Giuseppe 'Joseph' Brunn [Brun]

Giuseppe ‘Joseph’ Brun [or Brunn, as he was largely known in the USA] was born in Andreis, prov. Pordenone, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, on 5 September 1871, one of the six children of Antonio Brun (1828–1912) and Cristina Trincus (1834–1927). A former part of the Austro-Hungarian possessions in Italy, Brunn thus grew up in an area newly integrated into the neonate Kingdom of Italy, and surrounded by the Garibaldian liberal nationalism which inspired its causes. The vision of building a modern, prosperous, liberal Italy and improving the lot of Italians (at home and abroad) was, in all of his involvements, at the core of his religious work.

Brunn was educated at the Gymnasium of Trieste (1889); an education he continued in the Presbyterian Church after he migrated to the USA, through the large Perkasie Bible Conference and Camp meetings associated with the Normal Assembly; and the Training School for Christian Workers.

He arrived in the USA in 1889. His brother, John, an architectural stone mason, migrated to Cleveland, Ohio. Having met Antonio Arrighi [q.v.], Brunn felt the call to change his life and enter the ministry.

From 1889-1913, he was Italian missioner and minister of the Italian Presbyterian Church (Second Presbyterian Church), at Third and Hayes Streets, in Hazleton, PA. Hazleton was part of the PCUSA's LeHigh Presbytery, in which John F. Pollock of Allentown was a moving force. Having travelled in Europe and taught himself a number of languages, Pollock was effectively overseer for 'foreign' missions in the Presbytery. During his 14 years in Hazleton, Brunn remodelled the church, fitted out new Sunday School space in the basement, and established a parsonage at the rear of the church lot. The church opened a kindergarten on Hayes and Sixth Streets, an Italian literature depository at 650 Wyoming St. (under Arthur Chiarini). To provide relief for his congregation and encourage self-reliance, he established a 'Sick Benefit Association', a Young Men's Social Club, English classes, and a Mission Band. (Standard-Sentinel 4 Feb 1922: 4)

In 1899, in Hazleton, he married Lucia Volmitella De Angelis (1877–1912). Their children included Christina Filomena (1901–1992; m. 1926, Walter Brown of New York); Eda Lucia (1902–1998); Paul Anthony (1904–1957); Norma Anita Brunn (1905–1913); David Joseph (1907–1995); and Joseph Brunn Jr. (1909–1910). Lucia died of pneumonia in 1912 after a short illness, followed shortly thereafter by the death of Brunn's father in Italy. His colleagues were quite aware of the strains put upon Brunn by being left a widower with a large family. In 1913 he remarried Carrie nee Meyer (b. Freeland; school teacher). They would have one child, Robert Bonner Jack (1911–1953), who was named after his colleague, Robert Bonner Jack, who was ordained on the same day as Brunn before the LeHigh Presbytery, and who later succeeded as minister of First Presbyterian Church Hazleton.

Brunn was early involved in YMCA work, and took an interest in youth. Newspapers of the time make note of the impact that his youth services, featuring a 'fine stereopticon' presentation, had in Hazleton. In 1903 he was ordained by the Presbytery of LeHigh. At the 1906 Assembly, he encouraged the further extension of Italian missions with an appeal to American nativism: '‘The speaker said that if the church does not take hold of the Italian and Americanize and Christianize him he will Italianize and heathenize us.’ (Lancaster Intelligencer 24 Oct 1906: 5) His encouragement of the work led to centres such as Lancaster and McCall's Ferry hiring workers such as Alexander Monti and Stefano Testa, their salaries supported by the Lancaster City Christian Endeavour Union. Converts under his ministry, such as George Chiarini, entered the ministry and extended works to places such as Shenandoah, Berwick, Port Carbon. Brunn was a regular in the dedication of new Italian Presbyterian churches in places such as Wilkes Barre and Pittston. In 1907, he erected a tent in Hazleton to run special missions, which were addressed by Agide Pirazzini, the Mayor (Fred L Smith), John Harvey and D. A. Harman. On other occasions, he oversaw Italian community events, such as Italian Independence Day, and meetings of the Leccecie. (The Plain Speaker 20 Sep 1907: 1) His church was a centre for cultural events, particularly Italian lessons and lectures on Italian culture and issues affecting the health of Italian workers (particularly tuberculosis, which was rampant among factory and construction workers).

