La Festa Italiana 2010:  The Holy Rosary Church organizes this wonderful  street festival, celebrating Italian-American traditions, spirituality, with  evenings of music, dance and authentic Italian foods.

Since I can remember the Holy Rosary Feast has always been a downtown Jersey City tradtion. Holy Rosary was my parish and my family has lived in the Village section of Jersey City  around the corner from Holy Rosary, for for over 90 years. I love the area and the people. The old time Village people and the new residents that have made it home in the last 15 years. Wonderful people all of them living and loving their neighborhoods.  This is the fabric of the Village section of Jersey City, and the Holy Rosary feast. This feast  gets better every year.

 If you want to enjoy a fun night out take your family to this feast.  Smaller than St. Anne’s in Hoboken (Holy Rosary Feast runs one block between Monmouth Street and Brunswick, this feast is large in heart and spirit. The passion of the parishoners and the people who live in the Village section can be felt walking the feast and  over the years it has become the “In Spot” to meet old friends and school mates and a place to make new friends too. You will love the “Olde World Charm” of this feast.

 – Joe Calamito,  River View Observer

This is Holy Rosary’s 125th year as a parish church on Sixth Street. All the more reason to be here for Live Entertainment including: The B Street Band, Total Soul, The Three Po Tenors, the Lou Pompilio Band and The Edge. Great Food from  local restaurants,  Famous Rice Balls & amp; Hot, Fresh Zeppole,  Famious Wine and Peaches, served by the wine and peaches girls, Professional Bar services, gambling, games of chance, 50/50’s and sooo much more.

The festival takes place outside Holy Rosary Church, on 6th Street between Monmouth and Brunswick Streets.

August 11, 2010 Wednesday – August 15, 2010 Sunday 6pm-11pm

For more info, call 201-795-0120 or visit the Holy Rosary Church website.

The post Feast of Holy Rosary A Street Festival with Heart and Spirit- August 11th – August 15th, 2010 first appeared on River View Observer.

 By Sally Deering

In the 1960s, Nicholas Balesterri and his pals – all Baby Boomers – grew up around 7^th and Brunswick Street in Jersey City and played all sorts of games on one of the greatest game boards in town – the four corners of their neighborhood.  This was back in the day before Nintendo, IBox and other electronic games that are giving our kids “couch potato syndrome.”

Balesterri remembers those street games and the fun he had with his pals when all they had to amuse themselves was a Spalding, a high-bouncing, pink rubber ball they picked up at the corner store for 19 cents.  Balesterri and his pals would use that Spalding for all sorts of inventive challenges: Stick Ball, Box Ball, Stick Ball against the Wall, OUT, Point on the Ledge – games they played with sticks, cans and their own ingenuity.

 These games and others like them are the theme for the book Balesterri and his sister Amelia Fano are working on, “”The Games We Used to Play, Sticks, Balls and Cans,” that explains how the games are played and features anecdotes of Balesterri’s memories “growing up on the corner.” 

 

 “Four corners was right on 7^th and Brunswick, right down from Dickinson High School,” Balesterri recalls, “and each corner was just right for different games. On one corner was a butcher store. It had a nice flat wall. We could play stickball against that wall. The Lakewood Tavern across the street was a nice place to play OUT a game where you would throw the rubber ball and the next person would hit it and if you missed the ball it was “O,” and your next out was “U” and your third out was “T,” and then you were OUT. The third corner was Holy Rosary grammar school’s courtyard where we played Stick Ball. The fourth corner had a plumbing supply store. It had a great ledge for Point on the Ledge, where you threw the ball against the ledge, it would pop and you had to hop on one leg to get the fly. If you fell down you were out.”

Balesterri has about 20 games in the book, so far, and he’s even taking his idea one step further – a reality TV game show with teams of families compete against each other by spinning a game wheel and performing the game the pointer lands on.

“It’s something like ‘Family Feud’ but with street games,” Balesterri says. “It gets the families out of the house, they’re getting exercise and they’re having fun. As a reality show, you would get to know the families because they have a film crew coming around to the house. And you could actually make a set of a street like the four corners of my neighborhood and play these games.  I think the kids would love it and they might be interested in playing these games in their neighborhoods.”
 
Balesterri has already started pitching the show to producers and hopes to get a celebrity involved.
 
“I gave a copy to a friend of mine to get it to Joe Piscapo,” Balesterri says. “He can put some humor into it and he played these games.”

Some of the games Balesterri and his pals made up and some were neighborhood staples, like Jump the White Horse, which can be seen in the film, “The Bronx Tale.” And another point Balesterri remembers:  all the games were played by boys.  And when they got a little older, Balesterri says the games moved indoors and that’s when girls were invited.
“When girls got involved, it was trouble,” Balesterri laughs.
 And that would be a different type of game show.

