Sister Mary Giannini with Rev. Mother Giovanna Fraticelli and Sister Philomena.

ID: 874 ~ Source: Courtesy of North Adams Historical Society.
This file appears in: The Venerini Sisters
Sister Mary Giannini with Rev. Mother Giovanna Fraticelli and Sister Philomena.
Courtesy of North Adams Historical Society.

Mother General of Venerini Sisters – Sister Mary Giannini (left), superior at the local convent of the Venerini Sisters at St. Anthony’s Church, chats with Rev. Mother Giovanna Fraticelli (center), mother general of the Venerini Sisters from Rome, Italy, and her secretary, Sister Philomena, who are making a canonical visit here. They are standing in front of a stature of the Infant of Prague.

This file appears in: The Venerini Sisters

By Ann Leonesio
In the late 1800’s the growing Italian community in North Adams was mainly centered around the church, for both religious and social needs.  These first generation immigrants, however, did not have a church to call their own.  In 1900 an Italian…