Brunn was particularly active in policy issues, in the 1908 elections, for instance, agitating for more equitable Ward divisions in Hazleton, or for the introduction of building inspections in the town after a tragic fire in a shirt factory in New York City which resulted in hundreds of deaths. (The Philadelphia Inquirer 5 Jun 1911: 4) When Umberto I was assassinated in 1900, for example, Brunn held a commemorative service to mourn his passing. At the reorganization of local Councils in 1909, Brunn was elected to represent the annexed (Fourteenth) district of Hazleton, for which he was later election overseer. This made him the first clergyman to be elected to the local legislature, on which he played an active role (one concrete result of which was his contribution to the new Town Hall, built in Italian Renaissance style). In 1910, he was elected Moderator of the LeHigh Presbytery. At the same time he was a member of the Dillingham Commission on Immigration. (Ironically, the restrictions that the Dillingham Commission eventually imposed on 'alien' migration would contribute to the decline of Italian speaking ministry among the Protestant churches). He was also made PCUSA's official delegate to the Waldensian Church in Italy, leading to a trip back to Italy to attend the 1910 Waldensian Synod, and some work with University evangelism (Democrat and Chronicle 14 Jan 1911: 16), followed by delegation to Waldensian Aid events in Rochester, Buffalo, Washington, and other centres. After World War I he was Chair of the Juvenile Crime Prevention Department, and a director of the American Waldensian Aid Society, the Casa Materna Aid Society and treasurer of the American Committee for Italian Relief. There is evidence of his work with the Waldensian Aid Society from at least 1908, though it may have been the case prior to this date. In 1910, he was regularly to be found as part of the speakers list in support of the Waldensian cause, which his colleague (Giorgio Bartoli) declared was the closest to 'the primitive religion'. (Wilkes-Barre Times Leader 29 Apr 1910: 16) In 1915, when an 'Italian Branch' of the American Waldensian Aid Society was established in New York, Antonio Arrighi (founding pastor of Brunn's Broome Street Tabernacle and the oldest Italian pastor in New York) was made Honorary President, and Brunn the President. (Boston Evening Transcript 24 Apr 1915: 48)

In March 1913, Brunn resigned from the charge in Hazleton, and took up the Broome Street Tabernacle, NYC. (He would remain an influential figure in Hazleton, and return there regularly to preach and promote Presbyterian and political ends). His position in the centre of an influential Church in this bustling immigrant global city drew him into many involvements, particularly when the topic bore upon migration. He received repeated invitations to speak on the topic, in churches and schools, in private clubs for women (such as the Cosmopolitan Club) and men. He was also the 'go to' minister for freemasonic funerals, with the passing of people such as Henry Alfani in 1923 providing something of a window into the overlap between Protestant, Republican, masonic, liberal-nationalist, and cultural circles in New York. (See Obituary, The Chat 1 Sep 1923: 13) The entry of Italy into the First World War on the side of the allies provided him with new arguments for Italian home missions. Speaking to an event organized by Asbury Park's First Methodist Episcopal Church in the Lyric Theatre, Brunn:

... contended that modern Italy is having the same kind of struggle the United States was compelled to fight. Italy has never understood the United States any more than the United States has understood Italy, but now they are both fighting for the same principle and a new world. Up until this world war the Protestant church in Italy has never been recognised, but when the land of sun and flowers entered the conflict, 6000 Protestant Italians went to the front. To the soldiers at the front 360,000 Bibles have been distributed. In conclusion Reverend Mr Brunn appealed to the congregation to start their evangelism among the Italians at home, give to them the hand of good fellowship and brotherly love, rather than contributing to the foreign missionary funds. "Begin your charity with a stranger within your gates", he urged. [Asbury Park Press 18 Jun 1917: 1]

Brunn was also swept up in Italian irredentism, chairing meetings in Hazleton and elsewhere for the US tour of Alessandro Seppelli in 1919. He would return to Italy in 1922 to visit his aged mother, and attend 'a church convention' (the 1922 Sinodo Valdese, presided over by Ugo Janni, to which Brunn had once again been named delegate by the General Assembly of the PCUSA). It was a key year for the Waldensian Church in Italy, with numbers of its key institutions transferring to Firenze and Roma to reflect it's growing sense of being a 'national Italian protestant Church'. Brunn returned bearing letters from the Gould Home in Firenze, and the Girls Home at Bordighera Riviera, both of which were supported by funds from local Waldensian Aid Society branches.

In 1934, Brunn hosted a pan-denominational conference on evangelical ministry to Italians at his Broome Street church.

Brunn retired in 1943. He died at his home on 28 East Tenth Ave, NY, on 9 April 1951. His wife, Carrie Meyer Brunn, died at her home in Centrepoint, Long Island, on 31 January 1962.

Broome Street Tabernacle was demolished in 1959.

Sources:

Ancestry.com

Newspapers.com

Italian Presbyterian Ministers' Who's Who, MSS, 301.7.12 Italian File, Dept of City, and Industrial Work, Emigrant, Board of National Missions, Presbyterian Historical Society (NY).