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In the early 1900’s many of the Mormon stats beat the
same stats for the rest of the nation, but what one stat was significantly better for the LDS Church when compared to the rest of the nation?
a.
Education
b.
Free throw
percentage
c.
Infant morality
d.
Income
Yesterday’s
answer:
C. The Book of
Mormon
The story of Pietro Emanuele Giannini, one of the
first Italians baptized after the arrival of the missionaries [1965]
illustrates the challenges and isolation that Italian converts often faced
during this period as they turned away from their traditional religion toward a
new religious identity and way of life. In late 1964, Leavitt Christensen
received a letter from Giovanni Ottoboni, a Church member of Italian origin
living in Argentina, who said that he wanted to teach and baptized his mother,
two sisters, and an uncle who were still living in Italy. President Russon
agreed to send two of the first missionaries in Italy to Varese Ligure, a small
village sixty kilometers north of La Speczia, to help teach Ottoboni’s relatives.
Some of them expressed a desire to be baptized, and on June 26, 1965,
Christensen and his wife, Rula, together with the two missionaries, drove to
the village to conduct the baptismal interviews:
“When we got there we found that the local priests had
scared more of the family off. They had told them that anyone who joined the
new sect would be denied burial in the town and would be [cut off] from all
social activity. The aged mother and daughters then refused baptism but the old
uncle was not intimidated and decided to go through with it. In doing so he put
his little business and his only means of living in great jeopardy. His name
was Pietro Emanuele Giannini. He was found to be worthy of baptism. Brother
Ottoboni [who was visiting from Argentina] had prepared a pool in the thick
foliage at the outskirts of the town. So all members went there for the
baptism. The event had not gone unnoticed in the town. As we looked about us we
could see several townspeople peering through the foliage. They showed both curiosity
and consternation. We invited them to come closer to watch but they would not.
Instead they jeered and flung ugly names at Brother Giannini. They reminded him
of the fate that would befall him. He was not moved by any of it. Amid this the
baptism was held.”
To avoid further disruptions, the group walked a mile
uphill to a secluded spot to confirm Giannini a member of the Church. News of
the baptism spread quickly through the isolated village, and within thirty
minutes spurious rumors were circulating that the Mormons had baptized Giannini
naked. Then local religious leaders took action, presumably as a lesson to
those who might consider conversion in the future: “Now the priests have
apparently forbidden people to come to the old man’s tavern and he is about to
close it due to lack of customers. . . . The old man says he doesn’t care
anyway because what he was selling is against the word of wisdom and he
shouldn’t be in that business.”
Six months later on January 2, 1967, Christensen and
Daniel Walsh, president of the LDS American servicemen’s group in Livorno,
traveled to Varese Ligure to visit the new Italian convert:
“On the way we worried lest Brother Giannini might
have drifted back into his old ways due to his dependence on the little business
and also due to loneliness. As we walked into the establishment no one was
there except Brother Giannini who sat alone in a far corner. When we approached
he looked up and then sprang to his feet and embracing each, planted the usual
hello kiss on each cheek of each of us. When we looked at the table we found
that he had been reading the Book of Mormon. Brother Walsh asked him if he had
read it all the way through. He replied that he had read it many times. Brother
Walsh’s question was unnecessary because a quick look at the book showed that
all the pages were dog-eared and dirty from handling. Brother Giannini stated
that the Book of Mormon was his best and only real friend in town. We returned
home happy in the knowledge that he had so much courage, but sad that he had to
endure so much in the little village.”
James A. Toronto, The “Wild West” of Missionary Work”
Reopening the Italian Mission, 1965-71, Journal
of Mormon History, Fall 2014, 12-15.
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