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Holy Rosary  is  the Oldest Established Italian Parish in New Jersey

  

Holy Rosary Church has announced plans to celebrate a Traditional Solemn High Mass on Christmas Eve at Midnight. 

The Traditional Mass or the Extraordinary Form as Pope Benedict XVI identifies it in his Apostolic Letter “Summorum Pontificum” is celebrated in Latin according to the Missal of 1962.  This missal was issued under Blessed John XXIII and remained in use until some years after the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council. 

A prelude of seasonal music by Herbeck, Praetorius and Victoria will be performed by the Holy Rosary Choir preceding the mass at 11:15 pm.  During the mass the choir under the direction of Harold Bott will sing the Mass in G by Schubert accompanied by organ and strings. The Holy Rosary Schola will sing the Propers of the Mass in Gregorian chant from the Liber Usualis.

 Holy Rosary Church will begin a series of events in January 2010 leading to the gala celebration of its 125^thAnniversary in October.  “Holy Rosary Church is the oldest established Italian parish in the State of New Jersey,” said its pastor Rev. Rino Lararoni.  “As we begin a year of remembrance and celebration we return together this Christmas Eve to another time and celebrate the sacred liturgy in the manner which the immigrants who built this beautiful church attended. Father Lavaroni added that the Holy Father has written, “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too.”  It’s a significant way for us to begin this important milestone in the history of Holy Rosary.”

 Other masses scheduled include a Mass for Families in English at 7:00pm on Christmas Eve.  On Christmas Day the schedule includes masses at 8:45a.m. in Italian and 11:30a.m. in English.

 Holy Rosary Church is located in downtown Jersey City and has been celebrating the mass in the extraordinary form for nearly eight years.  Holy Rosary Parish Council Chairwoman,

Anne Mc Govern, says, “Holy Rosary Church is unique in that it’s the only parish in the local area where Catholics may attend both forms of the mass.” McGovern stressed that Holy Rosary Church is leading the way by following the Holy Father’s example and wishes by honoring and preserving tradition in liturgy.”

The Latin Mass is celebrated every Sunday at 10:00 am.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  For more information contact Holy Rosary Church at 201 795-0120 or visit the church’s website at

http://holyrosarychurch.com

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Tradition…a concept that is certainly not unique to the Italian and Italian American culture, but which is almost universally mentioned when telling the story of those who are of Italian heritage.  Nevertheless, one is tempted to wonder if the paesani who immigrated to the United States from Morrone del Sannio, Campobasso (Region of Molise), Italy, in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, and who settled in the ethnic enclave that would become a vibrant “Little Italy” in downtown Jersey City, could have foreseen that their grandchildren and great grandchildren would, more than a century later, still be carrying on one of their grandest traditions.  Probably not!  Yet, that is exactly what is happening, as the third and fourth generation members of the Maria S.S. Dell’Assunta Society, founded by their Morronese ancestors in 1902, are now preparing for the 98th annual Feast of the Assumption, at Holy Rosary Church in historic downtown Jersey City. 

La Festa Italiana, which now encompasses the feast of St. Rocco, in addition to the Assumption feast of old, includes both elements of the traditional Italian feast, combining spirituality with the typical Italian street festival.  The religious celebration begins with a Novena in honor of Our Lady of the Assumption (Thursday, August 6th, to Friday, August 14th, at 7:00 p.m., with a candlelight procession through the streets of downtown Jersey City on la vigilia di festa August 14th) and culminates in the Assumption Feast Day Mass, to be celebrated by Most Rev. Thomas A. Donato, Aux. Bishop of Newark and Regional Bishop for Hudson County (11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 15th), and the St. Rocco Feast Day Mass, to be celebrated by Most Rev. Dominic A. Marconi, Ret. Aux. Bishop of Newark (11:30 a.m. on Sunday, August 16th). 

The old-world style street festival will include deliziosi Italian food, full service bar, outdoor cafe, rides, games, and live entertainment.  A highlight for many is the wine and peaches stand, proudly called “A Taste of Campobasso”, which is still operated by the Society and staffed by the descendants of its original founders, including the popular “Wine Girls”, who will be happy to serve you some of the best wine and peaches around! 

YOU’RE INVITED TO JOIN US!  On August 15th at 9:00 p.m., in front of the Campobasso wine stand, a special “toast” will be offered to honor all feast workers and Society members (including the memory of those who are no longer with us) who have worked hard to preserve Italian culture and the beautiful traditions that our ancestors carried with them from the old country.  Don’t forget to wear your feast shirts, as we gather together for this unique display of unity, love, and respect!  The festival will take place on 6th Street, between Brunswick and Monmouth Streets, in the Downtown section of Jersey City, and will run from Wednesday, August 12th, through Sunday, August 16th, 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m..  For more details, call 201-795-0120 Ext. 103, or Carmine Colasurdo at 201-966-7745.  Buona Festa a Tutti

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