the
magnificent Byzantine-Norman Christ Pantocrator
gold-tiled mosaic from the Cefalù, Sicily cathedral.
He turned on his computer and the same Christ
Pantocrator mosaic appeared as his desktop! A very
nice Sicilian Catholic choice!

Fr. Anthony then opened his filing cabinet revealing
stacks and stacks of genealogical information. In my
awe of the monastery and the monastic life I had truly
forgotten for the moment that Fr. Anthony was also a
fellow Termitano! At that moment I realized how much I
was enjoying my visit which just kept getting better
and better. We looked at the names in Fr. Anthony's
family tree and I saw a few family surnames that were
in my own tree (Indovina, etc) but these however, were
married into Fr. Anthony's tree so we didn't have any
direct connections at this time. Fr. Anthony showed me
photos he had taken in Termini of the cemeteries and
burial processes as well as photos of some of the
oldest 1540 baptismal registries from Termini. 

We discussed other Termini topics such as genetic
diseases such as Graves Disease and others found in
Termini families. Then, Fr. Anthony had a list printed
out of Sephardic Jewish names and we discussed this
topic and I showed him some of the Sephardic names
(Navarra, Silvestre) that appeared in my tree and he
did likewise. Then we also discussed a religious paper
that Fr. Anthony is currently working on regarding his
reflections on Islam and Christian-Islamic dialogue.

Fr. Anthony turned to his stacks of books and started
handing me various titles to take home. With amazement
I realized that Fr. Anthony himself was the author of
all of the books! I have already begun reading one of
them, a book on what constitutes the charisms of a
Cistercian monk and I have found it to be very
readable, in fact, I can hardly put it down and have
already nearly finished it.

As my visit was approaching its end (I was worried
that my company might be trying to reach me on the
truck's QualComm messaging device to dispatch me), I
asked Fr. Anthony if he would like to see my truck and
Fr. Anthony was actually quite enthusiastic to do so. 

Fr. Anthony put on his cap and we went outside where
the sun had now been obscurred by clouds and we were
now beginning to get some much needed rain (the
Atlanta area has experienced a bad drought this past
year). I opened the door to my truck which is quite
high off the ground and more than a little challenging
for even a young man to enter but before I could worry
about him, Fr. Anthony proved his Sicilian vigor by
easily pulling himself up into the truck where he soon
was sitting behind the wheel of my 2007 Freightliner
Century Class S/T truck! He asked about some of the
controls and buttons - I sensed that Fr. Anthony would
probably enjoy going out on the road as a trucker for
a least a trip or two. In fact, Fr. Anthony asked me
if we were ever allowed to bring visitors and at the
time I simply answered "yes" without thinking too much
(actually I confess I was preoccupied with worrying
about Fr. Anthony seeing how messy I kept the interior
of my truck!) but later, after leaving, it occurred to
me that perhaps Fr. Anthony might actually like to go
with me sometime and so if you are reading this Fr.
Anthony, the answer is "yes", you may take a ride with
me anytime you would like to experience this mode of
travel!

We both finally said farewell to each other and Fr.
Anthony stood waving goodbye in the now gently falling
rain as I started up the truck with no small degree of
sadness and started pulling away, once again driving
through the arching canopy of orchard trees to the
other world waiting for me on the other side. The rain
picked up in intensity as I drove down the road
thinking about my fascinating and extraordinary visit
with this warm but quiet and modest Termini cugino who
is an accomplished author, a worldwide traveler, a
geneaologist and a spiritual leader blessed by God
with many gifts. Fr. Anthony is truly a blessing to
have amongst us and I pray that we will have the
chance to visit each other again in the future!

Ken Geraci

--- "Fr. Anthony Delisi" <franthony at trappist.net>
wrote:

> Dear Termini Cousins,
> 
> This morning Ken Geraci came for the 7 AM Mass.  We
> spent a few hours
> together before he had to leave for another pickup. 
> It was great to
> personally meet someone I have known over the years
> via the Termini site.
> Ken does not have typical Sicilian features.  I
> sense that he could make a
> good monk since he spends many an hour alone
> trucking around the country.
> His Atlanta terminal is about a half hour away from
> the monastery and he now
> knows that he has someplace to rest his head
> whenever he is in the Atlanta
> area.
> 
> PAX. fr. Anthony Delisi 
> 

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