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I have sent an email to Rome via the Scalabrinian website......without an answer.
The Chicago Archdiocese will not provide any help with my search.
Snail mail will be sent to the Scalabrinians, but in the meantime, I'm posting my search here.
In approx 1950, my grandmother had a chalice made as a memorial and sent it to a family friend (priest) in Milan, Italy. My 94 year old Aunt would be at peace knowing where this chalice inscribed in her Father's memory happens to be.
It's a long shot but I've told her I'd do my best to help find it.
Father Costante (Charles) Biancotti came to the US in 1920 (March 27, 1920), age 39, in the company of other priests and was headed to a Roosevelt Street Mission in New York City . I cannot find earlier arrival records though the 1920 manifest indicates he had entered the US before. At some point he was assigned to Chicago and worked at Holy Guardian Angel Mission in Chicago's Taylor and Halsted neighborhood. I have a photo of him with my (late)Aunts and Mother (probably around 1924?); I have the letters he wrote from Italy. Despite a denial from Chicago Archdiocesean people that he was ever there, I know differently.
A now-deceased Aunt with whom he corresponded believed he returned to Italy before or around 1930. There, he was assigned to teaching at a girl's school and was living with his sister (Virginia) in Milan.
Of course, he would have died quite some time ago.
I'd love to locate the gift he received in my Grandfather's memory, if only to know where it is for my Aunt's sake. Perhaps finding someone who is distantly related (there are a few names in the Italian white pages in Milan)
would be a start?? I thought the order (Missionaries of St.Charles Borromeo) was a more reasonable place to begin, but it has not turned out to be the case.
The Scalabrinian fathers had the seminary out in Stone Park, at what is not the Italian Hertiage Center. I wonder if they have any presence here in Chicago anymore.....
For references, from Ancestry.com the March 1920's arrival manifest for Costanzo Biancotti,
Boston Passenger Lists, 1820-1943
about Gostanzo Biancotti
Name: Gostanzo Biancotti
Arrival Date: 20 Mar 1920
Age: 39 Years
Estimated birth year: abt 1881
Gender: Male
Ethnic Background: Italian (North) (Italian)
Port of Departure: Palermo, Italy
Ship Name: Cretic
Port of Arrival: Boston, Massachusetts
Last Residence: Lombardy Birthplace: Milano, Lombardy
Microfilm Roll Number: 252
Oh my, the mystery deepens here, Laura. The Ellis Island website is 'down,' at least as I access it. There, a record exists for Costante Biancotti aboard the Duca d''Aosta (line 20) arriving New York March 27, 1920, having sailed from Genoa and Naples. His name was lined out on that manifest so now I'm wondering if he was actually on board the ship that sailed to Boston two weeks earlier? Perhaps you can see the manifest my site here says is under repair?
Aging relatives remember Virginia as his sister, but I suspect you've stumbled on something to be explored...a sister-in-law in Milano.
Once again, letters and more to fly across the ocean. You are truly remarkable and a marvelous help. I appreciate your interest and aid!!
I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, do you think he entered the US in Boston, not New York? He is another mystery man on my clipboard!
Name: Charles Biancotti
Arrival Date: 18 Jul 1892
Birth Year: abt 1881
Age: 11
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: Havre
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Ship Name: La Champagne
.....traveling with his father, Louis, age 42, going to Joliet, Illinois.
this is the Ellis Island's 1920 arrival manifest... his name is lined out, he didn't travel on that ship... I'm sure he arrived just a few days later but in the port of Boston...
Not so sure Father Biancotti was a member of the Scalabrinians. My correspondence with them has never been answered.
Regardless, can anyone help me with suggestions on where I must begin with research in Milan?
Birth records (born ~ 1880)?
Archdiocesan records?
Records of ordinations?
If an order priest, would the Archdiocese have records of his ordination?
He came to the US alone,March 1920, first class, sailed into Boston, he did not travel with the priests on another manifest where his name was crossed out, those other priests were headed to NYC.
As noted previously, I know he was at Holy Guardian Angel Church in Chicago around 1920-25,
too many other details not necessary to relate at this junction.
I found this:
Book Indexes to Boston Passenger Lists, 1899-1940
about Reverend Costante Bioncotti
Name: Reverend Costante Bioncotti
Ship Name: Cretic
Date of Arrival: 21 Mar 1920 http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/7966/biancotti.jpg
sailed at Madeira island
suanj
Envy is the most flattering of flattery
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Visit my website: ITALIAN ORIGIN SEARCH
Oh my goodness, the mystery deepens. Fr. Biancotti's story is filled with unexpected twists and turns. I knew he was on that boat (to Boston); I didn't find the summary sheet you scanned in, suanj. Thank you!
I have so many tiny pieces of his puzzle but the picture isn't coming into focus on this side of the Atlantic.
Is there a place where I can learn of his ordination?
As an aside, I found him travelling to the US at age 11 with his father.
Very uneven story about this man............................
The name Italia, probably a Graecized form of Italic Vitelia (='calf land'), was originally restricted to the southern half of the 'toe' but was gradually extended. By 450 B.C. It meant the region subsequently inhabited by the Bruttii; by 400 it embraced Lucania as well. Campania was included after ...