The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

3 · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, May 7, 2009 Father Pucci marks 70 years as a priest By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Father Augusto Pucci is living history. Pucci was born in Torino, Italy just over 93 years ago to Clotilde Trivulzio -- whose family gained notoriety in a battle with the French in 1500 and had the status of marquise -- and Luigi Pucci, who was a general in the Italian army. On April 8, Pucci celebrated 70 years of being a Catholic priest. The milestone will be officially celebrated on Saturday. It will begin with a 5 p.m. mass to be celebrated by Pucci himself at St. James at 231 Morden Rd., followed by a dinner at 7:30 p.m., with speeches and presentations, at LeDome Banquet Hall at 1173 North Service Rd. E. "Father Pucci turned 93 in January and he is still as sharp as ever. He still goes out and has a number of appointments," said Ria Mulder, chair of St. James Parish Council. "I was born in Torino, but I lived all my young life in Genoa," said Pucci, who moved to Genoa at age two. He came from a family of three boys and a girl, though one of his older brothers passed away at age 12 -- a lack of penicillin at the time, said Pucci. At age six, Pucci began instruction under the Barnabite order. As Pucci explains it, the Barnabites are an order that was predominant in Italy. Around 1500, at the time of the Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther and John Calvin (a time when Christians were being forced to decide between the Catholic or Protestant religions), Pucci said a number of religious orders established themselves, including the Jesuits in Spain and Barnabites in Milano, among others. The Barnabites were the first religious order named after Paul the Apostle. They were founded by St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria, who lived in the early 1500s and was the first Catholic reformer to promote a reformation program involving the combined strengths and experiences of priests, the Clerics Regular of St. Paul, uncloistered nuns, The Angelics of St. Paul and married people, The Marrieds (Laity) of St. Paul. The order was called Barnabites in the late 1540s by the people who frequented its Church of St. Barnabas, the order's historical motherhouse, in Milan, Italy. The order's tenets are total selflessness, Christ-centred spirituality and selfless ministry to others. Every Barnabite holds dear the saying: "Let LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY: Father Augusto Pucci celebrated 70 years as a Catholic priest on April 8 and this Saturday an anniversary dinner is being held in his honour at LeDome Banquet Hall. us run like madmen, not only toward God, but toward our neighbour as well." Whatever its origin, the priests of the Barnabite order made an impression on Pucci. In fact, they are why he became a priest. "I wanted to be like my teachers, they were good men," said Pucci. "I had a desire to teach and be like them." He attended senior high school for three years in Florence and then studied theology for four years in Rome. "I was ordained a priest in 1939, April the 8th, in Rome, at St. John in Laterano, a cathedral in Rome," he said. It's not St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, but is of major significance. The Basilica of St. John Lateran is the cathedral of the Church of Rome and the official ecclesiastical seat of the Bishop of Rome, who is the Pope. It is the oldest and ranks first among the four major basilicas of Rome, and holds the title of ecumenical mother church (mother church of the whole inhabited world) among Roman Catholics. The President of the French Republic is ex officio the "first and only honorary canon" of the basilica, a title inherited from the Kings of France. After his ordination, Pucci, who had studied natural science and chemistry at university, returned to Genoa to teach. He remained there for 10 years until he was asked to travel to Buffalo, New York where a Barnabite seminary was being established. Pucci said the order wanted to expand elsewhere in the world because it feared a Communist takeover under the threat of Joseph Stalin and the Communist Party. Pucci remained in Buffalo for nine years before being asked to come to Oakville where a largely immigrant Italian community had asked for an Italian-speaking pastor. Pucci arrived in Canada in 1964 and was superior at the new St. James parish in Oakville. His partner Father George Predelli, was the parish's first pastor and Pucci is pastor in residence. "First we said mass in the Catholic Centre, then Father Predelli bought a little house that is not there anymore," said Pucci, recalling St. James Church was built, then a rectory, then the church was enlarged. St. James had the distinction of being the first church in Canada with an altar facing the congregation. "When we started, the congregation was around 1,000 families and our boundaries were from Kerr Street to Fourth Line and north to the QEW," said Pucci, recalling he used to visit families and became friends with most of his parishioners. He recalled how the parishioners learned English as a second language at a Kerr Street classroom and sought employment. Seven of the young parishioners at St. James chose the priesthood as their calling, including Father Louis Lenssen, associate pastor of St. James. Father Frank Ruzza is now pastor at St. James. See Ceremony page 7 GRAND OPENING Starting May 4th until May 11th . 905.257.9941 Monday - Saturday Sunday authorized dealer 380 Dundas Street East, Oakville Corner of Trafalgar and Dundas by Canadian Tire COME IN AND RECEIVE $35 Credit and a FREE wireless phone car charger on any new activation 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.