Our Lady of the Assumption

Humble Beginnings 

A little more than one hundred years ago, a vast wave of immigrants from southern Europe—almost 25 million men, women, and children—swept  onto the shores of the United States, lured by the promise of a better life and the chance to escape from the difficult conditions of their homelands. Of these, the largest group was from the impoverished southern and central regions of Italy.

From the region of Abruzzo, a number of immigrants found their way to the villages of Strafford, Devon, and Wayne, and took up positions as builders, stonemasons, gardeners, and chauffeurs to the wealthy Philadelphians who had begun to build their summer homes to the west of the city along the Main Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

These overwhelmingly Catholic immigrants sought places of worship in the area and tried to find them in the already established local “Irish” churches; but, as Italians, they were discouraged by a sometimes unfriendly reception, unfamiliar worship practices, and—most importantly—the lack of priests who spoke their language.

One devout young Italian immigrant woman was moved to action. Rosaria Cimini DiLorenzo had emigrated from Teramo (Abruzzo), Italy, in 1903 as a young bride of 18 years in age. After moving with her husband to the Italian settlement in Strafford, she had become deeply concerned for the spiritual welfare of this immigrant community. In 1907, now 22 years old and the mother of two young girls, she wrote a letter to Pope Pius X, explaining the immigrants’ plight and imploring him to send an Italian priest to minister to the growing Main Line Italian community.

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